Jobless Claims Up and Rand Paul is Down

The Unemployment situation continues, unabated. Today Bloomberg reported an uptick in weekly unemployment claims:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aWW4U5RZ6Z.w&source=patrick.net
"June 17 (Bloomberg) -- The number of Americans seeking jobless benefits last week unexpectedly rose to a one-month high, indicating firings are staying elevated even as the U.S. economy grows..."

It is in this context that one has to interpret Rand Paul's remarks advocating "tough love" for the unemployed, whom purportedly remain unemployed because they are unwilling to take lower paying jobs.

Mark Thoma's Economist's View discusses the folly of Rand's remarks given the ratio of 5 to 1 of job seekers to job openings. There are simply not enough jobs to employ the unemployed.
http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2010/06/lack-of-workers-is-not-the-problem.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+EconomistsView+%28Economist%27s+View+%28EconomistsView%29%29

Although I am not a libertarian and disagree with many (but not all) libertarian principles, I have been pleasantly surprised by many of the comments made by Ron Paul over the years. I don't always agree with Ron (especially on the economy), but I do find many of his comments about war and civil liberties to be on track.

It is clear that Rand lacks his father's virtues and insights. Rand seems to put his foot in his mouth more often than not. Rand's economic privilege blinds him to the plight experienced by unemployed and under-employed Americans.

Clearly, Rand's brand of libertarianism is elitist and, it must be said, ignorant of the facts on the ground.