Only the American media can turn good news into bad, and it comes as no surprise that in doing so they are carrying water for Republicans. The CBO says that as a result of the Affordable Care Act, some ordinary Americans will have the opportunity to work less and still have health insurance, to the tune of 2.6 million job equivalents.
Now, most people with even an elementary grasp of economics would think somewhat along these lines. If an elderly person in poor health can retire early because he or she doesn’t have to work in order to maintain health insurance then that frees up a job for some presently unemployed worker to fill. After all, we must assume that elderly person was performing a needed function and the employer will want that function filled. Given our present oversupply of unemployed, isn’t this a good thing.
If enough people choose not to work, then it may even put some upward pressure on the wages being paid to all of us peons, and it might, in some microscopic way, reverse or at least slow the flow of money to those at the top.
So, this is really all good news, but the media spins it as bad news. Doing so is in the interest of only one group in this country, or make that two: Republicans and corporate fat cats, the latter of which still run the Republican Party.
I swear I came to these conclusions before I read Dean Baker’s post to similar effect, but I was glad to get confirmation of my initial reaction.
By the way, I stole the title of this post from John Lennon, who stole it from Harry Nilsson.
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