Nov. 15, 2012
Employer mandate will not only hurt job growth among
small businesses, it is already resulting in fewer hours and less income for
workers at larger companies.
America's Governors are set to make a decision on
whether to implement an ObamaCare exchange. ObamaCareWatcher.org's John Vinci
explains what Americans for Limited Government thinks they should
do.
The Marcellus Shale cuts across New York,
Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia and could potentially to help transform
the world's energy portfolio. But this will require public policy decisions
that rooted in sound science not unsubstantiated alarmism.
Does Harry Reid want to restrict Republican use of
the filibuster in the Senate?
Obamacare Mandate To Cut Worker Hours, Leaving The Poor Worse Off
By Howard Rich
In
Barack Obama's first term the U.S. labor force shrank to a 30-year low. Job
growth lagged behind population growth as millions gave up their search for
gainful employment. Income levels receded, productivity sputtered and deficits
soared - all in the name of "recovery."
So
what does Obama have planned for an encore? How does he intend to further
"stimulate" the economy during his second term?
In
his victory speech, Obama pledged he would continue pursuing "the kind of
bold, persistent experimentation that Franklin Roosevelt pursued during the
only crisis worse than this one."
That's
a truly frightening thought. In fact if left unchecked, Obama's "bold,
persistent experimentation" could very well wind up making this crisis
every bit as bad as that one.
For
example, atop Obama's second term "to do" list is the full implementation
of his signature first term accomplishment: ObamaCare.
Having
secured another four years in the White House, Obama can now block any effort
to overturn his socialized medicine law - although states can (thankfully)
still stop much of its new spending if they reject ObamaCare's
"exchanges" and refuse its Medicaid enrollment expansions. For the
sake of our future deficits, let's hope they do so en masse.
One
provision of ObamaCare that can no longer be stopped, however, is its
"employer mandate." While nowhere near as infamous as the
"individual mandate" compelling citizen participation in the health
insurance market, ObamaCare's requirement that companies provide coverage to
all employees working more than 30 hours a week will be a job killer
nonetheless.
Not
only will this mandate prevent job growth among small businesses, it will also
result in fewer hours and less income for workers at larger companies. These
are people struggling to make ends meet on limited income - people who cannot
afford to lose these hours.
Last
month Darden Restaurants - which employs 185,000 people at nearly 2,000 Olive
Garden, Longhorn Steakhouse and Red Lobster restaurants - revealed that it was
scaling back many of its employees' workweeks to 28 hours. Ordinarily such a
move would result in high turnover and an influx of less-competent employees -
but not in Obama's economy.
ALG
Is Urging
Governors Not To Implement ObamaCare Exchange
Video
by Frank McCaffrey
Get
permalink here.
New
York Misses Out on Natural Gas Revolution as Junk Science
Carries the Day
By
Kevin Mooney 
With
President Obama back in the White House next year, the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) is expected to roll out a new
regulation to control
drilling techniques used to access natural gas. Even so, the expected surge in
U.S. oil production will likely outpace political paybacks to green groups that
can be uprooted over time.
The International
Energy Agency (IEA),
the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Counties (OPEC) and U.S. Energy
Information Administration (EIA) all anticipate the U.S. becoming less
dependent on foreign oil sources as the natural gas revolution takes hold.
Current forecasts show that the U.S. could overtake Saudi Arabia as the world's
top oil producer by 2020.
At
issue is a drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing (or fracking), that
makes use of pressurized water and chemicals to break open rocks to access
natural gas. Green groups have worked successfully to block industry from
development natural gas resources in New York by arguing that fracking could
lead to groundwater contamination. In 2010, former Gov. David Patterson issued
an executive order that prevents new drilling permits from being issued until
after the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) issues a new
impact statement. With the public comment period now over, the DEC is expected
to release an updated impact statement and a regulatory plan before the end of
2012.
Diana
Furchtgott-Roth, a former chief economist with the U.S. Department of Labor,
has a recommendation.
"For
fiscal health, New York should emulate Pennsylvania and develop its natural gas
reserves," she suggests. "If New York were to permit fracking, the Empire State
would see new jobs, a surge of economic activity, and more tax
revenues."
At
a time when New York's budget deficit exceeds $8 billion, the economic
rationale for natural gas development cannot be dismissed. But it is possible
to cajole politicians and frighten the public on basis of junk science. The
environmental organizations opposed to fracking incessantly claim that it opens
the way to water contamination. Here are some key facts:
In
a regulatory statement, the Texas Railroad Commission said "Though hydraulic
fracturing has been used for over 60 years in Texas, our Railroad Commission
records do not reflect a single documented surface or groundwater contamination
case associated with hydraulic fracturing.
In
Pennsylvania, Scott Perry, director of the Pa. Department of Environmental
Protection's Bureau of Oil Management has told members of the press "There has
never been any evidence of fracking ever causing direct contamination of fresh
groundwater in Pennsylvania or anywhere else."
Get
full story here.
ALG
Editor's Note: In
the following featured column from U.S. News and World Report, Peter Roff
warns that Harry Reid wants to do away with the filibuster:
GOP
Senators Need to Radicalize
By Peter
Roff
Over the last
two years, Nevada Sen. Harry Reid has ruled over the United States Senate like
some kind of 19th century potentate.
A ruthless
political operative, Reid has single-handedly blocked legislation, prevented
the Senate from voting on healthcare repeal, and led the effort to keep his
fellow Democrats from having to go on record voting for a budget-as they are by
law required to do-for each of the last three years. He has also, by doing what
is known on Capitol Hill as "filling the tree," prevented his
Republican colleagues from offering amendments on crucial pieces of
legislation.
Reid decides
what amendments will be offered and by whom, leading to an increase in the
number of times the GOP has had to resort to the filibuster. Under Reid's
autocratic rule it is the only way they can make their voice heard.
Now Reid says
he wants to limit the voice of the GOP even further by restricting the ability
of senators to block or slow the passage of legislation. He has not yet put
forward an explicit plan for doing so but the intent is clear: to give him even
more authority to determine what can be brought to the Senate floor and to
further muzzle the opposition.
In order to
remain effective, perhaps even in order to survive, Senate Republicans need to
be radicalized-much as members of the House were by the Conservative
Opportunity Society under the leadership of a then-obscure backbencher named
Gingrich. Without a change in attitude, they may be relegated to the status of
a permanent and ineffective minority-as hard as that may be to
conceive.
Get
full story here from U.S. News and World Report.
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