You can tell times are bad when unemployment offices need armed guards to protect them from desperate Americans, who are being denied further benefits.
The Indy Channel reports: “Armed security guards will be on hand at 36 unemployment offices around Indiana in what state officials said is a step to improve safety and make branch security more consistent.No specific incidents prompted the action, Department of Workforce Development spokesman Marc Lotter told 6News’ Norman Cox. Lotter said the agency is merely being cautious with the approach of an early-December deadline when thousands of Indiana residents could see their unemployment benefits end after exhausting the maximum 99 weeks provided through multiple federal extension periods. ‘Given the upcoming expiration of the federal extensions and the increased stress on some of the unemployed, we thought added security would provide an extra level of protection for our employees and clients,’ he said.”
Unemployment benefits are running out for many just before Christmas. I can imagine how the guys and gals behind the government desks whose job it is to cut off families’ lifelines could be getting a little jumpy.
Indychannel goes on: “The cost of the armed guards varies dramatically around the state. Lotter said the agency is trying to be more consistent and that it plans to employ armed guards in all 36 offices where unemployment insurance benefits are handled. The overall cost for the security is $1 million, paid for with federal funds designated for administration of the unemployment system, Lotter said.”
Well, at least a few guys will get jobs for Christmas, guarding the bureaucrats from their victims. It rather reminds one of an old story: when J. P. Morgan was asked what he would do if the working men ever actually rose in rebellion against him and his fellow capitalists, Morgan replied, “I would hire half the men to shoot the other half.”
The thing is, these guards are probably necessary. Unemployed and desperate people may well respond by lashing out at low-level droids who merely sit behind desks and tap on their computers and who merely carry out the policies decided by the men and women in the power suits who ride around in limousines and inhabit the carpeted, air-conditioned offices in Washington DC.
Somehow, those people who actually make the decisions to cut off some family’s benefits never seem to be around when some middle-aged White man, driven to the point of insanity with baffled rage and inability to get any kind of job while illegal immigrants and non-Whites all around him are working, finally snaps and goes on a rampage.
