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| And fuck the small fry country |
The Governor of Montana, Greg Gianforte, has announced that effective June 27th, Montana is cutting off its residents from federal unemployment benefits (which include the extra $300 a week plus the extension for those long term unemployed) in the hope of forcing people back to work because Montana is experiencing a severe labor shortage. It is estimated this will cost Montana workers from $3000 to $4500 each.
To make clear, as Montana is a solidly red state, republicans are saying they are more than happy to make their own voters suffer financially to help businesses. They are also explicitly sanctioning slave labor--forcing workers to return to work in the midst of a pandemic for peanuts shows exactly the same level of callousness as did the plantation owners of old.
Frankly, if we truly did live in a capitalist system, the easiest way to get workers to return to work would be for businesses to raise salaries enough to make it worthwhile to Montana's workers. The state itself could raise its minimum wage significantly. But as republicans have repeatedly shown, they do not give a whit either for capitalism or people.
This is just another in a long line of sops to their wealthy benefactors--the only thing free about our supposedly free market is the gifts republicans continue to give to Big Business at the financial expense of the rest of us.
It's Not Just an Infrastructure Bill, It's a Jobs Plan, Too
Peace,
emaycee
