OK, this is going to get a few of you riled up a little, and probably at me, for what I am going to say -so first let me explain what I am going be to basing my comments on. Most of it comes directly from Douglas Elmendorf, the Director of the non-partisan C.B.O., a federal agency within the legislative branch of our government that employs people to analyze government policies, and consider their impact on the federal budget, and on the economy. The C.B.O. likely produces some of the most objective, “fair,” and non-politicized data that we receive from our government.
About now, you’re asking what this is all about. Well, it seems that the unemployment rate may begin to decline a bit, not because the stimulus has gotten job-creation into gear but simply because fewer Americans want to work. It’s not that fewer Americans are searching for work. There are, to put it simply, less of us who want to work and to produce, and even among those of us who still want to work and produce, many of us are choosing to work fewer hours and to produce less.
The reason for this is simple: because of the generous federal entitlements provided in the new “Obamacare” law.
According to none other than the Congressional Budget Office, many of us have decided we no longer will have to work as much as we once did, given all the “assistance” we can get via Obamacare.
Speaking at the University of Southern California’s Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics, Mr. Elmendorf noted that, outside the healthcare sector of our economy, the greatest impact of the Obamacare agenda will be in the labor market. It was October 22nd, just days away from the big midterm election, and Elmendorf’s presence at this conference, and his remarks at the conference, did not receive nearly the amount of press attention that they deserved.
According to Mr. Elmendorf, in some cases, Americans will simply choose not to work, because their needs for healthcare will be provided by the enhanced Medicaid funding that is provided for in the Obamacare law.
This assessment of Obamacare by Mr. Elmendorf coincides with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s remarks last May. Back then, Speaker Pelosi insisted that Obamacare would allow “artists” to “quit their day job” and pursue their art, free from the constraints of having to provide for one’s self, because the government would now take care of artists’ healthcare needs.
My question is: “Does any of that sound good to you?” If it does then you are not going to find any of this as upsetting as I do. Let’s consider the gravity of what Mr. Elmendorf is describing. He’s talking about Medicaid, a social care program from our federal government that is intended to offer short-term assistance to poor and lower income households. And the head of the C.B.O., the individual described as the “top accountant to Congress,” is making the observation that we have, as a result of Obamacare, given increasing numbers of Americans a reason not to work (or to “not work as much”), and to choose instead to avail themselves to a government welfare program.
In short, our federal government has incentivized (some) people to consume more than they produce. This just ain’t right. It is a very destructive thing.
Unfortunately, this is also a common thing. When government tells people “you don’t have to provide for yourself, you can instead choose to subsist off of somebody else’s effort,” it is inevitable that some people will choose the latter. And when people make this type of choice, it does long term damage to themselves and their families and to the broader society as well.
So why couldn’t the President of the United States and members of the U.S. Congress have anticipated this problem?
For one, naivety may have been the culprit. In the rigid and ideologically narrow worlds of liberal academia and politics, the lessons of history are usually ignored, and the possibility of government welfare programs “failing” isn’t even considered.
It is also possible that less productivity in America may be a part of “leveling the playing field” and bringing the “rich” and the “poor” closer together. In this scenario, our nation as a whole becomes less prosperous (which in the minds of many would make for a “more fair” world), yet such a scheme purports to prevent people from “failing” too much, while preventing others from being “too successful.”
So is this an “Obama success,” or an unintended failure for the President? We may never know what is truly in the heart and mind of Barack Obama, but it is bad news for the nation he leads.
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A California man has been accused of trying to run down his ex-girlfriend in a car after she refused his wedding proposal. The man was spotted carrying a bouquet of flowers while walking down the street after the incident. The 22-year-old was charged with assault with a deadly weapon. The proposal took place Thursday afternoon at the Burger Stop. After the woman said no, the young man allegedly drove onto the sidewalk, through bushes and into the restaurant parking lot, narrowly missing the woman. "Stacy Will You Marry Me" was on the car's back window. He was later picked up while fleeing on foot.
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On this day in history in 1600 Charles I King of England (1625-49) was executed by Parliament and in 1977 Egyptian President Anwar Sadat arrives in Israel -- Also this is "Liberation Day in Mali and "Pilgrimage Day" in the UAE
"Better to be religious with your eloquence, than eloquent with your religion. "
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A blonde's Brain at workA blonde, a brunette, and a redhead all work at the same office for a female boss who always goes home early.
"Hey, girls," says the brunette one day, "let's go home early tomorrow. She'll never know."
So the next day, they all leave right after the boss does. The brunette gets some extra gardening done, the redhead goes to a bar, and the blonde goes home to find her husband having sex with the female boss.
She quietly sneaks out of the house and vows to return home at her normal time the next day.
In the morning, the brunette says: "That was fun, we should do it again sometime."
"No way," says the blonde. "I almost got caught."
Live Long and Prosper...
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