Obamacare Effect On Jobs: Part-Time Outgains Full-Time As Businesses Scale Back

By Ben Bullard / Personal Liberty Digest

PHOTOS.COM

The unemployment rate in the United States for the month of June dallied at 7.6 percent, a number attended by the reported addition of 360,000 new part-time jobs — a record high. Such a big jump was hailed at the White House as a sign that the economy continues to benefit from the 2009 American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA).

What the numbers really show is that full-time, “quality” jobs are being supplanted on a massive scale as companies steady their workforce numbers ahead of the implementation of Obamacare. The labor force lost 240,000 full-time jobs in June, continuing a trend that has seen 557,000 part-time jobs in the United States outpace the comparatively paltry 130,000 new full-time positions since the first of the year.

Thank Obamacare, which mandates businesses employing more the 50 people to contribute toward health coverage for anyone who’s been hired to work more than 30 hours per week — or face paying per-employee penalties to the government (via the Internal Revenue Service).

Alan Kreuger, who chairs President Barack Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, spun the numbers to persuade the media the President was a visionary whose grand plan to get the economy back on track was destined to succeed.

“In the four years since the recession ended in June 2009, the economy has added 5.3 million jobs, thanks to the resilience of the American people and policies like the Recovery Act, which helped bring the recession to an end and put us on the path to recovery,” said Kreuger, who characterized the spectacular turnaround as “further confirmation that the U.S. economy is continuing to recover from the worst downturn since the Great Depression.”

Employer Mandate Delay Spells Trouble for Obamacare

Michael Tanner / Townhall Finance

The dominoes are falling.

The administration’s decision to postpone implementation of the Affordable Care Act’s employer mandate until after the 2014 midterm elections is just the first to fall. More will be falling soon thanks to the administration’s belated recognition that the health care law will be a job-killing burden on business.

In fact, this is actually the second major part of Obamacare to be postponed in the past few months. This spring, the administration announced that the ACA Small Business Health Option Program (SHOP) would be postponed until at least 2015. That program was designed to help small employers provide their workers with a choice of health plans. But in April the administration had to pull back and admit it couldn’t provide those options.

Or perhaps we should call this the third major part of the law to fall apart. In 2011, the administration was forced to permanently postpone implementation of the CLASS Act, Obamacare’s long-term care program. That program was formally repealed in 2012.

Significantly, the administration’s decision to postpone the employer mandate may make a bad situation worse, at least for workers. The postponement affects only the mandate that employers (with 50 or more workers) provide insurance. The individual mandate remains in place, requiring nearly all Americans to have insurance or pay a fine. Individuals who would otherwise have gotten insurance through their employers may now be forced to purchase their own insurance.

It increasingly looks as though that insurance will be very expensive, especially for the young and healthy. In fact, as the Wall Street Journal recently reported, some consumers “could see insurance rates double or even triple when they look for individual coverage under the federal health law later this year.”

Earlier this year, a study in the American Academy of Actuaries’ magazine found that 80 percent of young adults aged 18–29 not eligible for Medicaid will face higher costs, and that 20- to 29-year-olds on the individual market not eligible for subsidies will see their premiumsincrease 42 percent.

New federal subsidies are supposed to offset rising premiums to some degree. But it is now an open question as to whether those subsidies will be available in 2014. For the system to work, the administration needs to know which workers are eligible for subsidies. Workers who are being offered affordable insurance coverage through their employers are not eligible for subsidies. But employers won’t have to report whether their workers are being offered affordable insurance coverage until after the employer mandate takes effect, which means the government won’t have that data  until at least 2015. Without it, workers could be on the hook for the entire cost of the insurance they are being forced to buy.

And if the administration does find a way to offer subsidies? That will only further drive up the law’s price tag. The cost of the average exchange subsidy is now projected to be $5,510 in 2014, $700 more than it was projected to be last year. Overall, subsidies were estimated to cost $1.15 trillion over the next 10 years. But that was before the administration’s decision to postpone the employer mandate. With fewer workers receiving employer-based coverage, but all Americans still legally mandated to buy insurance, more workers will end up purchasing insurance through the exchanges, meaning that the cost to taxpayers of providing subsidies will almost certainly rise.

By postponing the employer mandate, therefore, the administration has shifted costs from employers to workers and/or taxpayers. That hardly seems fair.

So we should expect the administration to come under pressure to postpone the individual mandate as well.

The administration is also struggling to implement Obamacare’s federally run insurance exchanges. HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has insisted that the federal government will be able to set up and run exchanges in some 33 states where state governments have chosen not to, but Sebelius has been unable to provide Congress or the public with a credible plan for doing so. A new report from the Government Accountability Office questions whether the exchanges will really be operational by their October 1 deadline. “[T]he timely and smooth implementation of the exchanges by October 2013 cannot yet be determined,” the report states.

If the exchanges cannot begin open enrollment by October 1, it is unlikely that they can be fully functional by January 1. Any delay in opening the exchanges would further complicate the government’s ability to provide subsidies, and make enforcement of the individual mandate all but impossible.

Democratic Senator Max Baucus, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and an author of the Affordable Care Act, recently predicted that Obamacare’s implementation would be “a train wreck.”

The administration’s latest action suggests that the wheels have already begun to come off the train.

A New Birth of American Freedom, Again

By: Star Parker / Townhall Columnist

 

A Fourth of July Gallup poll presented an interesting picture about our country.

Americans overwhelmingly express pride in being American, yet the division is wide and deep about what being an American means.
Eighty-five percent of respondents say they are “extremely” or “very” proud to be an American.

Yet, 71 percent say they think the signers of the Declaration of Independence would be “disappointed” how the country has turned out.

Only 15 percent of conservatives and 12 percent of Republicans say the signers of the Declaration would be “pleased” with how the country has turned out. But, 41 percent of liberals and 42 percent of Democrats say the signers of the Declaration would be pleased.

Clearly, there are very different ideas between the two parties and between conservatives and liberals about what “truths” the signers of the Declaration felt were “self evident” and what exactly rights to “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” means.

That’s not to say that there was unanimity of opinion even among those who signed the Declaration of Independence.

To state the obvious, there are signatures affixed to the bottom of the Declaration of men who saw no inherent contradiction in a nation founded on the idea of liberty in which slavery was legal.

My guess is that the 85 percent who today express pride in being an American do so because they believe this is a free and moral country. We all agree, I think, on these principles.

But, like the difference of opinion about slavery two centuries ago, we have huge disconnects among large parts of our population about what a free and moral country is about.

Anyone who follows what I write can guess where I stand.

It is hard for me to believe that many in our country see no contradiction in believing that freedom can be an American ideal while half of Americans live in households getting some sort of government benefits.

Or that somehow a country can be thought of as free in which forty cents of every dollar the national economy produces goes to government at either the federal, state, or local level.

Or that government can put us in debt to the tune of the total value of the annual output of our economy.

Or that the real debt burden sitting on the American public is some $90 trillion – more than five times the size of our GDP – that represents the unfunded liabilities of social security, Medicare, and other government programs.

How can we see this as a free, moral country when we legally and casually use abortion as a means of birth control and provide hundreds of millions of taxpayer funds to Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider?

Or that government can tell us what kind of health care we need and must buy and can tell employers what kind of health care they must provide.

Or that government can force employers to provide birth control and abortion pills to employees, even, as in the case of the Christian owners of Hobby Lobby, it violates their religious convictions.

Or that children go to public schools where it is illegal to pray or teach traditional family values.

There’s been a lot of writing recently about the battle of Gettysburg.

When Lincoln gave his famous address at Gettysburg, he said the nation’s business was “unfinished” and he defined the task ahead that “this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom.”

The challenges to freedom stand before us today as they stood before Lincoln then.

America is deeply divided and confused today, as it was when the bloody battle at Gettysburg was fought.

We again need courageous leadership that will lead us back to the path of freedom and moral principle that inspired our founders and which is our destiny.

Egypt: Muslim Brotherhood members murder seven, injure dozens on way to anti-Morsi protests

From Jihad Watch / Posted by Robert Spencer

“The Brotherhood attacked the area with all kinds of weapons.” “There were bearded snipers on top of Salaheddine mosque. On the ground, lots of bearded men coming from the direction of Cairo University were marching with automatic weapons.”

It's wonderful that Obama has their back.

"Cairo residents: ‘Heavily armed Islamists attacked us,’" from AFP, July 6:

Residents of Cairo’s Manial neighborhood were recovering Saturday from a bloody night of clashes with armed supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood who killed at least seven people and left dozens injured, they told AFP. 

The violence erupted when residents tried to stop hundreds of Islamists passing through Manial to reach protests being staged in the iconic Tahrir Square against toppled president Mohammed Mursi, who hails from the Muslim Brotherhood.

“The Brotherhood attacked the area with all kinds of weapons,” said resident Mohammed Yehya, who lost three of his friends in the mayhem.

Inhabitants of the Nile island of Manial reported seeing dozens of bearded Islamists armed with machineguns, machetes and sticks on Friday night before the deadly clashes broke out.

Snipers were spotted on rooftops, and medics told AFP they treated some residents of the normally quiet middle-class neighborhood for bullet wounds with a downward trajectory.

Buildings were pockmarked with bullet holes. Rocks carpeted the floor and charred tyres showed the ferocity of the violence.

The clashes in Manial and other parts of the country came two days after the army toppled Mursi, underlining the determination of his Muslim Brotherhood to disrupt the military’s plan for a political transition until new elections.

Residents say the attack began just minutes after the Brotherhood’s supreme guide, Mohammed Badie, gave a fiery speech to Mursi supporters camped out in Cairo’s Nasr City, which was broadcast live on television.

“The attack came minutes after Badie’s speech. They treated us like infidels. They were chanting ‘Allahu akbar’ (God is greatest) as they were shooting us,” said Ahmed Fattouh.

On the door of one shop hung a sign announcing that the owner, 26-year-old Abdallah Sayyed Abdelazim, had been killed.

Parts of Manial were a ghost town on Saturday, with businesses shuttered and residents devastated by the night’s violence.

“The clashes started at 7:30 pm and continued until three in the morning. Their ammunition just didn’t run out. They are trying to terrorize us and take over the country,” said Khaled Tawfik.

Shopkeeper Mohammed Fekry, 29, who was wounded by birdshot said at least 10 people were killed and dozens injured.

“We have 10 people dead in this area, including six people who died with single bullets in the head. There were snipers on the roof of the Salaheddine mosque,” Fekry said.

Hundreds of Brotherhood supporters, he said, had come from Cairo University -- where they had been camped out for days to defend Mursi’s legitimacy -- with “automatic weapons, machineguns, knives, swords.”

They were headed to Tahrir Square, where anti-Mursi protesters had gathered, but the Manial residents tried to prevent their passage.

Hend Taha said she saw the clashes from the window of her apartment.

“There were bearded snipers on top of Salaheddine mosque. On the ground, lots of bearded men coming from the direction of Cairo University were marching with automatic weapons,” she said.

The overall toll for Friday’s violence across Egypt was 30, but casualties are likely to

Ihab al-Sayyed, a doctor at Qasr al-Aini hospital, told AFP that seven people he treated for injuries from the Manial clashes had died.

“I think the death toll will be much higher.

“The injuries were all from live bullets, most of them automatic weapons. Three of the dead and dozens of the injured were shot at from a height,” the doctor said.

Op-ed: What was born in Egypt will hopefully die in Egypt

By: Diane Sori

“Allah is our objective; the Quran is our law, the Prophet is our leader; Jihad is our way; and death for the sake of Allah is the highest of our aspirations.”

This is the creed of the Muslim Brotherhood with their goal being to re-establish the Islamic Caliphate and implement Shari’ah (islamic law) worldwide…and this is the group Barack HUSSEIN Obama says must remain ‘an integral part’ of Egypt’s new government.

Egypt…the ancient land of the great Pharaohs…the land at the heart of civilization’s core…has said in a voice 33 million strong NO to the Muslim Brotherhood…proven killers NOT only of men but of freedom, passion, and free will.

And while the Muslim Brotherhood was born in Egypt, the events of last week signal humiliation and defeat that together could cause an internal collapse from within the ranks of the faithful, for the will of the Egyptian people to be free…to choice their own path…is too strong NOT to be heard.

Briefly, in 1928, 22-year old Egyptian Hassan al Banna, the son of a muslim imam and himself an elementary school teacher, created the Muslim Brotherhood as a religious, political, and social endeavor after being inspired by the Sufi movement (the supposed mystical inner dimension of islam) with its belief that all the problems of the muslim world were a direct result of muslims not living the true islamic life, as modeled by muhammad and those of the first few generations of muslims.

Officially known as the Society of Muslim Brothers (al-Ikhwa-al-Muslimin)…the name the Muslim Brotherhood is its westernized moniker…the group was founded in the aftermath of World War I after the Ottoman Empire was dissolved in July 1923, and the nation of Turkey was formally established.

With its goal of unifying the islamic states, expanding the Caliphate, and subordinating all lands under said Caliphate to the Shari’ah, the Muslim Brotherhood grew strong in Egypt over the intervening years, including the creating of a military branch known as ‘the secret apparatus.’

Starting in the 1940′s, the Muslim Brotherhood turned even more militant as they called for the removal of all British forces from Egypt…if by force if necessary…and in December 1948, a Muslim Brotherhood member assassinated Egyptian Prime Minister Mahmud Fahmi al-Nuqrashi. In February 1949, Egyptian security forces killed founder Hassan al Banna in revenge. It was after the attempted assassination of Gamal ‘Abd al-Nasser in 1954 by a member of the ‘secret apparatus’ that Nasser abolished the Muslim Brotherhood, imprisoning and punishing thousands of its members. And while those who succeeded Nasser tolerated the still active ‘underground’ Muslim Brotherhood that was fueled on by the islamic student activist movements of the 1970s and 1980s, it was NOT until the 2011 Egyptian Revolution and the fall of Hosni Mubarak that the group was legalized.  And in April 2011 they launched a new political party called the 'Freedom and Justice Party' with Mohamed Morsi as its leader.

Now with the Second Egyptian Revolution in full force tit for tat…an eye for an eye…takes on new meaning for the peaceful overthrow of Morsi is being met by Muslim Brotherhood initiated violence and murder. And so the military must answer violence with force…the only thing barbarians understand…for shear military strength is the only way to stop the Muslim Brotherhood before they grow even stronger. Fact, as of today, the Muslim Brotherhood has members and is active in 80+ countries (including here in America thanks to Barack HUSSEIN Obama welcoming them with open arms and even putting them in governmental positions) with each country having an Organizational Conference, a Shura Council, and a General Masul (Leader). Mohamed Badie, the Supreme Guide, is the leader of the International Muslim Brotherhood (IMB), based in Cairo, and he and his ilk are focused solely on bringing the West to its knees.

And NO matter what Obama or his minions say, the Muslim Brotherhood, the strongest and most organized of all the terrorist groups, is indeed ground zero for all the other major terrorist groups for all were born out of them. In 1987, Hamas sprang from the Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood, and al-Qaeda also is a direct offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood as many current al-Qaeda members (and 9/11 conspirators) can trace their roots back to the Muslim Brotherhood. In fact, members of the group counseled a young Osama bin Laden in Saudi Arabia, and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the architect of the September 11 attacks, was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood before joining al-Qaeda. Ayman al Zawahiri, the current al-Qaeda leader, also was a member.

And though some Egyptians do continue to support the Muslim Brotherhood, it’s hard for a once predominantly secular nation to return to the ‘old ways’ of shari’ah for like all secular nations fueled and driven by their economy, under Morsi’s rule Egypt was on the verge of bankruptcy...with NO jobs, a total collapse of the all important tourist industry, and monies and aid given to Egypt itself ending up in the hands of the Muslim Brotherhood hierarchy instead.

And while some, including Obama, say the Egyptian uprising was an illegal military coup and that ‘democratically elected’ Muslim Brotherhood puppet Mohamed Morsi needs to re-instated (elected with as much fraud as we had in 2012), what happened last week was anything but a coup for it was a unified popularist movement whose actions were supported by the military as justification for removing an egregious tyrant hell bent on become dictator for life.

Now claiming that Barack HUSSEIN Obama is supporting tyranny and terrorism by backing Morsi, the Egyptian people have taken to the streets with signs and placards denouncing our traitor of a president…and rightly so I might add. And as our leftist in-the-pocket of Obama media still continues to claim that the overthrow of democratically elected Morsi is anti-democratic in and of itself, what they fail to report is that Morsi’s iron-hand rule and a return to the Shari’ah was actually insuring that democracy would die… and doing it with the willing support of our president (remember, Obama gave Morsi $250 million on March 5th along with 200 Abrams tanks and 12 F-16 fighter jets with the promise of eight more by the end of this year).

And that’s why the Egyptian people have outwardly turned on Obama for this man in his support of Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood is actually supporting terrorism NOT only against the Egyptian people but terrorism against America as well.

So while some are saying that the Egyptian military may try to provoke the extremists to violence to provide a rationale for crushing the Muslim Brotherhood once and for all, there actually is some logic to that, because when a movement is fueled by hate, violence, and subjugation alone…as witnessed by Morsi’s final speech last Tuesday promising civil war if he were ousted and with his supporters in the Muslim Brotherhood promising to carry out (and doing so) a bloody campaign of terror until Morsi is reinstalled…it becomes NOTHING but a cancer on the fabric of Egyptian society, and like all cancers it needs to be removed by any means possible.

The Muslim Brotherhood was born in Egypt...it was a cancer spreading forth from Egypt...may it finally be laid to rest in Egypt.