Yesterday I went to my urologist for one of my regular checkups.
I’ll spare you the medical details, but my trip to the doctor gave me a quick lesson in why there are still millions of Americans who are not returning to their jobs.
What normally happens at the urologist’s office is that after I pee in a bottle, a staffer or assistant takes my blood pressure, draws a sample of my blood and does an ultrasound on my bladder.
Then the doctor himself comes in, we have a quick conversation, he inspects me, tells me I’m fine and I’m out the door.
But yesterday, no one took my blood pressure or gave me an ultrasound.
When I asked the doctor why that was, he said, “We don’t have the help anymore. We’re so shorthanded we can’t do all the normal things.”
The clinic was understaffed because its workers can “earn” more sitting on their butts opening state and federal unemployment checks than they could if they returned to their jobs.
If you recall, starting at the end of March 2020, the Trump administration’s $2.2 trillion Cares Act included $600 a week for Americans who lost their jobs because of the COVID-19 lockdowns.
Added to existing state unemployment benefits, millions of restaurant workers, retail workers and even part-time Uber drivers found themselves on easy-chair street.
This March Biden’s American Rescue Plan cut the unemployment relief check to $300 a week, but his regime kept the generous federal gravy train running until Sept. 4.
Given the way everyone’s talking about lockdowns again because of the delta variant, don’t be surprised if those $300 checks keep coming till Christmas.
What was so sad, my urologist said, is that despite having no patients during the early days of the pandemic, his medical group decided to stay open so its employees would have a paycheck.
“Then one day the federal government decided to send checks to them,” he said, “and they went home – and never came back.”
You wonder why those federal employment numbers keep coming in lower than expected while so many restaurants and small businesses are clamoring for workers?
To put it simply, people are being paid too well by the feds not to work.
It’s not that they can’t find a job. Every storefront in America has a “Help Wanted” or “Hiring for All Positions” sign in its window.
They just can’t get their backsides off the couch – if they’re actually at home.
A lot of unemployed Americans apparently are in Vegas, which is so crowded you can’t find a hotel room and the average wait for an Uber is more than half an hour.
Restaurants everywhere are really hurting because no one wants to take a pay cut and go back to work.
This week I saw the owner of a restaurant in New York crying on TV that he was so short of help he had to clean the toilets himself.
And now in New York City and LA they’re saying no one will be allowed to eat indoors unless they can prove they’ve had a COVID shot.
The health Nazis in charge want restaurants to start checking people at the door to make sure their vaccination papers are in order.
So who does Mayor De Blasio actually think will fill those new doorman jobs, the chef, the bartender or the restaurant owner?
I guarantee whoever thought up that stupid idea never gave a second’s thought to how it would affect the restaurants in New York City that already are understaffed and barely breathing.
If I ran a restaurant in LA, I’d go straight to the Southern border and hire a dozen illegal aliens – and I guarantee you they’d be happy to go to work.
I’d rather hire someone who walked here from Central America than some lazy American who won’t get off their couch.
Michael Reagan, the son of President Ronald Reagan, is an author, speaker and president of the Reagan Legacy Foundation. Send comments to reagan@caglecartoons.com and follow @reaganworld on Twitter.
