Meet Tina.
Tina doesn't want to go back to work. She explained to the Phoenix New Times she doesn't have to because the government is paying her to stay home and sit on her couch.
"This is where I work now," she says, patting the nubby cushion beside her (on her couch). "I look at it like this: The government says it's okay to stay home, and they'll pay me more than I made praying for tips six nights a week. I earned this. Okay?"
She earned this. Okay.
What more proof do you need. The government has created this problem by handing out extra unemployment benefits. Thousands of people are getting paid more to not work than to get back to work. This is hamstringing restaurants and other service industries. One Valley business owner today told us he today doesn't want to see his restaurants full right now because he doesn't have enough staff to handle all those customers.
Imagine that. A business owner wants to turn away business because not enough people are coming back to work.
Here in Arizona, extended unemployment benefits end on July 10th. The owner hopes by August he'll have enough staff in place and trained to be able to handle a full restaurant again. But, how much revenue is he sacrificing because of the government? Impossible to tell.
What's not impossible to tell is political 'solutions' very seldom solve problems. In this case, these 'solutions' are causing more. So much so that a McDonald's in Tampa as the New Times points out gave people $50 just to show up for an interview. Tina wouldn't even show up for that interview because she views it as if the government is paying her to take a year-plus long vacation.
Oddly, some like Tina are the people who say America isn't the greatest country in the world. Yes, the country that has paid them to stay home for 15 months is a horrible, selfish country.
Ironically, expectations of getting paid by the government are one of the reasons we are becoming a more selfish country. And the lack of gratitude is astounding.