On July 3, 2025, the House of Representatives gave final approval to President Donald Trump’s almost 900-page “One Big Beautiful Bill.” The legislation imposes $4.5 trillion in tax cuts, with much of this “savings” coming by slashing programs designed to aid poor and middle-class Americans.       

The package mandates new 80-hour-a-month work requirements for many adults up to age 65 receiving Medicaid health insurance and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), widely known as food stamps. Parents of children 14 and older must meet the program’s work requirements. 

More than 71 million people rely on Medicaid, and 40 million use SNAP. Most already work, according to analysts.

What remained unmentioned in the bill: The biggest single stumbling block faced by unemployed but willing-to-work Americans: The refusal of employers to hire.

Major reasons for this: Greed. Arrogance. Laziness. Prejudice.

These can be aimed at young, would-be workers. For example, the August 1, 2024 article “5 Reasons Why Employers Refusing to Hire Gen Z will Create a Workforce Bottleneck,” opens: 

“For years, many employers have shown reluctance to hire Gen Z, often citing concerns about work ethic, tech dependency, or cultural fit. Yet, this avoidance strategy is poised to create a significant bottleneck in the workforce. As Baby Boomers retire, the refusal to integrate younger workers could lead to severe consequences for businesses across industries.”

And at males: A May 30, 2024 article in Business Insider, entitled “America’s Most Ridiculous Hiring Hurdle,” offers this:

“Employers might….see young men as riskier to bring on board. Fairly or unfairly, there’s a stereotype that young men are more volatile, more immature, and less responsible than their female counterparts.”

And at women: In 2022, American Freight Management Company paid $5 million to settle claims of nationwide sex discrimination brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The reason: Its executives told store managers to avoid hiring women because of their tendency to “complain and make trouble.” Among their slanders:

• Women couldn’t “do as great a job at selling furniture as men”;
• Women shouldn’t work in warehouses because “women can’t lift”;
• Women would pose “a distraction” to male workers.”

And at older workers: To prevent their collecting retirement. Or to hire younger workers for less.

An article in the March, 2011 issue of Reader’s Digest gives the lie to the excuses so many employers use for refusing to hire.

Entitled “22 Secrets HR Won’t Tell You About Getting a Job,” it lays bare many of the reasons why America needs to legally force employers to demonstrate as much responsibility for hiring as job-seekers are expected to show toward searching for work.

Among the truths it reveals:

TRUTH NO: 1: After you’re unemployed more than six months, employers consider you  unemployable.

TRUTH NO. 2:  It’s not what but who you know that counts.

TRUTH NO. 3: Try to avoid HR. Find someone in the company you know. If you don’t know anyone, contact the hiring manager.

TRUTH NO. 4: Cover letters are often ignored, going directly into “the round file.”

TRUTH NO. 5: Employers judge you on the basis of your email address. Avoid the type that reads: “Igetdrunkandparty.”

TRUTH NO. 6: You’re not protected against age discrimination. Many employers regularly ignore the law. Are you in your 50s or 60s?  Leave your year of graduation off your resume.

TRUTH NO: 7: Just because it’s illegal to discriminate against applicants who have children does not mean you’re safe. Many employers try to screen out parents—such as by checking cars for child safety seats.

TRUTH NO. 8: It’s harder to get a job if you’re fat, since fat people are usually assumed to be lazy.

TRUTH NO. 9: Make sure you give the interviewer a firm handshake. Or he might assume you’re a loser for giving him a weak one.

TRUTH NO. 10: The more you can get the interviewer to talk–especially about himself—the more likely you are to be hired. Ego-driven interviewers love hearing the sound of their own voices and will assume you’re better-qualified than someone who doesn’t want to listen to them prattle.

Millions of Americans blamed President Barack Obama for the nation’s high unemployment rate during his administration. And millions more believe that President Donald Trump created an economic miracle—despite those millions of Americans still desperately searching for work.

The brutal truth is that no President can hope to turn unemployment around until employers are forced to start living up to their responsibilities.

And those responsibilities should encompass more than simply fattening their own pocketbooks and/or egos at the expense of their fellow Americans. Such behavior used to be called treason.

Americans need to recognize that a country can be betrayed for other than political reasons. It can be sold out for economic ones, too.

Trea$on

Employers who enrich themselves by weakening their country—by throwing millions of qualified workers into the street and moving their plants to other countries—are traitors.

Employers who set up offshore accounts to claim their American companies are foreign-owned—and thus exempt from taxes—are traitors.

Employers who systematically violate Federal immigration laws—to hire illegal aliens instead of willing-to-work Americans—are traitors.

And with a new definition of treason should go new penalties—heavy fines and/or prison terms–for those who sell out their country to enrich themselves.