"But what if, she writes, those benefits are actually providing a safety net to American workers so that they do not need to take terrible jobs for low wages at

"But what if, she writes, those benefits are actually providing a safety net to American workers so that they do not need to take terrible jobs for low wages at terrible companies under terrible management?" Exactly this. A significant part of American business depends on cheap, low-overhead labor. America outsources a lot of that overseas (both white and blue collar), but fundamentally depends on filling shitty jobs and providing as few benefits as possible.