Today’s Winston-Salem Journal editorial says extended unemployment benefits will stimulate the economy:
During the winter debate over the first economic-stimulus package, a strong case was made that money should be directed to those areas of the country where unemployment is highest. The idea is to extend unemployment benefits.
This kind of targeted benefit will immediately get into the economy. Give laid-off workers a few extra weeks of benefits, and they will immediately put that money to work. They’ll buy groceries, clothes for their children and gas for the car, and they will pay their back rent.
Economic conditions are getting worse, not better. A stimulus is needed. But it needs to go toward the right sectors of the economy. Infrastructure projects and extended unemployment benefits are the right approach.
