Friday, August 27, 2010

I haven't posted in awhile. But I was right.

One of the last things I said was that my hope for positive change with this administration died. That's still absolutely true.

But I've read and listened and learned a lot of things in the more than year and a half that I haven't been posting and if anything I'm even less hopeful.

Let me start with Obamacare for the Obamanation from the Obamination.

I was given a lesson in the realities of this "universal healthcare" system from one of the people at my company who has worked directly with the official information given to our company.

Here's how it works: any company that fails to provide healthcare for each of its employees will be fined $2,000 per employee, per year. Any company that provides healthcare for its employees will, firstly, pay for said healthcare. And then the government will tax the company about $2,000 per covered employee, per year.

Do the math: the Obama administration is making it more expensive for your employer to provide healthcare for you than not providing healthcare.

Why? ... We should all be asking that. Shouldn't companies that provide healthcare for their employees be spared the $2,000 fine? Of course they should, in a reasonable country. But this country's legislators are anything but reasonable. So to find out why, let's examine what the consequences will be.

Let's pick an imaginary company that currently provides healthcare for its employees, ABC Industries. Medical costs are rising, and typical companies share the cost in some fashion with the employees by taking a portion of the expense out of the employees' checks. ABC Industries is one of those companies, though the company is a little on the less-generous side and pays a smaller portion of the medical costs than the employee does. When Obamacare goes into effect, ABC Industries' cost per employee will rise by $2,000 annually.
ABC Industries' board of executives gets together in a meeting and looks at the numbers- their cost for supplying healthcare for their employees will now be the cost of healthcare plus $2,000. One of the executives interjects into the discussion that the fine for not providing coverage is only $2,000. There's a moment of silence as that sinks in, and then they start to discuss the possibility of simply soaking up the "fine" while they save money from not needing to provide healthcare.

The decision gets made- from a business' bottom line standpoint, not providing healthcare is the cheaper and therefore smarter way to go. The employees are provided six months notice that their company provided health coverage is coming to an end, and behind this letter comes the informative packet to help them all sign up for Obamacare.

Oh... so that must be the reason why Obamacare's impact on employers is structured like it is- companies are being prodded to put their employees on the government healthcare system. When you get right down to it, its a government incentive- "we'll give you a break on costs if you turn your employees over to our care".

The government wants more people on the governmental system? I shouldn't be surprised. It seems to be a pretty continuous idea. Jerry Brown, one of the candidates for governor of California and a California politician for a number of years now, had a radio show in the 1990's. A direct quote from one of his shows: "We need more welfare and less jobs."

So that's the kind of government we're getting- socialistic. Just like I said in December 2008, when I lost motivation to continue preaching about this.