“A solemn, unsmiling, sanctimonious old iceberg that looked like he was waiting for a vacancy in the Trinity.” Mark Twain said it. Had Twain been alive today, he might very well have been referring to Rep. Robin Vos, who “thinks” unemployment benefits keep people from applying from low wage jobs.
On June 20, 2011, Rep. Robin Vos (R-Rochester), co-chairman of the Joint Finance Committee, told the Milwaukee Journal he ‘thinks the federally funded extended benefits give laid-off workers an incentive to avoid jobs that pay less than their old jobs and to keep looking for better work. That could have an indirect effect on the health of the state's jobless fund, which is already deeply in debt to the federal government.”
"I believe there's an indirect impact," Vos said. " . . . People might not take a $12-an-hour job because they want one that makes $20."
Vos seems to think HE is the only hard-working person in Wisconsin. This example shows how off base Vos is in his thinking. And, may we remind Vos that he’s no self-made Horatio Alger rags-to-riches story. Vos, though hard-working, had life handed to him. His portfolio of rental properties? He bought his first house with the help of three people. His popcorn factory? He bought it in 1996. Vos didn’t start the business and build it from the ground up. The former owners did that when they founded the company in 1982.
As we’ve seen before with sanctimonious people who feign piety or righteousness (“I believe”…”I think”…note the narcissistic tendencies), Vos’s “opinions” are dead wrong. Take it from economist Peter Diamond at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology(M.I.T.) who won a Nobel Prize for showing how unemployment compensation benefits both workers and businesses by giving workers the necessary time to find the best job fit. Doing so actually improves market efficiencies.
Not that Vos is interested in facts and statistics. As is the case with sanctimonious people, Vos’s personal opinion carries far more weight. The prejudices which Vos carries seething beneath the surface of his day-to-day life seem to pop up every time he wants us to accept his personal beliefs as fact. Which is probably why Vos is waiting for a vacancy in the Trinity before he gives notice to the State Legislature. Let’s help him along.
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