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THE VIEW FROM JOHN MCHUGH
THE VIEW FROM JOHN MCHUGH
“The Republican’s anti-retirement and young American’s continued unemployment, insecurity and sickness act of 2011”.
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Deceptive Rep. John BoehnerOur Republican friends will be voting in lock step for another of their deceptively named bills this week. They call it the "Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act." As providing universal health care will in fact reduce unemployment significantly, the title of this bill overtaxes even our Republican friend’s big lie policy, a policy by which they currently seek to keep this nation the only industrialized western nation without universal health care. But, of course that is only part of the story.
The Republican’s claim that providing health care to all Americans will kill 1.6 million jobs. Far from killing jobs, that is the number of Americans who will be able to retire once the ability to obtain affordable health insurance, no matter the state of one’s health, is guaranteed. The 1.6 million number came from a report by the Congressional Budget Office which found that many Americans to be trapped in jobs long after retirement age, because to keep working is the only way they can retain health insurance. When these workers, freed from those chains, finely retire, they will all be replaced. Quite contrary to Republican claims, few if any jobs will be lost by forcing all employers with 50 or more employees to either provide health insurance or pay into a fund to provide coverage for the resulting uninsured.
The Budget Office found that the health care bill may cost from 130,000 to 500,000 minimum wage or extremely low income jobs. This job loss calculation is based on the assumption that marginal businesses with over 50 employees may lay off workers rather than provide health insurance or pay a penalty per worker for failing to do so. Many of these losses, the report concludes, will be offset by new jobs created at the bottom of the health care industry, where job growth is expected to include many of these same low skilled workers. Even that report however, does not take into consideration the fact that a cost imposed on all employers does not render one who gives health insurance less competitive than one who does not, the current situation. Thus, these job losses will not be as significant as even the Budget Office estimates. Job losses occur when someone else can do it cheaper, not when everyone’s costs go up.
Thus, the claim that the bill will kill jobs is a major distortion of the truth. When the health care bill is in full effect it will actually reduce unemployment. Each American worker who retires due to the security provided by the Health Care Bill will open up a job opportunity for a younger American. If the Budget Office is correct, 1.6 million unemployed Americans will then find work. That is a very large dent in our unemployment problem.
Why would they lie about this? Obviously, anything which provides American families with increased financial security is contrary to the current Republican policy of keeping American workers insecure. Insecure workers work harder and do not make demands. Today, a company can lay off workers with the assurance that the remaining workers will work longer hours, give up vacation days to deal with ever increasing workloads and yet they will make no demands for wages to compensate them for the increased work load. I hear complaints about ever escalating work loads from my friends on my commuter train every day along with the words “I am happy to have a job at all”. These are not poor workers but are upper middle management, all working harder for no more money and yes, most are still good Republicans.
The Republican Party is now more than ever, the party of the ultra rich and the deluded. Due to insecure workers American wages have remain nearly fixed for almost ten years while productivity per worker has increased significantly. Huge profits have been generated by keeping workers insecure, as when workers are insecure, none of the increased revenue generated by these nervous workers must be shared with them. Every penny has gone into bloated top executive salaries and to some extent to stockholders.
The statement that allowing 1.6 million to retire is the same as killing 1.6 million jobs is a stupendous lie. It is shocking that no one has effectively challenged it. That may explain why the citizens of this nation remain nearly equally split on the virtues of the national health care bill.
Thus, far from being destructive to the economy, the provision of health care will cause 1.6 million jobs to open up for younger people and will protect us all from the costs of and indeed from the frequency and severity of disease.
Therefore, the Republican’s bill should be renamed. It is in fact and should be properly referred to as “The Republican’s anti-retirement and young American’s continued unemployment, insecurity and sickness act of 2011”.
ABOUT JOHN MCHUGH
John F. McHugh is a former Assistant United States Attorney, Southern District of New York, appointed during the Nixon Administration, a former General Counsel, Officer and Board Member of a United States Flag steamship company, who practices law from offices in New York City.
The Republican’s claim that providing health care to all Americans will kill 1.6 million jobs. Far from killing jobs, that is the number of Americans who will be able to retire once the ability to obtain affordable health insurance, no matter the state of one’s health, is guaranteed. The 1.6 million number came from a report by the Congressional Budget Office which found that many Americans to be trapped in jobs long after retirement age, because to keep working is the only way they can retain health insurance. When these workers, freed from those chains, finely retire, they will all be replaced. Quite contrary to Republican claims, few if any jobs will be lost by forcing all employers with 50 or more employees to either provide health insurance or pay into a fund to provide coverage for the resulting uninsured.
The Budget Office found that the health care bill may cost from 130,000 to 500,000 minimum wage or extremely low income jobs. This job loss calculation is based on the assumption that marginal businesses with over 50 employees may lay off workers rather than provide health insurance or pay a penalty per worker for failing to do so. Many of these losses, the report concludes, will be offset by new jobs created at the bottom of the health care industry, where job growth is expected to include many of these same low skilled workers. Even that report however, does not take into consideration the fact that a cost imposed on all employers does not render one who gives health insurance less competitive than one who does not, the current situation. Thus, these job losses will not be as significant as even the Budget Office estimates. Job losses occur when someone else can do it cheaper, not when everyone’s costs go up.
Thus, the claim that the bill will kill jobs is a major distortion of the truth. When the health care bill is in full effect it will actually reduce unemployment. Each American worker who retires due to the security provided by the Health Care Bill will open up a job opportunity for a younger American. If the Budget Office is correct, 1.6 million unemployed Americans will then find work. That is a very large dent in our unemployment problem.
Why would they lie about this? Obviously, anything which provides American families with increased financial security is contrary to the current Republican policy of keeping American workers insecure. Insecure workers work harder and do not make demands. Today, a company can lay off workers with the assurance that the remaining workers will work longer hours, give up vacation days to deal with ever increasing workloads and yet they will make no demands for wages to compensate them for the increased work load. I hear complaints about ever escalating work loads from my friends on my commuter train every day along with the words “I am happy to have a job at all”. These are not poor workers but are upper middle management, all working harder for no more money and yes, most are still good Republicans.
The Republican Party is now more than ever, the party of the ultra rich and the deluded. Due to insecure workers American wages have remain nearly fixed for almost ten years while productivity per worker has increased significantly. Huge profits have been generated by keeping workers insecure, as when workers are insecure, none of the increased revenue generated by these nervous workers must be shared with them. Every penny has gone into bloated top executive salaries and to some extent to stockholders.
The statement that allowing 1.6 million to retire is the same as killing 1.6 million jobs is a stupendous lie. It is shocking that no one has effectively challenged it. That may explain why the citizens of this nation remain nearly equally split on the virtues of the national health care bill.
Thus, far from being destructive to the economy, the provision of health care will cause 1.6 million jobs to open up for younger people and will protect us all from the costs of and indeed from the frequency and severity of disease.
Therefore, the Republican’s bill should be renamed. It is in fact and should be properly referred to as “The Republican’s anti-retirement and young American’s continued unemployment, insecurity and sickness act of 2011”.
ABOUT JOHN MCHUGH
John F. McHugh is a former Assistant United States Attorney, Southern District of New York, appointed during the Nixon Administration, a former General Counsel, Officer and Board Member of a United States Flag steamship company, who practices law from offices in New York City.
