Communism! Socialism! Nihilism! Liberalism! Big ultra scary words with ism on the end! Boo! Boo! BOO! According to idiots, everything is the fault of the ism. Ideas cause cancer, heart disease, diabetes, not being boring, and getting things done; so, they are the mortal enemy of the political pundit. The reality is that at least some good can be found in most ideologies and that society's often pull from multiple economic philosophies depending upon the particular economic season the country is in. Rampant cuts to federal funding have become the way due to massive economic growth; the greed factor always comes into play during massive economic expansion, leaving most people in the cold while adding several inches to the wealthy waste line of the one percent. These cuts have also occurred on the state level. They have been occurring for a long time and they did not really make things any better. If you remember correctly, that was the promise that several decades of presidents have made, that allowing people to starve to death or die of addiction will teach future generations to go down better paths or make better decisions. The argument was made that helping people in the interim was far too charitable for such an industrious nation where anyone could make it any time they felt like it. Of course this view of the world is childish and selfish. It is the kind of mentality that rails against homeless camps while refusing to create affordable housing. There is no remedy to a problem that you continually recreate for yourself. We also know that improved benefits do not encourage people to become lazy; there is simply no evidence to prove that such a thing takes place. Of course there are people who lie and game the system, but the government consistently catches these people and jails them, as they have done all throughout the pandemic. So, yes, there are these various hackers and scam artists, but they are being brought to justice. But the way you hear people talking about those still on unemployment, many of whom are actively searching for work in the field that they have experience in, but are still being turned away, you would think we were all planning on never returning to work again or some nonsense. I personally have been searching for an adequate job to care for my family, not just some side gig that will pay for one person, since last year. My boss fired me, tossed me in the trash like a piece of stale bread. My old place of work is still closed. Every time I go to the website it just says that it is shut down. Some days I think they will never open again and, even if they did, why fire me if you plan on rehiring me later? On top of all this I was drawing a large part of my income from the now virtually dead entertainment gig economy, which many prize winning economists are now saying will never come back. Needless to say, the prospects are pretty grim. Live events are still being cancelled because some people are too selfish to realize that their bad choices effect other people's ability to work. The reality is that, if people continue to refuse the vaccine, us entertainers are screwed. There simply is not going to be any steady work for us and, trust me, I have been looking. So yes, I am looking into different options now, bringing my show online has been a part of that, but I am also looking into production and directing as many of the old guard finally are deciding to retire. I really do not have much of a choice here. I have to be on unemployment, but I am not a communist or a socialist. I am just a normal American and I just want to be able to get through to the next day. I understand what is like to have everything taken from you through no fault of your own, and, to be frank, seeing wealthy privileged people have debates over whether people like me deserve the unemployment we were promised is really disturbing. Some of this is actually coming from the people who whine about a lack of empathy. How kind.