CBS Supports Growing Unemployment Rate

Mainstream media, as in NBC, ABC, Fox, CNN, and CBS, are all failing on television, with abysmal ratings that plummet more every month. Print media isn't doing much better, with publications like the New York Times and the Washington Post hemorrhaging money and costing millions more to operate every year than they make. Most people understand that the reason mainstream media push the outlandish, objectively false narratives they do is that they need sensationalism to keep the few viewers and readers they have, since their few viewers are only there for confirmation bias anyway. But in a move that can only be described as shocking, CBS news flatly applauded and cheered for the growing trend of people refusing to work and most small businesses going extinct.

A cynical person might suspect that a corporate narrative is a little biased toward corporations and doesn't care that America's economic engine isn't driven by National Amusements and Time Warner, who own CBS, but rather by the small, independent businesses. Walmart, Target and Home Depot aren't the economy. They're corporate conglomerate big-box stores that, altogether, employ around 10 million people in America, if we're generous with the estimate. There are 160 million Americans in the workforce, yet corporate mainstream media only cares about the small percentage of them employed by huge corporations, apparently. "Just pay people more," they say, in what sounds much more like "Let them eat cake" than sage economic advice.

If there is another explanation for why CBS news ran a segment applauding Americans' refusal to work and businesses closing, it would be nice to hear it or read it. On CBS yesterday, June 19, the corporate media network ran a segment with so-called "economic experts" who were cheering on the death of a nation's economy. They were saying it's a good thing that people are refusing to work.

People "demand higher wages and better working conditions," they claimed. Not once did they mention that, in over 40 states right now, people who file unemployment claims are making $600 per week bare minimum. Per week. Understand what that translates to in the average income for most Americans. Most households average around $40k per year, but that's with multiple people working. The average per-hour salary is so low that the "Fight for 15" campaign has serious traction in numerous states, whereby people are demanding $15 per hour. Do you know how much $15 per hour is gross? $600. But what about net income, after state, federal, SSI, and other taxes? It's less than $400 per week.

Basically, even if every employer out there paid $15 per hour as minimum wage, people would still be bringing in just under $400 per week (around $360), except in Florida, which has no state taxes. So, for 49 states paying $15 per hour, people would still be making $200 less than filing for unemployment. But CBS will tell you that people just want to get paid more because of fairness, not because the non-working option is more lucrative.

How much more would businesses have to pay for one's labor to net them what filing unemployment does? About $23 per hour. Though according to CBS, unemployment payments have nothing whatsoever to do with people refusing to work. Everyone just collectively decided to demand more money, while it has nothing to do with the fact they were being subsidized after the government crashed the economy.

What Happens if Nobody Works?

80% of businesses were forced to close due to government's reaction to the Coronavirus. That sent America spiraling toward a depression, that was only halted after government pulled another few trillion dollars out of thin air. Fewer than 30% of those businesses have returned, which means that even post-lockdowns, America is down around 50% of their businesses.

With the "refuse to work" movement currently at its peak, about 50% of those existing businesses have closed. This is something that's crippling the economy. Tens of millions of jobs are available, but since people have been making $600 per week for six, eight, even twelve months, they refuse to go to a job and work for less. Some may ask why businesses just can't pay people the $23 per hour necessary to ensure everyone makes $600 per week. Economists point to slim profit margins for the bulk of businesses. Remember, not everyone is a corporation. Most are small businesses.

What's really damaging here is that the more money businesses pay, the more product prices go up, and the more the rest of the economy inflates. So by paying people $23 an hour, cost of living rises in concert, and that $23 per hour becomes the equivalent of $7 again in a year, and we're right back to square one.