Today's CBO report revealed how the media really only understands employment through the lens of labor demand, and they struggle with supply
— @JustinWolfers
Michael Hiltzik:
The Congressional Budget Office is out with its latest report on the Affordable Care Act, and here are a few bottom lines:
— The ACA is cheaper than it expected.
— It will "markedly increase" the number of Americans with health insurance.
— The risk-adjustment provisions, which Congressional Republicans want to overturn as a "bailout" of the insurance industry, will actually turn a profit to the U.S. Treasury.
Given all this, why are the first news headlines on the CBO report depicting it as calling Obamacare a job killer?
You can chalk up some of that to the crudity of headline-writing, and some to basic innumeracy in the press. But it's important to examine what the CBO actually says about the ACA's impact on the labor market. (You can find it at pages 117-127, excerpted here.)
Media Matters:
Right-wing media figures rushed to claim the Affordable Care Act will destroy 2 million jobs, citing a new Congressional Budget Office report, but that's not what the report found -- the CBO report projected that the law will give workers the freedom to voluntarily reduce their employment after gaining health insurance.
The CBO released its Budget and Economic Outlook for the years 2014 to 2024 on February 4, which projected in part that the number of full-time workers would decline by about 2 million by 2017. Right-wing media quickly pounced on the report to distort the CBO's projections about the ACA's effect on future employment.
Glenn Kessler/Fact Checker:
No, CBO did not say Obamacare will kill 2 million jobs
Sarah Kliff:
Why CVS thinks it can win big by ending cigarette sales
This is a big effin' deal: CVS won't sell ciggies any more.
More politics and policy below the fold.
if you missed the creationism vs science debate, here it is on NPR:
"Thank you, Mr. Ham. But I am completely unsatisfied. You did not, in my view, address this fundamental question: 680,000 years of snow-ice layers, which require winter-summer cycle."
There simply hasn't been enough time to generate the species on Earth, Nye says.
"Then, as far as Noah being an extraordinary shipwright, I'm extraordinarily skeptical," Nye says. He cites his own family's background in New England, where people spent their lives learning how to build ships.
"It's very reasonable, perhaps, to you that Noah had super-powers and was able to build this extraordinary craft with seven family members," Nye says. "But to me, this is just not reasonable."
When scientists make assumptions, Nye says, "they're making assumptions based on previous experience. They're not coming out of whole cloth. So, next time you have a chance to speak, I encourage you to explain to us why we should accept your word for it that natural law changed just 4,000 years ago – completely – and there's no record of it.
"You know, there are pyramids that are older than that. There are human populations that are far older than that – with traditions that go back farther than that. And it's just not reasonable to me that everything changed 4,000 years ago."
Nye also asks Ham to discuss the billions of people on Earth, including Christians, who don't agree with Ham's point of view about the planet's age.
"So, what is to become of them, in your view?" Nye asks.
You'd think I'd be a creationist, but these days I prefer to deny any involvement in this fiasco.
— @TheTweetOfGod
Jill Lawrence:
Stopping Keystone won’t stop climate change
Why should Democrats hand Republicans a cause celebre?
Jon Ralston:
From what I’ve seen and reported, Obama appreciated Reid’s willingness to always (or almost always) have his back in a congressional process he disdained, and Reid loved that the president let him do what he does best—wrangle votes for impossible tasks such as passing Obamacare—without much interference. The White House knew that down the avenue was Harry’s House, and the president respected that.
Until now, perhaps?
Reid has been inconsistent on many issues during his long career in the Senate—immigration reform, gay marriage, gun rights. But if there are two subjects on which he has not deviated, they are opposing free trade agreements and blocking incursions into congressional authority.
Lindsay Beyerstein hosted an interview with me on flu issues/flu science:
This week, Point of Inquiry welcomes Greg Dworkin, MD. Dr. Dworkin is a founding editor of Flu Wiki, an international, wiki-format clearinghouse of Influenza information designed to help local communities prepare for and perhaps cope with a possible influenza pandemic. He’s an expert on pandemic Flu preparedness and is joining us to discuss the Flu, the vaccine and staying healthy this H1N1 season.
Some older and newer 3R's explainers from
Kaiser Family Foundation and
AHIP:
What Are The 3Rs and How Do They Work?