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Obamacare's War on Work and Wages - September 12, 2014

 INSURANCE NEWS NET - The Labor Department confirmed last Friday that more than five years after the recession ended, the labor force participation rate continues to collapse. It sits at 62.8 percent, near its 36-year low and down 0.5 percentage point from this time last year.

 In addition to fewer Americans working, many of those still working have part-time jobs, and wages have stagnated. According to the latest Labor Departmentfigures, 7.3 million Americans want full-time employment but are stuck in part-time jobs.

An abundance of recent evidence shows that the president's health care law bears much of the blame for the economic stagnation of the last several years. Today,CNBC reported that "rising health-care costs have created a big overhang on small to mid-sized employers, who are peering into the economic horizon and see few reasons for optimism." One economist, writing in the Wall Street Journal onSeptember 8, estimated that Obamacare will cause a three percent drop in employment and work hours, and a two percent drop in GDP and worker income. That's double the amount estimated by CBO in February, suggesting that the total loss in worker compensation caused by the president's health care law will exceed$2 trillion between 2017 and 2024. It is just one more way the law is not working for Americans.

The health care law contains more than 20 tax increases that will directly cost Americans more than $1 trillion over the next decade. One of the most destructive is the employer mandate, which taxes businesses with more than 50 full-time workers up to $3,000 per full-time worker if they fail to offer employees an expensive health insurance package.

One health economist calculated in 2013 that Obamacare's "essential benefit package" translates into a minimum health benefit of $2.28 an hour for individual coverage and $5.89 an hour for family coverage.

A recent analysis from the American Action Forum confirms that Obamacare is directly responsible for destroying jobs and lowering wages for workers at small businesses throughout the country. The researchers found that Obamacare's regulations and premium increases have reduced employment by more than 350,000 jobs nationwide at businesses with between 20 and 49 workers.

The study also assessed Obamacare's impact on worker pay, finding that businesses have already started adjusting for Obamacare's higher costs, even though the administration has delayed the employer mandate. It found that Obamacare is already responsible for reducing pay by at least $22.6 billionannually at business with between 20 and 99 workers. On a per worker basis, employees at businesses with 50 to 99 workers have already lost an average of$935 annually. Employees at businesses with 20 to 49 workers have already lost an average of $828 annually as a result of Obamacare.

Without reform, the job losses and wage reductions caused by Obamacare will likely continue as the employer mandate takes effect over the next two years.

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WHAT IS SLATED TO HAPPEN IN 2013? THE HEALTH-CARE REFORM LAW, AKA OBAMACARE, IS POISED TO ENTER A CRUCIAL 12-MONTHS THAT INCLUDES THE SETTING UP OF STATE EXCHANGES, LEVYING TAXES ON SUCCESSFUL CITIZENS ("THE RICH"), AND PREPARING FOR THE (unconstitutional) INDIVIDUAL MANDATES.

Obamacare lives. That may be one of the most sweeping consequences of the 2012 presidential election. By winning a second term, President Obama has essentially ended (weak) Republican hopes of rolling back his signature "Affordable Care Act" (sic) before it takes full effect. 

"Obamacare is the law of the land," said (a pathetic) House Speaker John Boehner (R) of Ohio on Nov. 8.

With its immediate future secure, the health-care law now enters a crucial 12 months. Federal and state officials must race to prepare for Jan. 1, 2014, which is opening day for some of the "Affordable Care Act's" (sic) most far-reaching provisions. As Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius (C-KS) noted in congressional testimony this past spring, "2013 will be a critical year for building the infrastructure and business operations" needed to expand health insurance coverage to millions of low-income Americans. 

Tax hikes.  Whatever the outcome of the budget negotiations, taxes on the successful and small businesses are certain to rise.  The increase will put this payroll tax at 2.35 percent for folks in those income levels took effect on Jan. 1, 2013.  The "Affordable Care Act" (sic) also mandates a new 2.3 percent tax on "medical devices," set to begin on the same date. The Internal Revenue Service hasn't yet issued final regulations setting the boundaries for what this levy will hit, however. Among the issues here is whether things often sold to consumers as well as health-care professionals, such as latex gloves, will be subject to the new tax.

Insurance mandate. The US government doesn't require you to have health insurance – yet. But that day is coming. That day is Jan. 1, 2014, to be precise, when the "Affordable Care Act's" (sic) individual mandate takes effect.  Starting then, adults who don't have health coverage will have to pay a fine (or tax, as the US Supreme Court ruled) of $95 per year, or as much as 1 percent of income – whichever is greater. This is scheduled to rise year by year, topping out in 2016 at $695 per adult or 2.5 percent of income. For families, the fine goes from a maximum of $285 or 1 percent of household income to $2,085 or 2.5 percent of income, over the same period.

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March 2013 - THE NATIONAL DEBT

Presidential candidate Obama said in 2008 that what, "...Bush has done it over the last eight years is to take out a credit card from the Bank of China in the name of our children, driving up our national debt from $5 trillion...added $4 trillion by his lonesome, so that we now have over $9 trillion of debt that we are going to have to pay back. That's irresponsible. It's unpatriotic."  The debt is now over $16 trillion, having risen over $6 trillion in just four years under Obama.

Then as President, Obama said in 2009 that it's time our, "...Government starts living within it's means. We start taking responsibility for our deficits. That's why, when I was sworn in as president, I pledged to cut the deficit in half by the end of my first term."  Of course, that was pure 100% Horse Hockey.

Fast forward to 2013.  Our statist President now has a completely different attitude toward runaway spending and our crushing national debt.  In an interview with ABC News Obama now says, "...My goal is not to chase a balanced budget just for the sake of balance." Later in the interview Obama also says, "...We're not gonna balance the budget in ten years...."

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According to the Social Security Administration Trustees Report ,"...Projected long-range costs for both Medicare and Social Security are not sustainable under currently scheduled financing and will require legislative action to avoid disruptive consequences for beneficiaries and taxpayers. If lawmakers act sooner rather than later, they can consider more options and more time will be available to phase in the changes, giving the public adequate time to prepare. Earlier action would also help avoid adverse impacts on vulnerable populations, including lower-income workers and people dependent on program benefits."

And who are these Trustees who say Medicare and Social Security are "not sustainable"?  Are they evil radical rightwing kooks?  No.  They are Obama's own cabinet members including Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis, along with HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. So Obama's own staff knows our nation's social safety net is going bankrupt, and recommends doing something sooner rather than later, but Obama does NOTHING.  In fact he demonizes others who offer a fiscally sound path forward by saying Republicans want to "throw granny off the cliff". 

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Saul Alinsky would be proud of our statist President.  In "Rules for Radicals" Alinsky writes, "Our cause had to be all shining justice, allied with the angels; theirs had to be all evil, tied to the Devil; in no war has the enemy or the cause ever been gray." (Alinsky 1972: 3)

So who is Barack Obama and what do we know about his past?  One thing we know is that in 1998 he was a featured speaker at a tribute to communist author and Chicago community organizer Saul Alinsky.  Watch this video to learn more:

So what is the connection between Barack Obama and Saul Alinsky and how is it relevant today?  President Obama's December 6, 2001 Osawatomie, KS speech was literally a Marxist attack on America right out of the pages of Rules for Radicals. The president of the United States said that the United States of America, as founded, "has never worked."  He went on to say that the free market is "a license to steal."