Don't be Scrooge on Christmas, Congress

I read that the Republicans want the government to pay for extending unemployment benefits to the tune of $6 billion a month. That is $72 billion per year. This happens to be very close to the cost to the government of extending the Bush tax cuts to the rich. The cost of that I read is $700 billion per decade or $70 billion per year.

So, instead of extending the tax cut to the rich, the government can use that money to extend benefits to the unemployed. When the unemployment level drops to pre-Bush levels, then we can once again consider more tax cuts for the rich. This recession has left the low and middle class poorer and many unemployed, but the rich have gotten richer.

The combined net worth of the 400 richest Americans climbed 8 percent this year, to $1.37 trillion, according to Forbes magazine's annual survey release in September. So I suspect they can survive just fine without further tax cuts at the moment.

The unemployed will use this money to pay their bills, buy food, pay for health care, etc. But even if you don't care about the unemployed, the $6 billion a month that they spend will help our economy get better (unlike the rich, they will not be spending it in overseas investments). This will benefit all of us even perhaps the rich. Write your Congressmen tell them not to be Scrooge this Christmas.

Eugene Bordelon

Warrenville