Obamacare and Job Creation 20110721

View 684 Thursday, July 21, 2011

· ObamaCare and Jobs

· Secrets of economic growth

· Death, Taxes, and Federal Service

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I frequently get mail proclaiming its importance, but this time my old friend and correspondent Joanne Dow may be right:

This is the most important graph of the day courtesy of HotAir.com.

Report: Private sector job creation ground to a halt almost instantly after Obamacare passed "http://hotair.com/archives/2011/07/20/report-private-sector-job-creation-ground-to-a-halt-almost-instantly-after-obamacare-passed/"

Before April 2010 we see more than 67,000 jobs created per month. After that date it dropped to 6400 jobs per month.

{^_^}

Of course I can’t vouch for the data. I know little about this web site. Still, it seems reasonable: businesses were told that if you hire people you will have to provide healthcare for them or pay fines. That makes expansion of a company a risky business. The Republicans were pledging to repeal ObamaCare or to refuse to fund it, but that doesn’t seem to be happening. If this is anything like correct, it certainly is the most important graph of the day – and ought to be informing the Republican strategists who are busy participating in the next round of the Deficit Dance.

Los Angeles has a new law making it a hate crime to shout at a bicyclist who is trying to annoy you, and awarding them triple damages if they sue you for verbal assault, etc. The ruling class has decided. Motorists must pay for the roads. Bicyclists get to use them free, and lawyers get to shake the motorists down. Isn’t that fun? It’s neither democracy nor rule of law; it’s just the modern system.

If I seem in a bit of a foul mood, I wasted considerable time trying to set up an account with Barnes and Noble to publish some of my works for the Nook. I filled out all their forms, and got an email saying I had to confirm some of the details by telephone. After 43 minutes of being on hold waiting for “the next available agent” (I have no evidence that there was ever more than one, or indeed any at all) the phone system ceased making automatic announcements about all agents being busy and simply hung up on me. Redialing got me the message that the office was closed for the day, please call during business hours. I had intended to announce that you could get some of my works in eBook format for the Nook, but at the moment that is not true. I’ll try again tomorrow, but one wonders if B&N is not getting business advice from Borders.

The Last Shuttle has landed, and the United States is no longer a space faring nation.

Fortunately the world now knows one of the secrets of economic growth. I would have thought that cheap energy and lots of economic freedom would produce economic miracles, but there appears to be another important factor.

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/global/2011/07/chart-penile-length-leads-little-economic-growth/40117/

Steve Chu

And, we seem to have made another discovery. Something is as certain as death and taxes.

Death, Taxes, and a Federal Job?

Dr. Pournelle —

Apparently we can add a federal job to the list of certainties.

Some federal workers more likely to die than lose jobs http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2011-07-18-fderal-job-security_n.htm?loc=interstitialskip

"The federal government fired 0.55% of its workers in the budget year that ended Sept. 30 — 11,668 employees in its 2.1 million workforce. Research shows that the private sector fires about 3% of workers annually for poor performance, says John Palguta, former research chief at the federal Merit Systems Protection Board which handles federal firing disputes."

"The job security rate for all federal workers was 99.43% last year and nearly 100% for those on the job more than a few years."

"Only 27 of 35,000 federal attorneys were fired last year. None was laid off. Death claimed 33."

Getting rid of the bunny inspectors is going to be hard.

Pieter

Getting rid of the bunny inspectors will indeed be hard. It is set up to be hard, and no one is seriously trying to make it happen. The goal of the ruling class is to continue to raise revenues while borrowing more money, and “paying” with promises to cut spending Real Soon Now. Death and Taxes and Federal Service. Das Buros immer stehen. The Iron Law prevails.

And I see I have spent the day trying to get set up with Barnes and Noble, to no avail. Thanks to all those who have recently subscribed and renewed subscriptions. That helps a lot.