In his State of the Union address, President Obama urged Congress to “give America a raise.” Well, it turns out that Obama is giving America a $70 billion annual pay cut, courtesy of Obamacare.
That is the overlooked nugget in the new Congressional Budget Office report detailing the economic costs of Obamacare. While much attention has been paid to the report’s finding that Obamacare will reduce employment by as much as 2.5 million workers, buried on page 117 (Appendix C) is this bombshell: “CBO estimates that the ACA will cause a reduction of roughly 1 percent in aggregate labor compensation over the 2017-2024 period, compared with what it would have been otherwise.”
Translation: Obamacare means a 1 percent pay cut for American workers.
How much does that come to? Since wages and salaries were about $6.85 trillion in 2012 and are expected to exceed $7 trillion in 2013 and 2014, a 1 percent reduction in compensation is going to cost American workers at least $70 billion a year in lost wages.
It gets worse. Most of that $70 billion in lost wages will come from the paychecks of working-class Americans — those who can afford it least. That’s because Obamacare is a tax on work that will affect lower- and middle-income workers who depend on government subsidies for health coverage. The subsidies Obamacare provides depend on income. If your income goes up, your subsidies go down. This means Obamacare effectively traps people in lower-income jobs by imposing an additional tax on every dollar of additional income they earn. Working hard to earn a promotion or get a raise, or taking on additional part-time work — all the things people do to pursue the American Dream — are discouraged by Obamacare...Read the rest of the story HERE and watch a related video below:
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2 comments:
1) The ObamaCare enrolment numbers are flying in these days. The US has now come around to it. Both sides try to fudge the figures a bit. But > 3 million have now signed up. Yes, there is right wing talk about how many have paid, but if they all had they'd come up with something else to moan about. Bottom line, enrolment was once a joke, but as it spreads, more and more are signing up.
2) Let's be honest, it's here to stay.
Yeah right, RM, let's not get caught up in silly little details like how many Americans have actually PAID for Obamacare coverage. After all, who needs coverage payments when another federal BAILOUT is coming down the pike.
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