A Cruel, Irresponsible and Dysfunctional Budget Deal

http://billmoyers.com/2013/12/11/a-cruel-irresponsible-and-dysfunctional-budget-deal/

Their crisis is our crisis. According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, extending benefits for the long-term unemployed would boost a still slow economy by two-tenths of a percent in the coming year – creating 200,000 needed jobs. As the CBO explains: “Recipients of the additional benefits would increase their spending on consumer goods and services. That increase in aggregate demand would encourage businesses to boost production and hire more workers than they otherwise would, particularly given the expected slack in the capital and labor markets.”

Without providing for the extension, something that easily and appropriately could have been done in the budget agreement, Ryan and Murray failed in their most basic humanitarian and economic duties.

And what of the federal workers and members of the military who will be required to take what is effectively a pay cut in order to pay more for their retirement benefits?