Golf clap, guys, golf clap. The senate has agreed on something for the first time in about 10 years- that they should extend aid to those who are jobless. I don’t know that there was ever really another option- what would you do? Go back to your constituents and say, “Hey, we talked about it and it just isn’t in your best interest to have a job or to get benefits from the government. Trust us- we know what’s best for you. And could you vote for me? How about a campaign contribution? YOU know times are tough- I gotta get mine, you know?”

Or something.

Do you like my headline? Bipartisan? It was, afterall.

That said, the bill got an overwhelming majority to vote in favor- there were only 19 nay votes and 78 yay votes- but it still may not be the best idea. Now that we have everything on government aid- from the car companies to the banks to the people who used to work for all of them, how are we going to stop? Now that all of our houses are worth less than what we paid for them, or said we were going to pay for them and just won’t be able to at some point down the road, what are we going to do? It seems like we need a reset button, but the politics around that are so messy that they’ll never even make it TO a committee in the senate.

So it’s back to highway money and jobless funds- hundreds of thousands of unemployed people in America will now get benefits again. If the Republicans were really in a conspiracy to hurt Barack Obama they would have blocked this too. Some of them did try, though: Republican Jim Bunning prevented the from renewing on the grounds that they would add to the national debt. A valid point- we have a $12.4 trillion debt and over a trillion dollar projected deficit for this year- but what are we going to do?

Would it be a good idea to let those benefits run out and just let everyone fend for themselves? It sounds heartless- but it’s the same logic that says we shouldn’t have bailed out the banks. If something goes wrong in pure capitalism, you let the market- in the former case the banks and in the present case the unemployed- right itself. Righting itself in our case would be dropping values, massive failure of institutions, and a segment of the population and market starting over, essentially.

That isn’t good for people, isn’t good for votes, and isn’t good for, well, the continuation of good growth numbers in capitalism. We’re stuck. We now need growth to pay off the debt that is going up as the interest rates rise. What are we going to do about it?

"Today we have a clear-cut example to show the American people what's wrong with Washington," said Democratic Senator Patty Murray.

Meaning that the benefits and highway construction funding shut off on Sunday and people were out of work and money for two days. Essentially, it was an experiment into what people would do if their benefits were turned off. They freaked.

Bunning is no darling of the Repuclican party- Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, also from Kentucky, discouraged him from running for reelection, according to Reuters.

When your own party turns against you because it makes them look bad, even though you are holding up the essential tenet of free-market capitalism which is their root calling card, you know you’re in trouble.

Photo Credit: WSDOT (via Flickr under CCL)