The Rude Pundit: Democrats: Don't Defend the CBO Report; Use It to Attack the GOP
Is this really that hard, Democrats? Really? Here ya go:
The Congressional Budget Office said that the Affordable Care Act will reduce the deficit, allow sick people to stop working and concentrate on getting better, free up jobs for people who are looking for employment, cause a hike in wages for many people, and give people more spending money, which will, in the end, create more jobs.
From page 125 of the CBO report: "On balance, CBO 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."
If that's not clear enough, here's page 126: "The expanded federal subsidies for health insurance will stimulate demand for goods and services, and that effect will mostly occur over the next few years. That increase in demand will induce some employers to hire more workers or to increase their employees’ hours during that period."
You got that? This is pretty much high school-level economics. You put a shit ton of money into the economy and you're gonna need some supply for that demand. This effect of the ACA is something that has barely been discussed. As the Rude Pundit has pointed out, especially in states accepting the expansion of Medicaid, we're talking about a stealth stimulus that Obamacare provides. Frankly, it wouldn't be all that surprising if this was a big thing driving the GOP into the incoherent, gorilla rage in which it perpetually exists. Oh, fuck, you mean if you give a few billion dollars out, there might be a larger economic effect?
As for the jobs situation, first off, if there is a decline in the number of people in the workforce and the demand for workers goes up, well, let's see, going back to junior year econ, it looks like that means you'd have to pay workers more.
See, dear, sweet, dumb, easily cowed Americans, employer-provided health insurance was a kind of indentured servitude. You had to stay with your job, no matter what, in order to not drown in medical debt or to take care of a preexisting condition that switching jobs and insurance might not cover. How many people do you know who have said, "I'd find another job/quit/start my own business if it wasn't for health insurance"? How many disabled, sick, or close-to-retirement people do you know who should stop working but haven't because they would be shit out of luck on health care? How many parents would like to stay home with their kids, which was once a conservative goal?
The report said that the roughly 2.5 million full-time jobs given up due to a cumulative reduction of hours by employees who choose to work less or not at all because they got on Medicaid or subsidized insurance. There's a good chance that that would free up jobs for people who are seeking them. That's just...fucking humane, isn't it?
And that's gotta drive the capitalists and their congressional lackeys crazy. All of a sudden, a whole lot of workers have choices. Holy fucknuts, that means that the relationship between capital and labor has shifted, ever so little, in favor of labor. What the hell? Haven't we set this whole thing up to dick over workers every chance we can? How the fuck did that slip through? No wonder the right went to DefCon Fast and Furious yesterday (it's just below DefCon Benghazi).
The other thing that's gotta be galling the GOP is that the "risk corridor," which means that insurers making tons of money pay into a pool that gives money to insurers who handle the most at-risk patients, is not a "giveaway" to insurers. It'll actually reduce the deficit: "
T)he government will pay out $8 billion in risk subsidies to the insurers but collect $16 billion. Real-world math says this is a gain to the Treasury of $8 billion; GOP math says it's a 'bailout.' You be the judge."
Republicans' way to deal with that is hilarious. Hypocrisy, motherfuckers. Just say "Man, fuck that CBO report" a few hours after you said, "Man, this CBO report is awesomeness embodied." Which is exactly what Senator Orrin Hatch did yesterday.
Democrats, you can beat Republicans unconscious with this CBO report and piss on them. Then you can toss their statements at them and say, "Wipe your pissed-on asses off with this."
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Of course, with the caveat that Billo wouldn't have the ability to cut off his mic.
That would be fun 
"employer-provided health insurance was a kind of indentured servitude" Indeed!
People with a brain will figure this out, I hope. If 2 million people drop out of the job market, that does not mean that those jobs will not be filled elsewhere. Perhaps by younger workers or perhaps by long-term unemployed?
Or are the Repubs saying that businesses will not fill those lost positions at all? As if they have all these extra workers on their payroll out of the goodness of their heart?
This is a gain for labor, albeit very small. We should celebrate this part of the ACA even if we disagree with the rest of it.
