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CBO: Obamacare slowing growth, costing 2.3M jobs

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CBO: Obamacare slowing growth, costing 2.3M jobs
February 04, 2014, 10:15 am
By Erik Wasson

The new healthcare law will cost the nation about 2.3 million jobs by 2021 and contribute to a $1 trillion increase in projected deficits, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said in a report released Tuesday.

The nonpartisan agency’s report found the healthcare law’s negative effects on the economy will be “substantially larger” than what it had previously anticipated.

The findings from the nonpartisan agency immediately roiled the debate over the healthcare law on Capitol Hill ahead of a midterm election that Republicans hope will be dominated by the fight over ObamaCare.

It triggered a swift pushback from the White House, which sought to dismiss suggestions from Republicans that the healthcare law has contributed to a slower economic recovery.

The CBO is now estimating the law will reduce labor force compensation by 1 percent from 2017-2024 — twice the reduction it previously had projected. This will decrease the number of full-time equivalent jobs in 2021 by 2.3 million, the CBO said. It had previously estimated the decrease would be 800,000.

The budget scorekeeper said this decrease would be caused partly by people leaving the work force in response to lower wages offered by employers and increased insurance coverage through the healthcare law.

The agency also said employer penalties in the law would decrease wages, and part-year workers would be slower to return to the work force because they would seek to retain ObamaCare insurance subsidies.

Read more: https://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/budget/197365-cbo-o-care-slowing-growth#ixzz2sNjhz6Xr

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Nearly Half of America Lives Paycheck-to-Paycheck

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Nearly Half of America Lives Paycheck-to-Paycheck

By Christopher Matthews @crobmatthewsJan. 30, 2014

The economic picture is looking brighter these days. The federal government announced Thursday that economic growth had picked up to its fastest pace in two years, while employment growth over the past five months has averaged a healthy 185,000 new jobs. But as evidenced by a report out Thursday from the Corporation for Enterprise Development, nearly half of Americans are living in a state of “persistent economic security,” that makes it “difficult to look beyond immediate needs and plan for a more secure future.”

In other words, too many of us are living paycheck to paycheck. The CFED calls these folks “liquid asset poor,” and its report finds that 44% of Americans are living with less than $5,887 in savings for a family of four. The plight of these folks is compounded by the fact that the recession ravaged many Americans’ credit scores to the point that now 56% percent of us have subprime credit. That means that if emergencies arise, many Americans are forced to resort to high-interest debt from credit cards or payday loans.

Read more: Nearly Half of America Lives Paycheck-to-Paycheck | TIME.com https://business.time.com/2014/01/30/nearly-half-of-america-lives-paycheck-to-paycheck/#ixzz2rz9vpyCz

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Silicon Valley honcho compares ‘war on rich’ to Nazi regime

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Silicon Valley honcho compares ‘war on rich’ to Nazi regime
By Post Staff Report
January 27, 2014 | 11:06am

Silicon Valley venture capital pioneer Tom Perkins —co-founder of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers — is persona non grata for his comments that wealthy Americans are being victimized and persecution like the Jews in Nazi Germany.

Perkins, 82, wrote in the Wall Street Journal a letter to the editor published Friday:

“Regarding your editorial “Censors on Campus” (Jan. 18): Writing from the epicenter of progressive thought, San Francisco, I would call attention to the parallels of fascist Nazi Germany to its war on its “one percent,” namely its Jews, to the progressive war on the American one percent, namely the “rich.”

Kleiner Perkins said its co-founder’s views were not the views of the firm.

https://nypost.com/2014/01/27/silicon-valley-honcho-slammed-for-comparing-taxes-on-wealthy-to-nazi-regime/

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N.J. reports 36,300 jobs lost last month

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N.J. reports 36,300 jobs lost last month

New Jersey added a minuscule 10,100 jobs in 2013 after losing more than 36,000 jobs in December — the biggest single-month job loss in 23 years — painting a bleak picture of the state economy and raising questions about its health and direction.

The jarring December figures released Thursday, which economists cautioned may be a statistical blip, translate to a .26 percent job gain for the year, and represent a sharp reversal from the slow-but-steady job increases of recent months that suggested a slight strengthening of the economy after a weak summer.

The December drop of 36,300 jobs — 33,200 private and 3,100 public — was so broad-based that economists said it was difficult to pinpoint a particular reason. They offered several possible explanations, including unusually cold weather, which could explain the loss of 6,500 construction jobs, and could have caused the temporary loss of work for day and freelance workers.

Economists noted, however, that the figures for the entire year will be revised in March, a process that has in the past resulted in some significant changes in monthly totals. (Morley/The Record)

https://www.northjersey.com/news/NJ_reports_36000_jobs_lost_last_month.html#sthash.i1AmLiPZ.dpuf

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Wall Street advisor: Actual unemployment is 37.2%, ‘misery index’ worst in 40 years

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Wall Street advisor: Actual unemployment is 37.2%, ‘misery index’ worst in 40 years

BY PAUL BEDARD | JANUARY 21, 2014 AT 1:08 PM
TOPICS: WASHINGTON SECRETS JOBS TREASURY ECONOMY FEDERAL RESERVE INFLATION WALL STREET UNEMPLOYMENT
40 years ago, former President Ford issued “WIN” buttons, short for “Whip Inflation Now.” The…

Wall Street advisor: Actual unemployment is 37.2%, ‘misery index’ worst in 40 years

BY PAUL BEDARD | JANUARY 21, 2014 AT 1:08 PM

Don’t believe the happy talk coming out of the White House, Federal Reserve and Treasury Department when it comes to the realunemployment rate and the true “Misery Index.” Because, according to an influential Wall Street advisor, the figures are a fraud.

In a memo to clients provided to Secrets, David John Marotta calculates the actual unemployment rate of those not working at a sky-high 37.2 percent, not the 6.7 percent advertised by the Fed, and the Misery Index at over 14, not the 8 claimed by the government.

Marotta, who recently advised those worried about an imploding economy to get a gun, said that the government isn’t being honest in how it calculates those out of the workforce or inflation, the two numbers used to get the Misery Index figure.

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“The unemployment rate only describes people who are currently working or looking for work,” he said. That leaves out a ton more.

“Unemployment in its truest definition, meaning the portion of people who do not have any job, is 37.2 percent. This number obviously includes some people who are not or never plan to seek employment. But it does describe how many people are not able to, do not want to or cannot find a way to work. Policies that remove the barriers to employment, thus decreasing this number, are obviously beneficial,” he and colleague Megan Russell in their new investors note from their offices in Charlottesville, Va.

https://washingtonexaminer.com/wall-street-advisor-actual-unemployment-is-37.2-misery-index-worst-in-40-years/article/2542604

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Iranian official on nuke deal: ‘We did not agree to dismantle anything’

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Iranian official on nuke deal: ‘We did not agree to dismantle anything’
By Tom Cohen, CNN
updated 8:59 PM EST, Wed January 22, 2014

(CNN) — Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif insisted Wednesday that the Obama administration mischaracterizes concessions by his side in the six-month nuclear deal with Iran, telling CNN in an exclusive interview that “we did not agree to dismantle anything.”

Zarif told CNN Chief National Security Correspondent Jim Sciutto that terminology used by the White House to describe the agreement differed from the text agreed to by Iran and the other countries in the talks — the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany.

“The White House version both underplays the concessions and overplays Iranian commitments” under the agreement that took effect Monday, Zarif said in Davos, Switzerland, where he was attending the World Economic Forum.

As part of the accord, Iran was required to dilute its stockpile of uranium that had been enriched to 20%, well above the 5% level needed for power generation but still below the level for developing a nuclear weapon.

https://www.cnn.com/2014/01/22/politics/iran-us-nuclear/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

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Record 20% of Households on Food Stamps in 2013

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Record 20% of Households on Food Stamps in 2013
January 21, 2014 – 4:34 PM

By Ali Meyer

(CNSNews.com) — A record 20% of American households, one in five, were on food stamps in 2013, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

– See more at: https://cnsnews.com/news/article/ali-meyer/record-20-households-food-stamps-2013#sthash.sKvKHpir.dpuf

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End of Extended Benefits Makes Hard Times Even Harder for Jobless in NJ

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End of Extended Benefits Makes Hard Times Even Harder for Jobless in NJ

Unemployed fear they’ll hit bottom soon as they fall through gaping hole in safety net

Kathy Vanco of Rahway has been out of work for six months. She has been surviving on a biweekly unemployment check of about $700. That came to an end this week, however, and now she may have to dip into her savings to make ends meet.

“Without unemployment, I won’t be able to pay the car insurance, and forget about health insurance,” she said.

A year ago, Vanco would have been eligible for up to 47 weeks of emergency unemployment benefits – for a total of 73 weeks of aid — but the federal program expired on December 28 and has not been renewed, having stalled in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday. Unemployed workers now are eligible only for the 26 weeks of state assistance.

An estimated 90,300 unemployed New Jerseyans who were receiving emergency benefits were cut off late last month when a House and Senate budget deal did not include an extension. Another 89,100 jobless workers in the state will see their regular state unemployment benefits run out over the next six months. All workers who qualified for state benefits would have been eligible for the federal extension when the state aid expired. (Kalet/NJSpotlight)

https://www.njspotlight.com/stories/14/01/15/end-of-extended-benefits-makes-hard-times-even-harder-for-jobless-in-nj/

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More Americans Worse Off Financially Than a Year Ago

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More Americans Worse Off Financially Than a Year Ago

Yet most expect to be better off within a year

by Andrew Dugan

WASHINGTON, D.C. – More Americans, 42%, say they are financially worse off now than they were a year ago, reversing the lower levels found over the past two years. Just more than a third of Americans say their financial situation has improved from a year ago.

https://www.gallup.com/poll/166850/americans-worse-off-financially-year-ago.aspx

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America’s Dwindling Economic Freedom

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America’s Dwindling Economic Freedom

Regulation, taxes and debt knock the U.S. out of the world’s top 10.

By
TERRY MILLER
Jan. 13, 2014 8:05 p.m. ET

World economic freedom has reached record levels, according to the 2014 Index of Economic Freedom, released Tuesday by the Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal. But after seven straight years of decline, the U.S. has dropped out of the top 10 most economically free countries.

For 20 years, the index has measured a nation’s commitment to free enterprise on a scale of 0 to 100 by evaluating 10 categories, including fiscal soundness, government size and property rights. These commitments have powerful effects: Countries achieving higher levels of economic freedom consistently and measurably outperform others in economic growth, long-term prosperity and social progress. Botswana, for example, has made gains through low tax rates and political stability.

Those losing freedom, on the other hand, risk economic stagnation, high unemployment and deteriorating social conditions. For instance, heavy-handed government intervention in Brazil’s economy continues to limit mobility and fuel a sense of injustice.

https://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303848104579308811265028066?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702303848104579308811265028066.html&utm_source=Copy+of+Merry+Christmas%21+Obama+Repeals+CommieCare&utm_campaign=USA+Falls+off+Economic+Chart&utm_medium=email

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Half of U.S. Counties Haven’t Recovered From Recession Including Bergen County

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Half of U.S. Counties Haven’t Recovered From Recession Including Bergen County

About half of the nation’s 3,069 county economies are still short of their prerecession economic output, reflecting the uneven economic recovery, according to a new report from the National Association of Counties.

The overall U.S. economy had reached its prerecession level of gross domestic product three years ago, Commerce Department figures show.

National statistics “mask the reality on the ground,” where some county economies were in recession long before December 2007 and others never experienced one at all, said Emilia Istrate, the association’s director of research and one of the authors of the report. “That’s where Americans feel the economy. They feel it locally.”

The report, released Monday, examined four economic indicators: GDP, total number of jobs, unemployment rates and home prices. It found wide variations.

https://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2014/01/13/half-of-u-s-counties-havent-recovered-from-recession/?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsTop

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The Magnificent Failure of www.Healthcare.Gov

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The Magnificent Failure of www.Healthcare.Gov

Editorial Note: We hate to..ahem..kick a guy when he’s down, but the launch of ObamaCare online has been such a spectacular fail, we are savoring the opportunity to gloat. Who isn’t tempted in Tea Party ranks to utter, “Told ya so” when we hear people complain about being dropped from their health insurance company? I mean, really, who saw this coming? They called us crazy. Well, who’s crazy now?

Here’s a good gloat from Gary North – The Tea Party Economist, October 28, 2013

In what is one of the greatest examples of crony capitalism of my adult life, the main company that produced the incomparable failure known as www.healthcare.gov turns out to have gained its share of the $678 million contract without facing competitive bids. That’s right. There were other companies that submitted bids, but those bids were not considered, or so initial reports indicate. Why no bids? We are not told.

This kind of thing goes on all the time, but usually it is never discovered. But the website was rolled out as the prime example of President Obama’s signature program, which bears his name unofficially: ObamaCare. This program was going to be the deliverance long awaited for by 15 million Americans who did not have healthcare coverage.

It went online, and it was dead on arrival: a corpse of government medicine. It died so spectacularly that it became front-page news around the world. It is such a total failure that there is a kind of magnificence about it. Millions of people tried to get in. Millions of people could not get in.

Now Congress is conducting an investigation of how this happened, and it turns out, that it happened because it was a sweetheart deal from the get-go.

The man who is in charge of the company became an Obama supporter in 2012, I can hardly blame him. His ship came in.

Unfortunately, the ship has just sunk in full public view. It is like the capsized cruise ship on its side off the coast of an Italian island in 2012. The site is there, dead in the water, for the whole world to see.

More of the story here: https://www.garynorth.com/public/11712.cfm