A reader emailed the following question about this weekend’s WaPo column (ObamaCare: Investing Advice for Senator Ted Cruz):
“How can you make investment decisions about future returns in light of Obamacare driving so many workers to part time status?”
Ahhh, a classic bit of misdirection — an assumption built into a question. The first step in answering that is to verify the reality of that assumption: Has Obamacare actually caused an increase in part-time employment?
As you can see in the black line below, the number of part time workers spiked because of the Great Recession. It peaked and began to slowly reverse before the ACA was even passed. No, there does not appear to be an increase caused by Obamacare.
click for ginormous chart
Source: Economic Policy Institute
Funny how these memes gain traction.
Since I have repeated myself so many times, perhaps I should try phrasing this somewhat differently: You better really, really enjoy your partisan politics & Fox News, because it is an incredibly expensive hobby if you are an investor.
Source:
Obamacare Isn’t Causing an Increase in Part-Time Employment, In One Chart
Max B. Sawicky
Economic Policy Institute October 3, 2013
http://www.epi.org/blog/obamacare-isnt-causing-increase-part-time/
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