LEANING RIGHT-I recently read an absolutely fascinating and accurate article by Michael Hiltzik. At first I didn’t realize how spot-on Hiltzik was in his observations. Later after reflecting I realized he was hitting all the hot topics and this led to much more reflection.
Hiltzik pointed out that, as a bipartisan agency, the Congressional Budget Office has to tread lightly when it tells any of its clients (the GOP) on Capitol Hill that they're full of it. So the agency's remarks about the employment impact of the Affordable Care Act is remarkable for its bluntness, even if it is spelled out with the CBO's customary tact.
The question the CBO addresses is whether it said in a report last week that the ACA would lead to people losing their jobs (the GOP take-away from the report). Here's how the agency answered in an online post Monday of frequently asked questions:
Q: Will 2.5 Million People Lose Their Jobs in 2024 Because of the ACA?
A: No, we would not describe our estimates in that way.
In the course of the first two paragraphs Hiltzik hit the two hottest topics of the day:
● There are currently 92 million unemployed.
● Obamacare and the fact it will actually destroy the greatest health care system ever. Nobody wants it and it was never needed.
Underscoring the report is the fact that neither the CBO, or any of the other gross government agency, has ever created employment, stimulated the economy, spurred entrepreneurship, or advanced technology. After all they couldn’t even build a website after spending $1 billion in three years – no heads rolled because this was just normal expectations.
This all counters the administration barking that we are not responsible for the developments we have achieved, we didn’t do it on our own.
The CBO goes on to underscore what it did say, which is that the total number of hours worked would decline by 1.5% to 2% by 2024, "almost entirely because workers will choose to supply less labor."
As explained at the time, that signifies a combination of workers cutting back hours to raise their families, leaving jobs to retire before they're eligible for Medicare, or giving up employer-provided healthcare to start new businesses. Americans are newly empowered to make these choices because the ACA ensures that they no longer have to give up health insurance to make them.
Traditionally, these choices have been viewed by Democrats and Republicans alike as virtues of any plan to unlink health insurance from employment, a linkage that is far more dominant in the U.S. than anywhere else in the industrialized world.
In implementing Obamacare most of the basic tenets of the Constitution have been violated by the administration time and time again and these would be grounds for impeachment during any other era.
I kept pouring through the report and finally asked myself “why would such a large chunk of the population tolerate 92 million unemployment and all the violations of the constitution?”
They might be spending their life sipping beer on the couch on our dime but isn’t there a desire for more. Where has the dignity of the human spirit gone? Where has the creativity, energy, motivation, work ethic, and inspiration gone?
There are venues out there such as Paris, Rio, and Singapore that are beckoning. Doesn’t anybody prefer these venues over the couch?
Meanwhile 92 million remain unemployed and the CBO worries about the increase that Obamacare will have on this figure.
(Kay Martin is an author and a CityWatch contributor. His new book, Along for the Ride, is now available. He can be reached at [email protected])
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 12 Issue 13
Pub: Feb 14, 2014