Why … we have a better press corps
What’s Brad DeLong always typing about ? We have a better press corps. It’s just that they all work for McClatchy. David Lightman shows how to report that someone is lying without using the word
The report says that a study by the National Federation of Independent Business, “the nation’s largest small business association, found that an employer mandate alone could lead to the elimination of 1.6 million jobs between 2009 and 2014, with 66 percent of those coming from small businesses.”
[skip]
Michael Steel, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said: “The (NFIB) report analyzes the effect of an individual mandate. Obama care includes an individual mandate. We make that clear in the report.”
(emphaisis mine)
So Mr Steel asserts that “employer mandate” means “individual mandate.” He is lying.
The whole article is worth reading (and discussed at length after the jump). Lightman proves at great length that the “19-page Jan. 6 report, “ObamaCare: A Budget-Busting, Job-Killing Health Care Law.”” is fundamentally fraudulent.
But what of the rest of the US press corps. If it is true, as I believe, that McClatchy has this reporting business under control, what are the rest of them to do ? I think they could usefully teach primary school — certainly they treat their readers and viewwers as children.
The subject of Steel’s blatant lie was this absurd assertion in the 19 page report
— The report says that a study by the National Federation of Independent Business, “the nation’s largest small business association, found that an employer mandate alone could lead to the elimination of 1.6 million jobs between 2009 and 2014, with 66 percent of those coming from small businesses.”
But that study was released on Jan. 28, 2009, well before the law was written. It studied a model, not the law that was enacted eventually, and it was based on a different set of assumptions.
“It’s old. We don’t use it anymore because it was based on a hypothetical mandate,” NFIB spokeswoman Stephanie Cathcart said. While her group still thinks that the law will hurt business job growth, it cites no firm number.
Oh my.
And
— The GOP report says: “Economic theory suggests the penalty should ultimately be passed through (as) lower wages (to an employee),” quoting a Congressional Research Service report.
But Republicans chop that sentence short; the CRS version goes on to say that the penalty for not offering coverage “would not be a burden on small business owners.”
Rather an important omission wouldn’t you say ?
“They treat their readers like children.”
Rather astute of them, actually.
Thing I always wonder is how they do these “studies.” Ask a select group of businessmen?
As to the “pass through” of costs. Of course they will be passed through. Only children would expect anything different. The point of “taxing the employer” is that it is politically easier… despite the yelling in pain … the people are too stupid to know they need the health insurance and they need to pay for it.
at the risk of being seen to contradict myself (i contradict myself all the time. not politically wise to be seen doing it), the opposite is also true
the employer cannot fully “pass through” the costs of health insurance. labor has some choice about what pay level it will accept (not much, but some) and below a certain level, they can’t work for less.
so an employer mandate could result in an effective pay raise for some workers… forcing the employer to pay a living wage, where it is understood that health care is part of a living wage.
Call me cynical. This could just be the political cover Republicans will need when cuts to nominal spending will lead to further increases in unemployment. The current “recovery” is jobless and cuts to spending by state and federal supply side true believers will not improve, and will most likely, harm the prospects for more employment. Remember, it is always someone else’s fault. Personal responsibility is out of the equation.
But I’ve always thought that “personal responsibility” was for people who can’t buy their way out of trouble.
All those suckers out there, in other words…
There’s some truth in that statement. Lately, the margin is shrinking.
they “darkeneth discourse with no knowledge” or such as God scolded Job for complaining about his troubles.
In the case of republicans they hide their lies behind deliberate “no knowledge”
I think the book of Job tells us how they should be handled.