The GOP jumped the gun on today's CBO report and the media was very quick to follow them. Obamacare will increase unemployment by 2.5 million jobs and increae the deficit by $1 trillion dollars.
"Republicans thought they found a gold mine when the Congressional Budget Office released its latest report Tuesday on the federal budget and Obamacare. They seized on one line in particular:
"Republicans thought they found a gold mine when the Congressional Budget Office released its latest report Tuesday on the federal budget and Obamacare. They seized on one line in particular:
The reduction in CBO’s projections of hours worked represents a decline in the number of full-time-equivalent workers of about 2.0 million in 2017, rising to about 2.5 million in 2024
"They had a new talking point: President Obama's hated health care reform law would cost more than 2 million American jobs."
"Obamacare To Print Even More Pink Slips," read the subject of the Senate Republican conference email blasted out after the report's release."
"Obamacare will cost our nation about 2.5 million jobs," tweeted Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)."
“For years, Republicans have said that the president’s health care law creates uncertainty for small businesses, hurts take-home pay, and makes it harder to invest in new workers," Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said in a statement. "The middle class is getting squeezed in this economy, and this CBO report confirms that ObamaCare is making it worse."
"What the CBO really found was that the numbers of hours worked would decrease under Obamacare, by roughly 1.5 percent to 2 percent between 2017 and 2024. The report then translated those lost hours into the equivalent of 2.5 million jobs. But that doesn't mean 2.5 million jobs are going to disappear from the U.S. economy."
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/obamacare-cbo-report-jobs
Of course, what do the facts matter? If reading one line superficially without any context helps the GOP why become partisan and dig even one iota deeper? So reason's Bob Woodward's media.
Of course there is a lot of difference between the economy losing 2.5 million jobs, and some people choosing to work less hours.
"I think it’s important to distinguish between people choosing to work less and jobs being lost," Larry Levitt, vice president at the non-partisan Kaiser Famiy Foundation, told TPM. "That is something important to keep an eye on, since you don’t want to discourage work. But, it’s not in all cases a bad thing."
"For example, some people in their late 50s and early 60s would like to retire because they have health issues but have kept working for the health benefits. Some of them can now retire because they can’t be discriminated against for having a pre-existing condition and may get help paying their premiums."
For more see here
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/obamacare-cbo-jobs-reporting
Put this way, it can be argued persausively that Americans are actually gaining here as people who are working more hours than they want out of necessity are able to slow down a little. I don't get it, why is it ok when people opt for 'leisure' in the RBC models but not due to Obamacare. Obviously if Americans are less insecure because they don't have to keep working so many hours to keep decent healthcare this is a net benefit for the economy and society for any kind of evaluation that's not wholly perverse-I mean presumably conservatives don't want workers to ever be able to cut back hours for any reason even if it's what they genuninely want to do.
As it turns out, this effect may well mean higher wages.
"That stands to reason. You get this sorting effect," Dean Baker, co-founder of the left-leaning Center for Economic and Policy Research. "You have a lot of people working now who don't want to work. The only way they can get insurance is through their employer."
"Those people retire or cut back their hours or otherwise lower their participation in the labor market -- a possibility that CBO raised itself -- reducing the labor supply. Over the long term, that drives up wages. Baker said that CBO said as much in its analysis: The report projected that total hours worked would drop by as much as 2 percent by 2024 because of Obamacare, but total compensation would fall only 1 percent.
That disparity suggest that wages would be increasing, Baker said."
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/obamacare-cbo-wages
Just don't expect the Very Serious Media to admit this-it's not the narrative they want to tell.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/obamacare-cbo-report-jobs
Of course, what do the facts matter? If reading one line superficially without any context helps the GOP why become partisan and dig even one iota deeper? So reason's Bob Woodward's media.
Of course there is a lot of difference between the economy losing 2.5 million jobs, and some people choosing to work less hours.
"I think it’s important to distinguish between people choosing to work less and jobs being lost," Larry Levitt, vice president at the non-partisan Kaiser Famiy Foundation, told TPM. "That is something important to keep an eye on, since you don’t want to discourage work. But, it’s not in all cases a bad thing."
"For example, some people in their late 50s and early 60s would like to retire because they have health issues but have kept working for the health benefits. Some of them can now retire because they can’t be discriminated against for having a pre-existing condition and may get help paying their premiums."
For more see here
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/obamacare-cbo-jobs-reporting
Put this way, it can be argued persausively that Americans are actually gaining here as people who are working more hours than they want out of necessity are able to slow down a little. I don't get it, why is it ok when people opt for 'leisure' in the RBC models but not due to Obamacare. Obviously if Americans are less insecure because they don't have to keep working so many hours to keep decent healthcare this is a net benefit for the economy and society for any kind of evaluation that's not wholly perverse-I mean presumably conservatives don't want workers to ever be able to cut back hours for any reason even if it's what they genuninely want to do.
As it turns out, this effect may well mean higher wages.
"That stands to reason. You get this sorting effect," Dean Baker, co-founder of the left-leaning Center for Economic and Policy Research. "You have a lot of people working now who don't want to work. The only way they can get insurance is through their employer."
"Those people retire or cut back their hours or otherwise lower their participation in the labor market -- a possibility that CBO raised itself -- reducing the labor supply. Over the long term, that drives up wages. Baker said that CBO said as much in its analysis: The report projected that total hours worked would drop by as much as 2 percent by 2024 because of Obamacare, but total compensation would fall only 1 percent.
That disparity suggest that wages would be increasing, Baker said."
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/obamacare-cbo-wages
Just don't expect the Very Serious Media to admit this-it's not the narrative they want to tell.
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