By By Dan Arel Dec 30, 2013 in Politics Much debate is had every month when job reports are released about the state of our economy, but these debates are between politicians and economists and rarely reflect what the American people as a whole feel or think. While the economy may appear to some to be in recovery, as it should be by now, it is also being held hostage and all real signs of recovery are continuously crushed by the Republican Party. An economic turnaround cannot be achieved when the GOP refuses to pass a real budget, refuses to extend unemployment benefits and continues to deny that minimum wage needs an immediate increase. When 1.3 million Americans lost their unemployment benefits this weekend we saw the GOP take a position that will further destroy the economy, and that is exactly why they did it. They care more about destroying the legacy of this president than they do about helping the American people. They care about this mission so much they are willing to destroy lives to do so. Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky) told A disservice to the worker? By keeping them and their family housed and fed? This is the warped thinking that drags our economy deeper into economic instability. Taking money away from Americans in need takes money out of the economy. Jeremy Funk, communications director of Americans United for Change, said to the The GOP have the idea in their head that moving towards a more free-market capitalism based economy will solve these problems, regardless that there is zero evidence that such a thing would occur. Capitalism cannot solve the problems of poverty and income inequality and can only exacerbate the problem further. So yes, the outlook on our economy is bleak because we have a congress so divided that half of it only cares about tarnishing the reputation of the president and the other half seems to timid to stand up against them because they know many of their own are up for reelection next year. Congress seems to lack integrity to do what needs to be done and is too focused on their own personal futures while disregarding the futures of the American people. We must finally realize we no longer have a functioning government. They are no longer acting in the interest of the citizens and as voters we must take a stand against this kind of governance. The Chomsky states: Well, there’s always a class war going on. The United States, to an unusual extent, is a business-run society, more so than others. The business classes are very class-conscious—they’re constantly fighting a bitter class war to improve their power and diminish opposition. Occasionally this is recognized. Our economy's recovery is tied to the success of the working class. The working class, or as we now call them, the middle class is the backbone of our nation. The oligarchs know this but have configured our nation in a way to best exploit them in their favor, removing the workers' rights to prevent any worker style takeover of the nation. The business classes understand they are outnumbered and must manipulate government policies to hold the power. They have done so while fooling most Americans into believing they are voting for “libertarian” politicians like Rand Paul, while ignoring the fact that these candidates are fully backed by big business and are selling the liberties they claim to fight for to the business classes. We then have the GOP running a total sideshow distracting us from the fact that the Without the working class becoming aware of their struggle, no true economic recovery can ever exist. The workers must fight and pass a minimum wage increase, moving millions of poor families out of poverty and placing them above the poverty line. We must immediately act to get Congress to reinstate unemployment extensions for the 1.3 million Americans who just lost them. According to a recent report in TIME Magazine , almost 70 percent of Americans think the economy is in bad shape. I am actually shocked the number is that low.While the economy may appear to some to be in recovery, as it should be by now, it is also being held hostage and all real signs of recovery are continuously crushed by the Republican Party. An economic turnaround cannot be achieved when the GOP refuses to pass a real budget, refuses to extend unemployment benefits and continues to deny that minimum wage needs an immediate increase.When 1.3 million Americans lost their unemployment benefits this weekend we saw the GOP take a position that will further destroy the economy, and that is exactly why they did it. They care more about destroying the legacy of this president than they do about helping the American people. They care about this mission so much they are willing to destroy lives to do so.Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky) told Fox News , "I do support unemployment benefits for the 26 weeks that they're paid for. If you extend it beyond that, you do a disservice to these workers.”A disservice to the worker? By keeping them and their family housed and fed? This is the warped thinking that drags our economy deeper into economic instability. Taking money away from Americans in need takes money out of the economy.Jeremy Funk, communications director of Americans United for Change, said to the Huffington Post , “Speaker Boehner (R-Oh) and fellow Washington Republicans are hopelessly out-of-touch, and their decision to Scrooge over a million unemployed Americans three days after Christmas is the latest and among the worst examples of it,” he then continued, "All these struggling Americans got from the GOP for Christmas was a ‘Get Employed Soon’ card."The GOP have the idea in their head that moving towards a more free-market capitalism based economy will solve these problems, regardless that there is zero evidence that such a thing would occur. Capitalism cannot solve the problems of poverty and income inequality and can only exacerbate the problem further.So yes, the outlook on our economy is bleak because we have a congress so divided that half of it only cares about tarnishing the reputation of the president and the other half seems to timid to stand up against them because they know many of their own are up for reelection next year.Congress seems to lack integrity to do what needs to be done and is too focused on their own personal futures while disregarding the futures of the American people.We must finally realize we no longer have a functioning government. They are no longer acting in the interest of the citizens and as voters we must take a stand against this kind of governance.The democracy we once had is being replaced by a plutocracy. The people of this nation have voted their voice away to tea-party candidates and right wing extremists who do not care for the poor, and according to Noam Chomsky, America seem to hate its poor . We are in the middle of a class war and our government is the main orchestrator of the battle.Chomsky states:Our economy's recovery is tied to the success of the working class. The working class, or as we now call them, the middle class is the backbone of our nation. The oligarchs know this but have configured our nation in a way to best exploit them in their favor, removing the workers' rights to prevent any worker style takeover of the nation.The business classes understand they are outnumbered and must manipulate government policies to hold the power. They have done so while fooling most Americans into believing they are voting for “libertarian” politicians like Rand Paul, while ignoring the fact that these candidates are fully backed by big business and are selling the liberties they claim to fight for to the business classes.We then have the GOP running a total sideshow distracting us from the fact that the 1% of this country is running the show Without the working class becoming aware of their struggle, no true economic recovery can ever exist. The workers must fight and pass a minimum wage increase, moving millions of poor families out of poverty and placing them above the poverty line. We must immediately act to get Congress to reinstate unemployment extensions for the 1.3 million Americans who just lost them. This opinion article was written by an independent writer. The opinions and views expressed herein are those of the author and are not necessarily intended to reflect those of DigitalJournal.com More about Economy, Republicans, Democrats, oligarchy, plutocracy Economy Republicans Democrats oligarchy plutocracy Obama Noam Chomsky Capitalism Unemployment Democracy Libertarian