The Obamacare bomb - The scheme is about to blow up the incentive to work

Washington Times ^ | Sept 9, 2013

[Jim Robinson]

A mere three weeks remain before the Obamacare exchanges open for business. The likely result will be the closing doors on Main Street, as shopkeepers and entrepreneurs shut down, unable to make ends meet. It’s clear that the wounded economy can’t cope with the exploding costs ahead.

Ohio announced that premiums would rise in the individual market by an average of 88 percent next year. Premiums will rise 72 percent in Indiana, 125 percent in Wisconsin. Even California, with its relatively robust individual market, is bracing for increases of 66 percent.

The Obamacare train wreck bearing down on us is about far more than higher costs. A study by University of Chicago economist Casey B. Mulligan documents the perverse Obamacare incentives that encourage Americans to become much less productive. He estimates that the legislation acts as a payroll tax increase for about half the working, non-elderly population earning an average weekly wage. Obamacare will turn those who work hard into losers, declaring part-timers the winners.

A typical family of four with an income of up to $94,200 will get a generous subsidy for health insurance if the head of the house drops out of full-time work and becomes a part-timer. It’s an implicit payroll tax increase of almost 5 percent. The net result is a reduction in productivity throughout the economy.

Imposing a large new tax will persuade many that long hours are for suckers. Many will decide that it isn’t worth the effort and drop out of the work force. Why work full-time to see the money taxed away? Better to work fewer hours and keep the same after-tax income.

Obamacare imposes additional pressure on bosses to move employees to part-time status to avoid large penalties by the IRS. Businesses and some public-sector employers have begun slashing their employees’...

[St_Thomas_Aquinas]

Once Obamacare is launched, millions of people will have a strong vested interest in keeping it going.

When it comes down to the workers vs. the bureaucrats, the bureaucrats are pretty much undefeated for the last 50 seasons.

I hope things change, but I'm not optimistic. I like Mark Levin's battle plan for the next 100 years war.

[Me1onCollie]

Dozens upon dozens of “for rent” and “for lease” signs have appeared all over my dear home city. I’m talking businesses that have been around as long as I’ve been ALIVE.

And the stuff that IS coming in is not good either. The “main street” of an old section of a town has, just for an example, lost a venerable bookshop to become a God-d**ned sex-accessories store. Sure is nice for all the families that drive/walk down that street. If the place caught on fire I’d run and buy a bag of marshmallows.

But that’s about the only kind of business that can start up and make profit now: sleaze and sex.

[TurboZamboni]

Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory is the republican way.

The GOP should have just made sure it went into effect without waivers, exceptions, or delay so everyone gets equally screwed and can see what their glorious Democrat congress has unleashed on them.

Focusing on shutdown and republican alterations made to Barrycare takes the focus off the fact Dems own it (or did).

The GOP caved and allowed carve-outs for Congressional staffers (via subsidies)Why? because the GOP wanted exemptions for their staffers ,too.
Which GOP senators were opposing their staffers from being exempted?

“The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly.”-Abraham Lincoln