CBO director: Obamacare won't kill jobs, it'll create them

[ProSense]

CBO director: Obamacare won't kill jobs, it'll create them

by Joan McCarter

<...>

Well, lookie. At the same hearing in which Rep. Pul Ryan was forced to acknowledge that no, the CBO report didn't say that Obamacare would kill 2 million jobs, the flip-side of two million workers free to quit their jobs was explored. And, guess what, it actually turns out that Obamacare is going to reduce unemployment, as CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf reiterates with Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) in that video clip. Greg Sargent has more.

On page 124, the report estimates that the ACA will "boost overall demand for goods and services over the next few years because the people who will benefit from the expansion of Medicaid and from access to the exchange subsidies are predominantly in lower-income households and thus are likely to spend a considerable fraction of their additional resources on goods and services." This, the report says, "will in turn boost demand for labor over the next few years."

"When you boost demand for labor in this kind of economy, you actually reduce the unemployment rate, because those people who are looking for work can find more work, right?" Van Hollen asked Elmendorf.

"Yes, that's right," Elmendorf said.

Elmendorf added that the factor Van Hollen had identified was something CBO thinks "spurs employment and would reduce unemployment over the next few years."

That's considering the increased buying power lower-income folks are going to have now that they don't have to spend so much on health care. It's not considering the jobs that will be opening up as people choose to leave them to pursue other opportunities. It's not counting the potential jobs created by people leaving those jobs to start their own businesses. Even Republicans love those people, right? Republicans especially love those people, unless of course those people are forgoing the "dignity of work" to become moochers reliant on tax credits to help them pay for health insurance.

Here's the truth: Obamacare isn't a jobs killer. It's a jobs creator. The Republicans' dirty little secret is that this is something they've known all along; it's one of the reasons they've fought so hard to kill the law. It's one of the reason so many Republican governors and legislatures have refused participate. Economic sabotage has been one of the GOP's primary tactics against President Obama, and Obamacare opposition has been part and parcel of that.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/02/05/1275328/-CBO-director-Obamacare-won-t-kill-jobs-it-ll-create-them

New York Times Editorial Board Tells It Like It Is On That CBO Obamacare Report
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024447680

[yeoman6987]

1. A new day!

Yesterday it was loose jobs, today make jobs. Will this be the new "egg" scenario where one year eggs are bad, the next they are outstanding. Whatever happens to jobs, I just wish they would make up their minds.

[ProSense]

3. Nothing has changed

"Yesterday it was loose jobs, today make jobs. "

Yesterday conservatives couldn't read, and today, they still can't read.

This is why it's important for them to hear it from the horses mouth. Best cure for the weak strain of denial. It isn't going to help the with hard-core denial. LOL!

BTW, it's "lose."

[yeoman6987]

6. I love your post

You are so right. And I cannot believe I spelled "lose" wrong. I even thought about it for a minute and looked at it again and just for some reason had one of those brain farts that lasted longer then even normal. A long day for sure. Thank you for the post.

[libdem4life]

2. Yeah, but those are not those minimum wage jobs we hold so dearly /s/ Republican Party.

[DemocraticWing]

4. I've seen people on this board make similar points for quite a while.

For a lot of people past the age of 50, they've got plenty of savings ready for retirement...but they can't retire without losing their health insurance, and pre-ACA it was way too expensive for people (especially for older people) to buy health insurance on their own. These people can now retire before 65, and that will open up jobs throughout the entire system.

Even more importantly, there are some people who have small self-owned businesses (think cleaners, independent truckers, etc.) who can now afford health insurance on the exchanges, AND farmers and other seasonal laborers who would work a 2nd job in the winter so they could have health insurance can now afford it thanks to the ACA as well!

Healthcare reform is going to have a lot of really good effects over the next few years. It will remake our society in a positive way. It's not perfect, and we still need to fight for single payer, but this law is a damn good start.

[liberal N proud]

5. But the got the story in the stream that says otherwise so now there can be this life long debate

with every right wingnut who will deny the deniers because they want to hear the other story.