Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Smart People Said This Would Happen, And It Did

You liberals can claim all day that the laws of economics don't apply in your version of reality, but much like gravity, the laws of economics are real:
Since the launch of Obamacare, at least 122 colleges and universities across the nation have cut student and faculty work hours to skirt the federal law’s mandate requiring employers to provide healthcare for people who work 30 hours or more per week.

Those who have seen their paychecks shrink as a result of the Affordable Care Act include students who work on campus at restaurants, bookstores or gyms, teaching assistants, Residence Advisers, officer workers, student journalists, and a variety of other workers, such as part-time maintenance crews and groundskeepers. Educators’ work hours have also been cut due to the mandate, including part-time instructors and adjunct professors.

A long and growing list of 450 companies, school districts, colleges and institutions that have slashed and capped work hours to comply with the employer mandate – which goes into effect next year – has been compiled by Jed Graham of Investor’s Business Daily, whose tally chronicles employers both public and private.
Liberal:  "The only way to fix this is to forbid what people and businesses will do naturally!"

Conservative:  "This law is an affront to personal freedom and a disaster in its own right.  Eliminate it and start from scratch--and try some market principles this time."

Which outlook sounds more realistic to you?

9 comments:

maxutils said...

Obviously, the Conservative is more correct economically. But you know why that doesn't happen? Because they have beliefs on social issues which offend minorities and women. That's why Rand Paul is your weapon. Use him, please. And … seriously … stop talking about birth control, rape and abortion.

Really.

Because, every time some really old white guy says something like, you can't get pregnant if you're raped? Half your electorate is lost.

maxutils said...

You're absolutely right in this case … but I find it interesting that "The laws of economics" are real when they support a position that you previously held, and that others who believe that way are smart … but the opposite is true if they don't ally with your beliefs.

allen (in Michigan) said...

The error you're making is in assuming that reality is seen as important by lefties. It isn't.

If you keep the image of the over-indulged child in mind you'll see that all objections are viewed as merely a pretext to deny the lefty what they want. For all resulting failures there's an excuse that may have little or nothing to do with why the policy went wrong.

Darren said...

Max,
Liberals say *stupid* things all the time, but since they're more tribal than conservatives, they're given passes.

Yes, I genuinely believe that.

maxutils said...

Darren, I wasn't speaking of liberals, nor am I one. I was speaking of your proclivity for choosing to ignore sound economic theory when it doesn't meet your belief system. The laws of economics work, always. The problem is? All the laws are based on individual markets. Anytime you try to apply them to national issues, you are just as likely to be wrong as right, and it likely has nothing to do with the theory. I think you'll find I'm pretty consistent with my economic theory, and when I offer an opinion on any small scale issue? I'm usually right. It's not liberal or conservative. It's laws of economics. The primary one is: People always pursue their own best interest --which, incidentally, is exactly what your post showed.

Darren said...

And it's exactly the rule that the liberals ignored.

maxutils said...

Agreed. The ACA is a horrible bill, and everything that I predicted to happen, is happening. The second rule is: there is no such thing as a free lunch.

allen (in Michigan) said...

Repubs don't offend minorities and women max, we refuse to indulge minorities and women.

Two entirely different propositions to an adult and exactly the same thing to the spoiled child.

By the way, your protestations about not being a lefty fly in the face of your support of unions based on the economic principle of "fairness". It's a "fairness" that produces a monopoly and a monopoly that inevitably abuses its customers.

maxutils said...

allen, first … absolutely BS on the women issue. While I'm sure that not all Republicans feel the same way, your party has been consistently been burned by incredibly stupid comments by prominent ones, and also work to try to repeal or curtail abortion. That is not opinion, it's fact. And if those are your principles, I have no problem with that … but, most women even if they never need/want to have an abortion want the option there. And it's incredibly condescending to have a bunch of men tell them they can't. So … stick with that, and see how it works out for you. As to minorities? Less clear, and I tend to support Republican positions -- but you can't ignore the fact that 90% of black voters voted for Obama. I'm not saying indulge -- I'm saying convince more. Which is difficult, because most voters -- across the board-- don't care enough to educate themselves.

I was waiting for the union crack. I'll say it as many times as I need to: I'm neither right nor left, I'm a Libertarian economist. And my point throughout this post is that the rules of economics always work. Adam Smith got them almost totally right. Others have added nuance and proof and special cases, and others have occasionally taken it to other levels. But, any market where one party has an advantage over the other will not reach market equilibrium price. Ever. And that's where union come in … to try to fix that. It's exactly the same as if we actually prosecuted companies like Ticketmaster for illegally restricting competition, or stopped appointing Comcast executives to FCC posts when they have a virtual monopolies in the same industry. So, it's not me being a lefty; it's me actually knowing economics. You should try it someday, but I've been arguing this same point so long, I realize that that's unlikely to happen.