[OldPossum]

While Bush administration officials have continually repeated that they will not be satisfied "until every American who wants a job can get one," it has yet to support a renewal of extended benefits, a move many economists say would help blunt the economic damage of the rise in long-term unemployment.

This is harsh medicine and hard on the unemployed, but economists know that perpetual extension of unemployment benefits creates a disincentive to some people and they therefore don't actively seek jobs. This keeps the unemployment figures up, and the Bush administration surely knows this.

[Lael]

This is harsh medicine and hard on the unemployed, but economists know that perpetual extension of unemployment benefits creates a disincentive to some people

I notice they only quote EMPLOYED Economists.

BTW, the Hedonically Cooked GDP numbers are beginning to distort the views of the Japanese Economy as well...Japanese Gov't claims it is ALL going swimmingly...yet the Bank of Japan has numbers that are absolutely DREADFUL!