I asked this question on my radio show today and the answer is "yes." It may not be the job you want, but you can find one to keep working, paying taxes into the system and help your self esteem. Thousands of Americans move from job to job daily as people retire, quit or are fired, so the jobs are out there.

Yet we constantly hear that workers can't find jobs and need more government welfare. It doesn’t have to be that way.

The problem is that 99 weeks of unemployment benefits (almost 2 years) has made it far too easy for workers to choose not to work at a lower paying job, thereby become a drain on the system, rather than paying into it and keeping unemployment rates higher than they should be (more on that in a moment). Now, taking a lower paying job creates financial issues for most of us as we have structured our lives around a certain level of spending, saving and debt, yet lifestyles can be adjusted to make up for lower revenues. The Oregonian story today illustrates this perfectly with the family from Vancouver who has made lower incomes work, as they restructured their mortgage and car payments and adjusted their lifestyle. If they hadn’t had the two years of unemployment money, they would have done those things sooner, rather than later, producing positive benefits for all.

The moral of this story ought to be that if the free market is allowed to work without government interference, then things that are out of whack eventually find their natural way back into alignment. Unfortunately, the tone of the story is that this family is a victim and that the government safety net has failed them. Sadly, too many people believe that two years of being on unemployment is not enough and they want more, which I predict will happen if the socialists remain in power.

The reality is that if unemployment benefits had been not extended, as with almost every other recession we have had since UI was implemented, then more people would be working and the unemployment rate would be lower. This was the thesis of a WSJ OPED last week by Harvard economics professor Robert Barro and it is pretty hard to argue with, once you think it through.

The more government interference with the free market that occurs, the more it distorts that free market and only makes the problem worse that the socialists think government must solve. If people are forced to take a job, any job, then sooner rather than later, the economy naturally adjusts and we get back on track. It may be hard in the short run, but much better in the long run for America.

Food for thought on this Labor Day.