To my conservative friends who believe unemployment insurance is some communist plot

Calling anyone who wants to help families right before Christmas stay in their homes, pay their utilities, or get a present or two for their kids a Maoist is just plain silly (and once again insensitive to the victims of those mass movements that killed so many). 
Jobless benefits are not "largesse"; they are returned premiums paid by employers and employees into a compulsory federal unemployment insurance system. Workers received less money for years in exchange for the benefits they are receiving now. They have already paid for them. If the system runs a deficit, it will be replenished once the economy recovers. This is how it has always worked (unlike communism, which generally hasn't).
Tax cuts to the wealthiest 1%, on the other hand, are completely un-financed and un-budgeted. Most of those dollars will not be spent, so are taken out of the economy. They represent a redistribution of wealth by fiat from a central government to a well-connected and well-represented elite. Although such historical allusions are hyperbolic, there is far more evidence to support the idea that this transfer is far more reminiscent of Soviet-era handouts of cash, cars, privileges, and dachas to a well-connected few. Communism didn't fail because it professed concern for the worker but because it, like Republicans today, instituted policies that were ultimately harmful to them. No, I'm not calling Republicans communists, but simply because Boehner says he loves free markets does not mean he is to be trusted anymore than Stalin when he said he believed in the universal rights of man.
If you think jobless benefits are trivial, you clearly have not talked to a family who depends on them. Or to local businesses who are disproportionate recipients of the benefits. Or to their employees whose jobs will be lost if those benefits are cut off prematurely.
No recession lasts forever. I have faith in the long-term strength of the United States economy and believe most of those out of work today won't be in 12 to 18 months.
But in a sustained downturn we have a moral obligation to help those who are less fortunate than ourselves. I am willing to help. Are you?