I know the answer to this already but did any of you actually read the article? Because I did and guess what? That headline is extremely click baity but the actual article contains real information and context for Biden’s remarks! You know, like how journalism is supposed to work!
The article is here. Let’s take a look, shall we?
Biden’s remarks were in response to the April Jobs report, which the article describes as “disappointing.”
Here’s the context prior to the quote above:
[cap transcript:
Although economists were expecting much higher jobs numbers, just 266,000 jobs were added in April, compared against 770,000 in March.
According to a government survey, millions didn’t take on a job over fears of contracting the coronavirus, and women didn’t make any job gains in April, likely due to continued child care disruptions. About 20 million Americans lost their jobs during the pandemic.
But some businesses say $300-a-week federal unemployment benefit, provided in Biden’s $1.9 trillion rescue package is keeping Americans at home and away from pursuing job opportunities.
Biden disputed that idea on Monday.
“I know there’s been a lot of discussion since Friday’s report that people are being paid to stay home rather than go to work. Well we don’t see much evidence of that. … Americans want to work.” Biden added, “a job’s about a lot more than a paycheck. It’s about your dignity, your place in the community.”]
Now I will argue that your ability to work is not what confers dignity--the fact you’re a person gives you dignity, but this is a far cry of--how did that one commenter put it--ah yes: “ Victorian factory owner tries to convince children to crawl back under the industrial looms for mere pittance because only their bodies are small enough to fit.” That is a bad faith comment and also was probably made without reading the article.
Now there is a section where he states that unemployment benefits are not a replacement for a job, and is the pretty much stock response you see most democrats pay lip service to to calm down conservatives:
[caption transcript: “We’re gonna make it clear that anyone collecting unemployment who is offered a suitable job must take the job or lose their unemployment benefits.” Biden added that there would be a few specific COVID-related exceptions so people don’t have to put their basic safety at risk. “But otherwise, that’s the law,” Biden said, adding in clear terms, “no one should be allowed to game the system.” ]
This is the same conservative bullshit we’ve been hearing for years and is barely one step above Welfare queens. HOWEVER, Biden does go on and directly addresses employers and wages.
[caption transcript: Biden also encouraged employers to boost wages to improve hiring prospects, and to help employees get access to vaccinations in order to get more people back to work safely. “We also need to recognize that people will come back to work if they’re paid a decent wage,” he said.“My expectation is that as our economy comes back, these companies will provide fair wages and safe work environments,” Biden said. “And if they do, they’ll find plenty of workers.” ]
This is the complete opposite of op’s comment of “the ‘dignity’ to work for an $8/hr starvation wage with no benefits lmao shut the fuck up.”
Turns out that’s not what Biden was saying at all. In fact, he explicitly states that if businesses provide fair wages and safe work environments, people will want to work for them, which is, let me check my notes, what we want and have been advocating for. It’s almost like Biden, unlike the republicans, agrees with that.
The political party oppposing both fair wages and safe work environments are, surprise, republicans!
In fact, the article ends with mentioning it’s not the democrats trying to decrease unemployment benefits:
[caption transcript: Unemployment benefits have been subjected to harsh criticism by GOP leaders in recent days. “As Washington pays workers a bonus to stay unemployed, virtually everyone discussed very real concerns about their difficulties in finding workers,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Monday. “Almost every employer I spoke with specifically mentioned the extra-generous jobless benefits as a key force holding back our recovery.” Fox News’ Tucker Carlson asserted last week that “The government is paying people more not to work than to work,” asking, “So why would they work?”The Washington Post noted Monday that Republicans have argued for decades that government assistance leads people who are capable of working to stay home. In 1987 President Ronald Reagan called the welfare system “a creator and reinforcer of dependency,” a continuation of his rhetoric about the benefits for the poor that he’d been uttering ever since his 1980 presidential campaign.]
What have we learned? Well, the headline was designed as clickbait and took the quote out of context. Biden outright refutes that unemployment benefits are paying people to not work and correctly places the onus on businesses to provide fair wages and safe work environment. Republicans are the ones trying to cut off benefits like they’ve always done.
Now is Biden as progressive on this as we want? No, but he is not some Dickensian mustache twirling villain who forces children to work in coal mines. He recognizes that there are outside factors why people are not taking a lot of jobs--bad wages! unsafe work environments! childcare!--and as we’ve seen when it came refugee admissions cap, we can apply pressure and affect change.
The real reason I’m upset over the original post is that we’ve learned nothing since 2016. This was a screencap of the headline without even a link to the article meant to rile folks up and divide the left even further. We saw this play out in 2016 and in the years since.
Stop playing into the conservatives’ hands. We are better than this. It took me two seconds to find the article and another couple of minutes to read it.
Be critical. Read the articles for yourself. Stop this petty, pointless virtue signaling. If you want to build a better society then you have to put in the bare minimum of work and engage with said society.
Shit like this back in 2016 led to the pandemic and led to deaths of hundred of thousands of people in the US alone millions globally. We must do better.
