Originally Posted by Biggy

The fact that people buy into this political spin of "job-lock" is really a testament to how stupid and ridiculous some in this country are.

It's widely acknowledged the economy is lagging due to the labor market. The Fed (who basically run the economy) are not happy inflation is too low, and are concerned with deflation (think of the amazing economic Carter years in the 70s!). The believe inflation is so low because the labor market is so crappy and most people are out of work (and therefore cant spend), that the economy isn't picking up, and prices aren't going up over time. This is a really really bad thing, because if prices fall over time, then people dont buy things thinking shit is cheaper into the future, and it's a downward spiral.

3 years ago, the Fed said, when unemployment hit 6.5%, they'd start to raise interest rates (because they'd assume with jobs inflation would pick up), except one thing happened.... the unemployment rate started to drop not because we started adding so many jobs, but because people started to leave the work force for a variety of reasons (aging baby boomers, frustrated they couldn't find work, etc). So the fed said, the new trigger for raising interest rates will be an inflation target, not an unemployment rate target. Look at today, the unemployment rate is 6.6%, can you imagine what would happen if the Fed started to raise interest rates? My statement infers that there would be no more taper, (so an immediate termination of 65b a month in asset purchases), plus they would literally begin to go into rounds 1 and 2 of QE and begin to raise interest rates. It would be turmoil, and we'd likely go right back into recession.

Now people have another reason to leave the work force, because they are afraid they would fail to quality for Obamacare subsidies, adding another headache to the mix. There's an incentive not to work, to not participate in the labor force. The Fed wants inflation. The Fed knows people need to work and make $ to spend, which drives inflation. A CBO report on Obamacare suggests that the equivalent of 2.5m jobs will be lost in the form of people electing not to work, because Obamamcare incentivizes them not to work, in order to qualify for Obamacare subsidies.

So in this context, can someone explain to me how a CBO report stating that Obamacare will disincentivize people to work because as they make more $, they will fail to qualify for Obamacare subsidies is a good thing for the economy?

Any Obamapologist, explain this to me... The reality is the report was incredibly damaging to Obamacare and if you need any affirmation, you can look at their "political spin." When in the last 4 years did any Democrat boast that Obamacare will free you from "job-lock"? - Never. It's pure and total political spin, and you shouldn't buy into it.