CBO Crushes ObamaCare

The Hill reports that the latest CBO economic outlook pegs ObamaCare as a job-killer:

The new healthcare law will slow economic growth over the next decade, costing the nation about 2.5 million jobs and contributing to a $1 trillion increase in projected deficits, the Congressional Budget Office said in a report released Tuesday.

The non-partisan agency’s report found that the healthcare law’s negative effects on the economy will be “substantially larger” than what it had previously anticipated.

The CBO is now estimating that the law will reduce labor force compensation by 1 percent from 2017 to 2024, twice the reduction it previously had projected.

This will decrease the number of full-time equivalent jobs in 2021 by 2.3 million, it said. It had previously estimated the decrease would be 800,000.

It said this decrease would be caused partly be people leaving the workforce in response to lower jobs offered by employers, and increased insurance coverage through the healthcare law.

It also said employer penalties in the law will decrease wages, and that part-year workers will be slower to return to the work force because they will seek to retain ObamaCare insurance subsidies.

Some people at the lower end of the income scale will realize it makes more sense to collect ObamaCare subsidies than to knock themselves out with a 9-5. Later, earnest Dems can rail about how we are no longer an opportunity society and the working class is being left behind, so it's a win-win; from the CBO report:

However, people whose employment or hours worked will be most affected by the ACA are expected to have below-average earnings because the effects of the subsidies that are available through exchanges and of expanded Medicaid eligibility on the amount of labor supplied by lower-income people are likely to be greater than the effects of increased taxes on the amount of labor supplied by higher-income people.

That said, I did extract from the CBO report this about our drift towards becoming a part-time nation as the taxes and penalties ObamaCare imposes on full-time jobs kick in:

In CBO’s judgment, there is no compelling evidence that part-time employment has increased as a result of the ACA. On the one hand, there have been anecdotal reports of firms responding to the employer penalty by limiting workers’ hours, and the share of workers in parttime jobs has declined relatively slowly since the end of the recent recession. On the other hand, the share of workers in part-time jobs generally declines slowly after recessions, so whether that share would have declined more quickly during the past few years in the absence of the ACA is difficult to determine.21 In any event, because the employer penalty will not take effect until 2015, the current lack of direct evidence may not be very informative about the ultimate effects of the ACA.

Too soon to tell, and we may not know until after the election. Nervous Dems exhale!

HEADLINING AT A COMEDY CLUB: A paniced NY Times struggles with its coverage; they are running a correction which itself requires correction:

Correction: February 4, 2014

An earlier version of a headline accompanying this article on the home page was incorrect. The health law is projected to result in two million fewer workers, according to the Congressional Budget Office, not two million fewer jobs.

As best I can tell, this is the corrected home page headline:

Health Law Seen as Leading to 2 Million Fewer Workers

Wrong again. The CBO is projecting a loss of 2 million human-years of effort in 2017 (rising to 2.5 million by 2024). That comes from people spending more time on unemployment between jobs, retiring earlier, or working part-time instead of full-time. From the report on p. 127 (p. 133 .pdf):

CBO’s updated estimate of the decrease in hours worked translates to a reduction in full-time-equivalent employment of about 2.0 million in 2017, rising to about 2.5 million in 2024, compared with what would have occurred in the absence of the ACA.

...

The reduction in full-time-equivalent employment that CBO expects will arise from the ACA includes some people choosing not to work at all and other people choosing to work fewer hours than they would have in the absence of the law; however, CBO has not tried to quantify those two components of the overall effect.

Because some people will reduce the amount of hours they work rather than stopping work altogether, the number who will choose to leave employment because of the ACA in 2024 is likely to be substantially less than 2.5 million. At the same time, more than 2.5 million people are likely to reduce the amount of labor they choose to supply to some degree because of the ACA, even though many of them will not leave the labor force entirely.

That is "lost output" in the sense that the extra two miliion people-years of effort could have gone to useful gods and services. Instead, it is going to taxpayer-subsidized free time, which is not necessarily awful - maybe a parent can afford to take a part-time job and spend more time raising the kids. Well, maybe.

Also filed under "maybe" is whether the Times will eventually get this right. Maybe after they stop hyper-ventilating...

CORRECTING THE CORRECTION: The new, nimbler Times tries yet again:

Correction: February 4, 2014

An earlier version of a headline accompanying this article on the home page was incorrect. The health law is projected to result in a voluntary reduction in the work force equal to 2.5 million full-time workers, according to the Congressional Budget Office, not two million fewer jobs.

Well, OK then. Just for laughs, we should note tjhat they are now one step ahead of the Washington Post, which currently has this correction:

Correction:

The headline of an earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the CBO study estimated that health law will result in 2 million fewer jobs. The CBO says the health law will lead to 2 million fewer workers.

Is the CBO report really this mysterious, or are these media elites just re-writing other people's coverage?

Comments

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

I will gladly send this to the Bloomberg News editors who have been humping ObummerCare for years. Lying prats. Maybe they are trolls here.

[Neo]

Tell me nobody at the White House saw this before it was released [only to Fox News I suppose].

[rich@gmu]

>>>Later, earnest Dems can rail about how we are no longer an opportunity society and the working class is beiong left behind, so it's a win-win.<<<

Ms. Brooks is freshening his makeup.

[Ignatz]

--The new healthcare law will slow economic growth over the next decade, costing the nation about 2.5 million jobs and contributing to a $1 trillion increase in projected deficits, the Congressional Budget Office said in a report released Tuesday.--

Yes, but as SanFranNan assures us, that 2.5 million throng will ignite economic growth through their unemployment benefits and of course Barry, using one of his many teachable moments, has explained to we simpletons it is a given that any extra deficit spending has a huge multiplier effect, so I'm looking for the downside here.

[Account Deleted]

CBO projections carry the same integrity and weight as IPCC SkyDragon projections. There is no doubt BOzocare will damage the economy but this looks more like a butt cover for the failure of Fed pseudo-Keynesian policy to achieve anything other than the repeal of Okun's Law. The world wide progressive solution of "just rub a little OPM on it" appears to be coming into contact with reality.

[rich@gmu]

and another comment bites the dust.

[Jeff Dobbs]

"The truth is, in order to get things like universal health care ... then someone is going to have to give up a piece of their pie so that someone else can have more and that pie will mostly just get thrown out."
--stuff Michelle (almost) said

At least a couple million someones...

[Neo]

Rep Rob Andrews (D-NJ) is resigning from Congress.

First, let me say I remember the ads for Rep Andrews when he first ran.

He looks a lot older now, after 24 years.

At his presser, he had a noticeable "tick" that reminded me of Michael J Fox (i.e. Parkinson's disease).

[rich@gmu]

...and think of all the cowboy poetry, interpretive dance, and photography. All those Woody Allen wannabes have been freed from being job locked by healthcare benefits. just think of all that creative output! all those wage slaves have been freed one would think they would be more grateful.

[glasater]

Young people do not have the money to pay even subsidized premiums for 0care. Their priorities are something I nor Obama or the government bureaucrats understand or take into account.

[Ignatz]

Study finds not enough government and too much freedom causes obesity.

"Unless governments take steps to regulate their economies, the invisible hand of the market will continue to promote obesity worldwide with disastrous consequences for future public health and economic productivity," said Roberto De Vogli of the University of California, Davis, in the United States, who led the study.....

.....or in the vernacular, ve have vays of makink you skinny.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

well if the premise of Soylent Green was correct, Big Government would want to fatten us up..... Hey?..... Yessss.

[Truthbetold]

Here is another Feldman oldie for you to compare to the present day turnabout.

The CIA's war on Bush (past)
http://www.americanthinker.com/2004/11/the_cias_war_on_bush.html

Proof that the Plame case was a hoax (present)
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2014/01/proof_that_the_plame_case_was_a_hoax.html

[Account Deleted]

glasater,

I'm encouraged by the Millenial's rejection of the moldy carrot and lack of fear of the cracked twig. It's evidence of ability to reject consensus opinion and make a rational personal choice based upon a reasonable risk/reward evaluation. Why should healthy BAristas fork over a dime as their hours continue to be cut?

[Ignatz]

Wonder if this dude's story holds up.
Thirteen months at sea, his companion dead after one month and he washes up in the Marshall islands bearded but still kind of tubby....the dude, not his companion.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

I can't imagine that guy's at sea story is true in the particulars.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

RickB-- I cut more slack to the 20 somethings who have and continue to be crushed by ObummerCare and the Regulatory State. As you note, they can do arithmatic, so credit goes to them for that. As to why their worldview is so wrong? first they are kids (see Winston Churchill) and second they've grown up wanting for little (either obtained by OPM or debt) and shielded from reality by mommy/daddy and the corrupt education industry. My sincere hope is that they are getting an education now and they will learn and become economic and political conservatives. Remember, the converted make the most fanatical believers. May happen here.

[Threadkiller]

http://www.wnd.com/2014/01/the-incredible-shrinking-maryland-mall-shooter/

[Porchlight]

That was interesting, TK. Thanks for the link.

[Captain Hate]

Yes, thanks for that, TK. I was wondering about the uncurious MFM being so uninterested in any followup on that story.

[Threadkiller]

You bet, Porch.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

The political story of 2013 was the unconditional defeat of the gun grabbers. After Newtown, the odds seemed huge that the Congressional Repubs would cave for some useless firearms restrictions... i.e. magazine capacity, gun show transfers. Didn't happen; the only reason it didn't was because the NRA used voter data to prove to the Congressional Repubs that they were better off not caving. There has been a huge cultural shift about guns in the last 25 years. The Bluest Blue hells grow more isolated about guns. That is a good thing.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

Well at least the Legacy Media are consistent. They were far more curious about Zimmerman and Lanza than the DC Snipers once we learned who they were. And what's the deal with the marathon bomber and Navy Yard shooter? No media interest in those? Shocker.

[JiB]

Test

[Threadkiller]

Indeed, CH. It is a perfect illustration of how the media controls the narrative.

Sadly, it also illustrates how the opposition can't/won't get to a national microphone to expose this bias. This is when I want to see the Speaker's gavel being marched across the Mall.

[narciso]

the author of that MSN referenced study, is cited here;

http://www.princeton.edu/~pcglobal/conferences/strange14/murphy.pdf

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

AllahPundit has a very good analysis of the election year politics of conditioning the debt increase on repeal of Insurer Bailouts. The tweaks he suggests to Dr K's advice (since december) are fine. IMO this is all about the Senate votes on this repeal not the unfortunate need to pass the Debt increase until there is a Repub Senate in january 2015: http://hotair.com/archives/2014/02/04/gops-demands-for-debt-ceiling-hike-approve-the-keystone-pipeline-or-repeal-the-obamacare-bailout-program/

[narciso]

And here,

http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~valuesgh/docs/Schrecker%20&%20Labonte%20health%20values%20workshop%20paper%20rev%201.pdf

[glasater]

Rick Ballard,

After watching and rewatching the #AyersDSouza debate and listening to the awful questions asked by audience members and then the students at Dartmouth I tend to agree with you. And I come across those kids - some -in my town.

But the kids who eschew college and who are working pretty good jobs are very much more 'conservative' and aren't going along with O's programs at all. The one thing is the LGBT thing and that seems to be very acceptable to their view.

[JiB]

Test, again

[Dave (in MA)]

Neo, I see what you mean,

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/politics/NJ-Congressman-Rob-Andrews-to-Resign-243481531.html

Of course, you meant "tic" and not "tick". The latter, bloodsucking term is redundant when applied to a member of Congress.

[Janet - the districts lie fallow, while the Capitol gorges itself]

Ignatz's link @ 12:38...oh my goodness! It's not even a joke. OH my goodness....

[miss Marple]

Am on iPad at beauty shop.

Are you all aware John Kerry has grown a beard?

((Shudder))

[narciso]

And like wrong way corrigan;

http://hotair.com/headlines/archives/2014/02/04/republicans-are-facing-irrelevance-if-they-dont-pass-immigration-reform/

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

MissM-- the beard actually may be a good idea. The last round of surgery left Kerry's chin looking like Jay Leno... on steroids.

[Janet - the districts lie fallow, while the Capitol gorges itself]

Young people do not have the money to pay even subsidized premiums for 0care. Their priorities are something I nor Obama or the government bureaucrats understand or take into account.

I totally agree with Glasater. I didn't have health insurance when I was in my 20s...
I never even looked into how much it cost. Any extra money I had I spent on margaritas.
The 2 times I had to pay doctor bills I paid cash on an installment plan. One was for getting my wisdom teeth out & one was for my dog's vet bill (not sure if that counts).

There was a video of students at Howard Univ. & almost all of them said they weren't signing up for Obamacare or hadn't thought about it.
It is a giant bill that people figure was enacted for "someone" that really needs it & wants it....not them though....they don't want it.

[jimmyk]

Sorry, isn't this the same CBO that said that 404Care would help balance the budget? Why should we care what they say? It's a bit like Peggy Noonan coming out with negative op-eds about Barry now, after falling for him in 2008.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

Janet/Glasater-- but if ACA is to be believed (Ok Ok, I know) by the end of March, 2014 3 Million healthy 20-30 somethings who were previously uninsured, would have enrolled (i.e. PAID) for ExchangeCare. That claim was so preposterous, the thing should have been laughed out of Congress in 2009. It passed.

[Threadkiller]

I thought Teresa Heinz Kerry was his beard?

[jimmyk]

Sorry, had to do it. Maybe all the chin jokes were getting to him. I have to admit I'm surprised he could grow a beard after all the surgery.

[Captain Hate]

Exactly jimmyk; I've been waiting for somebody to bring that up. Given their track record it will probably be even worse, as painful as that is to contemplate.

[Jane-Rebel Alliance1]

I've always had health insurance because my mother told me the day I failed to get it I would be diagnosed with terminal cancer. That was a pretty big incentive.

I'm pretty pissed that I've been paying into that system for so long only to now be asked to pay for those who didn't bother.

(Not you Janet)

[jimmyk]

Re Fluke's run for Congress: It costs $1740 to file, so I hear. Think of all the birth control that could have bought. Or maybe it's what she's saved by having it bought for her.

[Captain Hate]

Thurston Howell the Turd looks less like Clutch Cargo than before; I'm sure he still sounds like an idiot, though.

[Jack is Back! (But in Typhus Hell)]

Now, if he only walk like Susan Rice.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

'grow a beard'?...

could be a bad paint job.

PS: great hair though. The dark/light highlights are very well done.

[narciso]

So if bearded spock was evil, beared Lurch. . . . the foolish of Mark 'Tiger Beat' Landler is counterbalanced with Bret Stephens recent piece on how close the Iranians are to the bomb,

[Jack is Back! (But in Typhus Hell)]

...if he could only...

[Threadkiller]

Maybe he and Jay Carney are shooting the pilot, "F**ked Dynasty", for A&E.

[jimmyk]

This is more on topic on the previous thread, but that one was trolled up. So here's Seinfeld saying, essentially, I only care about what's funny, not about race and ethnicity, and so this Gawker idiot makes him out to be a racist.

http://gawker.com/who-cares-about-diversity-in-comedy-says-jerry-seinf-1515412052

Whether you think he's funny or not, it's refreshing to hear him say this, which is essentially "content of their comedy, not the color of their skin." And whether you liked the show or not, it was never afraid to ridicule lefty shibboleths like the "pink ribbon," even with Larry David behind it.

[Captain Hate]

I'd still like to know if that horrible botox job on that goof's lantern jaw happened after Sarah Palin mocked his long face after the Winter Soldier clumsily tried to make a joke at her expense, and poor Lurch went whining to Lovey to make her stop.

[daddy]

Good Morning!

Mark Steyn doing a funny and convincing segment this morning at EIB explaining how his pet has a better HealthCare System than we do under ObamaCare.

[polly]

CH, I don't think it was botox-looked more like plastic surgery to me.

[Threadkiller]

It probably happened in the vacuum chamber, CH.

[matt]

Don't most men of a certain social standing wait until they go on vacation to grow it out? Now he looks like a stumblebum. A very tall, clueless stumblebum.

[Marlene]

Speaking of Heinz Kerry...did you notice the Heinz ketchup ad during the Superbowl? Why the heck would Heinz need to pay Superbowl ad prices?

[Captain Hate]

Maybe Polly; these guys sure didn't know: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/reliable-source/wp/2013/09/04/john-kerrys-face-looks-different-exhaustion-illness-botox/

[Janet - the districts lie fallow, while the Capitol gorges itself]

I didn't have insurance, but I didn't go to the doctor either. I didn't expect anyone else to pay for me. I guess if something super big had happened I did assume that a hospital would take care of me, but then I would have had to work out a payment plan....50 bucks a month for the rest of my life or something.

Anyway...the whole idea of not having something & then looking to government to get it for me was/is foreign to me.
Live without it or work for it.

[daddy]

Yippee!

Remember how the Queen Mumm was happy when the Nazi's bombed Buckingham Palace because she finally felt she could look the previously bombed East-Enders in the face?

Enroll Alaska (ObamaCare) mistakenly releases hundreds of email addresses

Whew. Thank goodness. We're hosed up too. I can finally look you lower 48'ers in the face:)

[Captain Hate]

Tammy Bruce is on a rampage after Philip Seymour Hoffman's death. Since the JEF and Mooch want to hector everybody on how much food they should consume because of health, why not legislate that no movies get any tax breaks until the entire cast are tested for drugs?

[henry]

Matt, around here deer season is the acceptable excuse.

[Old Lurker]

" I have to admit I'm surprised he could grow a beard after all the surgery."

What, you never had a Chia Pet, Jimmy?

[lyle]

When I saw JFingK in Sun Valley last month he looked like a homeless person. A patrician homeless person but homeless nonetheless.

[daddy]

The local rag and CBS News have a story up saying 13 Repub's are introducing Legislation to redo the Endangered Species Act, but unfortunately neither news outlet identifies who the 13 Repub's are.

If anyone can find out, please link. Thx.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

Maybe Kerry's figured out he's been played by Obummer/Jarret to be the silly old white guy who was negotiating with the Mullahs when they detonated the Mullah Bomb.

[Captain Hate]

Oh c'mon lyle; how many homeless people thunder "Don't you know who I am?"

On second thought...

[lyle]

My ski instructor buddy tells me--hope you're sitting down--that no one wants to escort JFingK and his wife around the mountain because they're big jerks.

[dublindave]

"Some people at the lower end of the income scale will realize it makes more sense to collect ObamaCare subsidies than to knock themselves out with a 9-5"

Like 60 year olds who want to retire but can't because their medicare hasn't kicked in or moms who want to stay home and raise their kids but can't get access to affordable Healthcare...you know,the general dregs of society

This will be an issue in 2014 but once Dems start to get into the weeds on who these numbers represent it'll backfire on repugs.

[daddy]

Has this been posted yet?

Sandra Fluke is planning to run for retiring California Rep. Henry Waxman’s congressional seat, The Washington Post reports.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

No one is signing up... well at least no one who was uninsured and healthy. Why would they sign up before they were chronically sick and ObummerCare premiums and co-pays were less than their cronic bills? There's no cost to waiting. Healthy people have weighed and measured ObummerCare and found it wanting, so they won't join. The few happy sick people for whom obummercare does make sense won't win any elections. Repeal the Insurer Bailout-- the thing collapses rapidly into the 'death spiral' of adverse selection. So let's repeal the bailouts.

[Captain Hate]

Yes, daddy; we've been on that thicker than the crabs on Fluke's not very private parts.

[daddy]

Via Watts Up, a way we can Help Mark Steyn with the Mann lawsuit process

[steve]

I don't see this being a winner for the GOP...

People usually vote on whether they think they've been helped or hurt by whatever party is in control and whatever policy is at the top of the discussion list (remember, all politics is local).

People who choose to 'lean out' will be doing so voluntarily, they're more likely to consider this a positive than a negative (what's not to like about 'work less, make more'?).

[daddy]

thicker than the crabs on Fluke's not very private parts.

Yeesh, Captain. (Or should I say yeast?)

Just about to start catch-up.

[Threadkiller]

Daddy, this was being discussed today on The Hill:

http://www.gop.gov/bill/113/2/hr3590

[MarkO]

I think it was Thorstein Veblen who explained that in American society only the very rich and very poor can wear whatever they want.

In fact, looking as if you have no job is one of the hallmarks of the East Coast bluebloods.

[Ignatz]

--Like 60 year olds who want to retire but can't because their medicare hasn't kicked in...--

Shucks. Why not thirty year olds who want to retire but can't afford to because their neighbors haven't given them enough of their money yet?

--or moms who want to stay home and raise their kids--

This week DaveyBoy is a big stay at home mom supporter. Go marry one, get a job and then she'll have insurance, WeeDavey.

[narciso]

Testing, one, two, three.

[Cecil Turner]

People who choose to 'lean out' will be doing so voluntarily . . .

Per the report, because of wage decreases and a desire to retain subsidies. Concur that those on "funemployment" (vastly overrated btw) will be stuck with voting Dem . . . but that leaves a lot of indies helping pick up the tab and watching the economy go to hell in a handbasket.

It ain't a winner for the Dems, no matter how persuasive the spin.

[Sue]

Why does this hypothetical 60 year old need to retire on my dime?

[MarkO]

News you can use.

The saying "going to hell in a handbasket" derives directly from Charlemagne's practice, since the tribes he fought against, eventually assimilated into the Holy Roman Empire believed that the taking of a man's sword hand meant that he was going to hell since the gate of Heaven would not open for him without a whole body being buried (remember, back then these tribes would bury their warriors with their entire household, willingly or not!, so that they could assist them in the afterlife).

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

There's no debate, ObummerCare is a giant political loser for Dems in '14. Forget the spin, look what Dems are doing. Senior House Dems retiring, b/c they won't be in the majority anytime soon. Senate Dems refusing to be within 100 miles of Obummer in their state. New Dem votes? Who like ObummerCare?, The chronically sick who take ExchangeCare, and the new MediCaid parasites-- they weren't all (or virtually all) Dem voters before? No big gains there. The 4+Million kicked off of their individual plan, and the tens od millions who'll find out this summer they are being kicked off employer plans, they might vote against Dems, or stop voting FOR Dems? yeah, could be. How to cash in with persudables? House repeals Insurer bailouts and makes the Dem Senate refuse to vote on that repeal. That kills Senate Dems in November elections. Do it.

[peter]

Tomorrow is Saint Agatha's Day which is not such a big deal around the world, except in Catania, Sicily, where Sant'Agata is the patron saint of the City and keeps the nearby Mt. Etna from destroying it. Shamus Sillar, an ex-pat Aussie living in Catania did a good job describing the multi-day festival that Catanians celebrate in his humorous book "It's Not Quite Tuscany." LUN, footage from this year's celebration.

[rich@gmu]

Sue-

>>>Why does this hypothetical 60 year old need to retire on my dime?<<<

You hate old people. What about the cowboy poetry, interpretive dance, and photography? You, you big meanie.

[narciso]

On was reminded from James Mann's book how McFaul was interested in working for Edwards, when she said she would work for Obama

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

Jay Carney goes full Tony Hendra in Spinal Tap about the glories of ObummerCare (either that or he read TomM's post) Take the subsidy and don't work, --

"Over the longer run, CBO finds that because of this law, individuals will be empowered to make choices about their own lives and livelihoods, like retiring on time rather than working into their elderly years, or choosing to spend more time with their families,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said in a statement.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

TomM-- seriously, take a bow, Jay Carney stole your line about going on ObummerCare dole. The glories of ObummerCare laid bare for all of us to see. Lovely.

[daddy]

On the Woody Allen theme, TM's latest prompted this memory from Annie Hall:

Funny at the time, but not with hindsight:

[Rob has bailed Alvy out of jail]
Rob: Imagine my surprise when I got your call, Max.
Alvy Singer: Yeah. I had the feeling that I got you at a bad moment. You know, I heard high-pitched squealing.
Rob: Twins, Max! 16 years-old. Can you imagine the mathematical possibilities?
Alvy Singer: [glum] You're an actor, Max. You should be doing Shakespeare in the Park.
Rob: Oh, I did Shakespeare in the Park, Max. I got mugged. I was playing Richard the Second and two guys with leather jackets stole my leotard.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

Go back to Woody Allen's stories of pathos in a dying 1970s NYC? No thanks.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

Back to the Jay Carney outrage. Is he instead channeling Janice Joplin? "Freedom? is just another word for nuthin' else to do...."

[jimmyk]

Tomorrow is Saint Agatha's Day which is not such a big deal around the world, except in Catania, Sicily

I'd think it would be big in Sant'agata, Italy, which is where Verdi lived most of his adult life.

http://www.villaverdi.org/

[pagar]

Jay Carney sinks lower!

http://twitchy.com/2014/02/04/cool-it-america-jay-carney-says-freedom-aint-nothin-but-a-buzzword/

[Old Lurker]

nuthin else to lose, wasn't it NK?

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

massive memory fail-- "... nothing left to lose." apologies to you music experts.

[Old Lurker]

beat you

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

Yes OL-- my massive memory fail dawned on me.

But Jay Carney doesn't fail.. the outrages keep on coming. Just a buzzword.

[lyle]

No prob, NK. I doubt Janis could remember the words too well in her pre-OD years, either.

[daddy]

I forget who's daughter was considering going to one of the Flight School colleges, but the Wall St Journal has up a story saying Airline-Pilot Shortage Arrives Ahead of Schedule

Pilot Retirements and New Rules on Training and Rest Hurt More Than Expected

Obviously I can't predict the future of the Industry, but just thought I'd toss this out there for info. I do know that 5 years or so back when the Feds raised the retirement age from 60 to 65, that that shut down a lot of hiring. Now I'm seeing guys bailing out on almost a daily basis, so even tho' business is slower than a decade ago and our staffer eggheads are trying to figure out how many pilots we need for the immediate future, some pilot shortages are bound to occur as long as the economy doesn't completely collapse.

It is a crapshoot of an Industry, pay-wise and career-wise, but since the time I bailed from Northwest Airlines 14 years ago I've had a good roll at the table.

[glasater]

Yeah, Janet.

I was so broke as a college student and working stiff I needed to have four wisdom teeth pulled and could only afford to have three taken out ;-)
But that was really the only health issues I had plus, as I think about it there really wasn't insurance for dental care in those days - now there certainly is. And I'm convinced once the insurance companies got involved with dental insurance the price/cost of dental work has gone up.

[Danube on iPad]

Actually Kristofferson wrote it (and recorded it) before Joplin.