GOP presidential hopeful Herman Cain said that he opposes the reauthorization of benefits that allow up to 99 weeks of support for the long-term jobless, asking where the help would end, according to the Huffington Post.
"Where do we stop?" he asked Candy Crowley during an interview on CNN's "State of the Union." "Here again, extending unemployment benefits, extending the cut in the payroll tax are just distractions from the bigger problem, which is lack of economic growth which has not been there. Secondly, we're spending money we do not have."
"It's unfortunate that people are unemployed," he continued. "This is one of the reasons that [I] have proposed a bold plan to get this economy going, which you know is 9-9-9. People need to go — want to go back to work. That's the good news. But this economy's not producing the jobs in order to get 14 million people that are unemployed back to work."
Earlier in the program, Cain reluctantly said he backed extending the payroll tax cut that, like unemployment benefits, is set to expire at the end of the year. But with both items he argued that it would be preferable for Congress to [undertake] significant tax reform instead.
Doesn't Cain realize that unemployment benefits need to be extended at the same time that jobs are being created? Without the extension, more people would fall into poverty. The former Godfather's Pizza executive was a great businessman. Maybe he can dedicate his time to retraining unemployed workers after Republicans nominate a presidential candidate.
Read more at the Huffington Post.