This is some impressive assholery.
Here are some other fun quotes from that NYT article that provide some entertaining perspective. And show that John J. Miller is not merely an asshole --
An emergency federal program that acts as a lifeline for 1.3 million jobless workers will end on Saturday, drastically curtailing government support for the long-term unemployed....
The program, in place since the recession started in 2008, provides up to 47 weeks of supplemental unemployment insurance payments to jobless people looking for work. Its expiration is expected to have far-reaching ramifications for the economy, cutting job growth by about 300,000 positions next year and pushing hundreds of thousands of households below the poverty line....
-- but a total asshole --
The loss of benefits is expected to drain billions in consumer spending from the economy next year. People losing their federal benefits — often benefits they expected to continue to receive for weeks or months into 2014 — described cutting back on Christmas, driving less, turning off the heat, draining retirement accounts, applying for food stamps, readying to move in with relatives and missing mortgage payments....
-- indeed, a scabby, bleeding asshole --
Since her federal benefits expired, Jamie Young, a library scientist living in Portland, Ore., has accepted a part-time job, taking a large reduction in her income. “It’s embarrassing for me,” she said. “I dread going to parties or social functions and having people ask me what I do.”
-- because, get a load of this, what Ms. Young has turned to doing to get by:
Her unemployment has also spurred her to donate her eggs for $6,000 in compensation.
Maybe the rest of the unemployed can sell their internal organs to rich people in exchange for food stamps.
Also, Miller is, surprise, dishonest! Why will the unelpoyment rate drop 5%, exactly?
But the unemployment rate will primarily drop as workers, especially older workers, drop out of the labor force. Those receiving unemployment benefits are required to demonstrate that they are actively looking and applying for jobs. Without those benefits, and requirements, economists said, many might give up.
And perhaps die. And perhaps be mulched to fertilize the lawns of the obscenely rich.
Because, what else is there?
Analysts also believe the end of the federal program will lead to an increase in poverty. Already, cuts to unemployment insurance payments and reductions in the weeks of benefits have meant that the program has lifted fewer people out of poverty: 1.7 million Americans in 2012, down from 2.3 million in 2011 and 3.2 million in 2010.
John J. Miller is an absolutely representative member of his class: a class of an absolute assholes.