I would like to propose the addition of a new word to the English vocabulary. The word is Numeraphobia and it is defined as an irrational fear of a very large number. This proposal is prompted by the refusal of the Repulican members of the Senate to extend unemployment benefits to over 1 million of our fellow citizens whose benefits have run out.
The reason given is that due to our national debt, which is a very large number, we can’t afford the added cost. All this is happening just as the richest nation on earth is celebrating it’s 234th birthday.
Implicit in this economic dismissal is the notion that these people somehow don’t count, that their problem may be partly due to their own fault and, even worse, a few are merely scamming the system. Not So! These are the people you see everyday when you wake up, blink a few times to clear your eyes, go into the bathroom and look in the mirror.
Numeraphobia is a very serious disease. We are told that our economy is significantly dependent upon the purchasing power of a strong middle class. Unfortunately,there is mounting evidence that our strong middle class is weakening due to the recession and that many are sliding into the status of an underclass.
We cannot allow that to happen because if this transition is allowed to continue, the process will become autocatalytic and our economy will stagnate. We must get purchasing power back into the pockets of the unemployed by subsidizing additional stimulus programs such as infrastructure improvement, alternate energy research and other pump priming modalities Now is not the time to cut unemploymnet benefits.
Alvin Lerner
West Windsor
