Obamacare

The Country Is Over … The Economy Is Dying

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– The Country Is Over (Monty Pelerin’s World, April 5, 2013):

Data are hard to deal with when your vision is on the wrong side of it. Those wanting to claim there is a recovery underway are having just this problem. These people either have no understanding of economics or they believe falsely that they can inflate “animal spirits” with their hyped reports and that will initiate a recovery.

There will not be an economic recovery given the economic policies of this country. A recovery is not unlikely, I would argue it is closer to impossible if not impossible. The reasons for this position are not complicated. In short, the nation has become an out-of-control welfare state that is rapidly destroying the incentives to work or create jobs. Government policies appear designed toward this end. One doesn’t need a high IQ or  an advanced degree in economics to understand the problems.

There are innumerable factors responsible for the decline of the US. Only three important ones will convey why the economy is dying:

Read moreThe Country Is Over … The Economy Is Dying

Companies Cut Hours Of Full-Time Employees To Avoid Obamacare

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– Obamacare prompts fears for low-wage workers as employers exploit the rules (Guardian, March 29, 2013):

Labour groups warn some big firms are cutting workers’ full-time hours to avoid paying health costs for those who need it most

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– Companies cut hours of full-time employees to avoid health care (Press TV, March 29, 2013):

Under the law that takes effect next year, large employers are exempted from contributing anything towards healthcare costs of employees who work under 30 hours a week.

For full-time workers, companies must offer affordable insurance or face steep fines. Employers seeking to dodge this responsibility could impose 29-hour ceiling on workers, Flocks says, and push many onto public insurance subsidies, straining state and federal budgets.

Three years after the passage of Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law, labor advocates are warning that it could have the unforeseen consequence of harming some of the very low-wage employees it seeks to aid.

The legislation’s incentive scheme, they say, could cause a shift toward part-time work that extends beyond companies like Papa John’s and Darden Restaurants, which last year publicized their plans to cut employee hours to avoid costs under the new law.

According to Sara Flocks, Public Policy Coordinator for the California Labor Federation, most at risk is the so-called contingent workforce: those employees with already fluctuating hours, no job security, and little power to bargain with management.

These are the workers whose hours can most easily be slashed by employers seeking to avoid paying health insurance. The Raw Story


IRS: Obamacare To Cost The Average American Family $20,000 A Year In Health Insurance Alone!

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– Obamacare to soon cost the average American family $20,000 a year, announces IRS (Natural News, Feb 1, 2013):

Under Obamacare, American families are forced to buy conventional health insurance that primarily benefits the pharmaceutical industry. By 2016 — just three years from now — the cheapest health insurance plan available will cost a typical American family $20,000 a year, the IRS has now announced.

Here’s the news: The IRS just published descriptions of the financial penalties American taxpayers will pay if they fail to purchase the rip-off health insurance mandated under Obamacare.

“The examples point to families of four and families of five, both of which the IRS expects in its assumptions to pay a minimum of $20,000 per year for a bronze plan,” reports CNS News.

It goes on to report, “The IRS’s assumption that the cheapest plan for family will cost $20,000 per year is found in examples the IRS gives to help people understand how to calculate the penalty they will need to pay the government if they do not buy a mandated health plan.”

We warned ya: Obamacare has always been a financial scam

Read moreIRS: Obamacare To Cost The Average American Family $20,000 A Year In Health Insurance Alone!

Labor Unions ‘Turn Sour’ On Obama, Finally Read Obamacare Fine Print, Realize Costs Set To Spike

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– Labor Unions Finally Read Obamacare Fine Print, Realize Costs Set To Spike, “Turn Sour” On Obama (ZeroHedge, Jan 31, 2013):

It is a well-known fact that nobody in Congress ever reads, or even skims, any law, and especially not the fine print, it passes until long after it has been enacted into law. It appears the same is just as true for the biggest pillar of support for the Obama administration: America’s labor unions, whose liberal vote every election is instrumental to preserving the outflow side of America’s welfare state. As it turns out, it was the same labor unions who enthusiastically supported the primary accomplishment of the Obama administration in the past 4 years, Obamacare, only to realize, long after it has become reality that, surprise, their healthcare plan costs are about to go up. And, as the WSJ colorfully summarizes, they are now “turning sour.“

From WSJ:

Union leaders say many of the law’s requirements will drive up the costs for their health-care plans and make unionized workers less competitive. Among other things, the law eliminates the caps on medical benefits and prescription drugs used as cost-containment measures in many health-care plans. It also allows children to stay on their parents’ plans until they turn 26.

Read moreLabor Unions ‘Turn Sour’ On Obama, Finally Read Obamacare Fine Print, Realize Costs Set To Spike

Obamacare ‘Glitch’ Allows Some Families To Be Priced Out Of Health Insurance

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– Obamacare ‘Glitch’ Allows Some Families To Be Priced Out Of Health Insurance (Huffington Post, Jan 31, 2013):

WASHINGTON — Some families could get priced out of health insurance due to what’s being called a glitch in President Barack Obama’s overhaul law. IRS regulations issued Wednesday failed to fix the problem as liberal backers of the president’s plan had hoped.

As a result, some families that can’t afford the employer coverage that they are offered on the job will not be able to get financial assistance from the government to buy private health insurance on their own. How many people will be affected is unclear.

Read moreObamacare ‘Glitch’ Allows Some Families To Be Priced Out Of Health Insurance

‘Obamacare’ To Hit Smokers With HUGE Penalties

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– ‘Obamacare’ to hit smokers with huge penalties (RT, Jan 26, 2013):

Smokers, beware: tobacco penalties under President Obama’s Affordable Care Act could subject millions of smokers to fees costing thousands of dollars, making healthcare more expensive for them than Americans with other unhealthy habits.

The Affordable Care Act, which critics have also called “Obamacare”, could subject smokers to premiums that are 50 percent higher than usual, starting next Jan 1. Health insurers will be allowed to charge smokers penalties that overweight Americans or those with other health conditions would not be subjected to.

A 60-year-old smoker could pay penalties as high as $5,100, in addition to the premiums, the Associated Press reports. A 55-year-old smoker’s penalty could reach $4,250. The older a smoker is, the higher the penalty will be.

Read more‘Obamacare’ To Hit Smokers With HUGE Penalties

Obamacare In Action: ‘The Federal Government Now Requires That We Ask You The Following Personal Questions’

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– “The Federal Government Now Requires That We Ask You The Following Personal Questions” (ZeroHedge, Jan 20, 2013):

Welcome to Obamacare in action:

“The Federal Government now requires that we ask you the following personal questions. If we fail to ask these questions, we are subject to a fine.”

or visually:

Obama exempt from Obamacare

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Democrats exempt themselves from socialist medicine

obama-exempt-from-obamacare

President Obama declared that the new health care law “is going to be affecting every American family.” Except his own, of course.

The new health care law exempts the president from having to participate in it. Leadership and committee staffers in the House and Senate who wrote the bill are exempted as well. A weasel-worded definition of “staff” includes only the members’ personal staff in the new system; the committee staff that drafted the legislation opted themselves out. Because they were more familiar with the contents of the law than anyone in the country, it says a lot that they carved out their own special loophole. Anyway, the law is intended to affect “ordinary Americans,” according to Vice President Joe Biden (who – being a heartbeat away from the presidency – also is not covered), not Washington insiders.

Mr. Obama frequently tossed around the talking point that the new law gave people the same type of coverage as Congress enjoyed. In his March 20 health care pep talk to wavering Democrats on Capitol Hill, the president said one of the advantages of the health care legislation was that “people will have choice and competition just like members of Congress have choice and competition.” At yesterday’s signing ceremony, Mr. Obama said Americans will be “part of a big pool, just like federal employees are part of a big pool. They’ll have the same choice of private health insurance that members of Congress get for themselves.” But the American people will have a public pool; the executive branch and congressional staffers kept their country-club pool private.

Read moreObama exempt from Obamacare