Why do politicians skip over reality, especially where legislation can be most effective?
Outsourcing American Jobs. It’s been an issue for more than a decade as corporations search for cheaper labor to maximize profits. (Read, for example, December 2014 reports that “Outsourcing to China Cost U.S. 3.2 Million Jobs Since 2001?” as reported by Katherine Peralta for US NEWS in December of 2014). Or read, “Guess What’s Destroying the Middle Class?” By Noah Smith, 3/25/2015, BLOOMBERG VIEW, “…there is a growing body of research showing that globalization -- and, in particular, the rise of China -- has been the biggest factor hollowing out the American middle class.”
Regarding the labor participation rate, a more meaningful number than the unemployment rate which ignores those lost from participation in the labor market all together, “The country's labor force participation rate – which measures the share of Americans at least 16 years old who are either employed or actively looking for work – dipped last month to a 38-year low, clocking in at an underwhelming 62.6 percent,” US NEWS, “Where are all the Workers? The economy adds hundreds of thousands of jobs every month. But more and more people are leaving the workforce.” Andrew Soergel, 7/16/2015.
Fewer millenials are buying homes. Youth unemployment remains in the double digits in addition to lower labor participation rates.
In this context, higher out of pocket maximums for 2016 up to $6,850 for an individual and $13,700 for families is not only NOT savings but shows the perverse disconnect between Obamacare and reality. Forget everything else…With lower labor participation than we’ve seen with decades, with double-digit youth unemployment, with a poorer middle class that’s been the piggy-bank for both Republicans and Democrats, Obamacare is unaffordable for American families facing illness.
The inadequate best argument put forth for Obamacare is the pink elephants argument: Sitting in your living room to keep away pink elephants and when someone asks why since there are no pink elephants the response is, “See, it’s working.” It’s literally a joke-worthy argument that the Obama Administration uses all the time to justify everything from terrorist efforts to warning that things would be worse without Obamacare.
When it comes to what matters we need to focus our energies on, forcing our federal government to embrace solutions that are most effectively accomplished by government and then demand that those solutions reflect the needs of the people being represented by the government and prioritize the importance of those issues is critical. We don’t need a bevy of promises to do a bunch of unrelated things that somehow miraculously intersect into a magical solution.
