picture of the word confusion in various styles and colors - confusingLEE’S SUMMIT, AUGUST 9, 2016 – I cannot believe how erroneous the most recent fact check done by NBCnews and PolitiFact (click here for the full article).

CLAIM: “Obamacare will cost the economy 2 million full-time jobs over the next decade.”

THE FACTS: A Congressional Budget Office report estimated that the Affordable Care Act would reduce work hours by the equivalent of about 2 million workers. Notably, that doesn’t mean these jobs are all being eliminated: it includes a number of workers who will choose to work fewer hours or not at all because they can now afford health insurance. The same claim made by Laura Ingraham was rated “Mostly False” by PolitiFact.

Quick, answer the following question:

If you work less hours, and you’re not a salaried employee do you:

  1. Get paid the same?
  2. Get paid more?
  3. Get paid less?
  4. I have no clue…

In the statement from PolitiFact “…would reduce work hours by the equivalent of about 2 million workers …” or if they work 40 hours per week, 80 million hours.

So, businesses are not going to pay for 80 million hours, that employees are not working.  So the cost to the employer is balanced, but to the worker – of them that are affected – will receive less pay.  So, the answer to the question is:  If you work less hours, and you are not on salary – meaning you are paid by the hour you work – you’ll get paid less.

So, the economy loses the equivalent of 2 million workers worth of economic value.  Less money in the households (again equivalent to 2 million workers), less money in the community, less money being spent, and things slow down.

So, let me look at this again:

Trump said: Obamacare will cost the economy 2 million full-time jobs over the next decade.

PolitiFact said: “A Congressional Budget Office report estimated that the Affordable Care Act would reduce work hours by the equivalent of about 2 million workers.”

If you reduce work hours, you reduce the full-time equivalency of those hours.

How is that not true?

I’m beginning to convince myself that, fact checkers should have their fact checking checked by a fact checker’s fact checker; say that five times fast!

Respectfully Submitted

The Lee’s Summit Conservative