Unintended consequences of Government or is it?

[Glass]

This is something that always gets me. It is often called the "Unintended" consequences of Government. That gives you the feeling that it is just a unintended consequence, something that was not expected, could not be expected or was just down to the incompetence of the responsible persons consequence detector.

History is littered with these examples. Mao Tse Tung's great leap forward caused all sorts of misallocation of resources or destruction of perfectly good resources for no benefit.

If you have heard of game theory, you view on the "Unintendedness" of these consequences might change. You might realise that if you applied game theory to a government decision, you would see that there are very few if any instances where a consequence was actually unintended, even when the consequence causes harm to someone, a person, man or woman.

Obamacare is one such example of Unintended consequences, unless you knew something about game theory.

Obamacare stipulates that everyone working 30 hours or more per week is to be provided health care via these health hubs or whatever they call them.

So what is the consequence of that directive? What do humans do when they don't want to do something? They avoid the situation that causes the need to do.

They don't hire people for 30 or more hours per week.

So the unintended consequence of Obamacare are the loss of full time jobs, loss of security, loss of any employer funded health care (that is coming) and probably the loss of some lifestyle because a lot of part time jobs are crap hours.

And lets not forget those famous words from Pres George Bush Jnr when being told by a woman in her 50's that she worked 3 jobs so that she could keep a roof over her head, support her children and grand children.

George Bush's reply: "only in America".

It's my contention there are no accidents in politics. There are no unintended consequences. Game theory tells you this is what people will do when faced with this type of situation.


The "Obamacare Part-Time Jobs" Effect Goes Mainstream
While many Wall Street economists and strategists shrugged in the face of tin-foil-hat-wearing bloggers who suggested the disaster that is the part-time jobs receovery was due to The Affordable Care Act (http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-08-02/obamacare-full-frontal-953000-jobs-created-2013-77-or-731000-are-part-time) - of 953,000 jobs created In 2013, 77%, or 731,000 are part-time - epitomized best by Larry Kudlow and Deutsche Bank's ever-smiling Joe Lavorgna (http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-07-08/cnbc-viewership-collapse-continues-cramer-kudlow-audience-record-lows); it seems the drag on employers' hiring has now hit the mainstream media. As NBC Nightly News reports (http://www.nbcnews.com/video/nightly-news/52748658#52748658) in this succinct clip, things are not going according to plan for the President's better bargain even as Fed's Bullard proclaims "clear improvement in labor markets." Perhaps he should watch TV this evening?


As NBC Reports,


"The White House dismisses this as 'anecdotal."

The Affordable Care Act employer mandate to provide health insurance to anyone working 30 or more hours a week hasn’t been implemented yet, but that hasn’t stopped some businesses from cutting back on employees’ hours to avoid paying healthcare costs.



http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-08-14/obamacare-part-time-jobs-effect-goes-mainstream

[Hatha Sunahara]

Ever hear the expression "Smoke and Mirrors'? When you hear what government officials say, you have to assume that they are hiding the real reasons for whatever they do. What is far more important is what they DON'T say. And you have to discover all the pieces and put them together yourself to get a hint of the real agenda they are pushing. You have to read between the lines because they won't tell you the truth.

There are no 'unintended consequences' of government policies. I am a firm believer that the world is the way it is because somebody wants it to be that way. Also because there are huge numbers of people who get used to it being that way, and get stressed out dangerously if anybody tries to change it. You can see both of those factors in play with Obamacare. You can also see the smoke and mirrors in how its supporters explain Obamacare. Business does not want to pay for health care of its employees. It's too expensive because the markets for health care and pharma and insurance are broken. So, Obamacare shifts the costs to employees and to the government, without interfering with the profitability of businesses that provide that healthcare. I would expect that only jobs that require high value skills will come with any employer health care benefits. Over time, the economy will shift to this model, and in a dozen years or so, all jobs will be part time or in firms that employ less than 50 people. Big corporations will subcontract out work to newly created small firms with fewer than 50 people. Obamacare is a pretense of welfare for the slaves provided by a government that serves the elite and only the elite. Whatever political messages are sent concerning it is to maintain the illusion that the government is interested in the health and welfare of the people more than in the profitability of corporations owned by the wealthy.

I am also a firm believer that the only thing that holds the whole system together is the effectiveness of the propaganda machinery. It will all collapse when people learn to see through that propaganda screen. Sorta like they did in the Soviet Union.


Hatha