"ObamaCare: A Job Killer?"

Local governments across the country have been quietly cutting part-time hours with one thing in mind: "skirt ObamaCare's costly employer mandate," according to John Merline of Investor's Business Daily. "The result is that part-time government workers--many of them low income--face pay cuts that can top $3,000 a year, and yet will still be left without employer-provided benefits."

School districts are scrambling for cover, alarmed by the new costs that may bust already strained budgets with the implementation of the new healthcare law. They have no choice but to avoid ObamaCare penalties and cut hours, some districts by as much as three-quarters of its part-time workforce. Chris Hipp, director of a Kansas special education cooperative, warned ObamaCare "could put us all out of business or change significantly how we do business."

Mayor John O'Reilly of Dearborn, Michigan said, "If we had to provide healthcare and other benefits to all of our employees, the burden on the city would be tremendous." Dearborn is cutting its roughly 700 part-time workers down to 28 hours a week.

It doesn't stop there.

According to Dan Mangan of CNBC: "Small business owners' fear of the effect of the new healthcare reform law on their bottom line is prompting many to hold off on hiring and even to shed jobs in some cases."

A recent Gallop poll found:

• 41% of small businesses have frozen hiring because of ObamaCare
• 24% are considering dropping healthcare all together.
• 19% have reduced the number of employees as a specific result of ObamaCare
• 18% have already cut hours in anticipation of ObamaCare
• 38% have delayed plans to expand because of ObamaCare
• 52% expect a reduction in the quality of healthcare under ObamaCare

ObamaCare (aka The Affordable Care Act) mandates companies with 50 or more full-time employees will have to either offer healthcare coverage or face a fine of $2,000 per full-time employee. Full-time has been redefined (in ObamaCare) as 30 hours or more.

Simple arithmetic predicts many employers will opt out for the cheapest solution: drop healthcare and pay the fine or cut hours to under thirty. Either option is certain to have a detrimental effect on our fragile economy. Imagine having your hours cut that drastically.

The irony?

Most Americans who currently lack health insurance (nearly two-thirds) don't plan to participate in ObamaCare! So why did we do it? And why on earth did we put the IRS in charge of it?

Not to be overly pessimistic, gang, but our economy is struggling between two forces: free enterprise, which requires a great deal of free choice and risk to thrive, and a government itching to control everything. If our government is allowed to expand its control, our economy will fold under this load of debt and regulation. Either we will have a massive recession or, more probably, inflation as the government tries to print enough money to pay its bills. Eventually, true economic principles will take over. Not even the Fed can overrule the laws of economics. And remember, according to the Bible, something has to happen to take us out of the picture. Could it be we don't manage to survive ObamaCare?

A wise man once said: "We must not promise what we ought not, lest we be called on to perform what we cannot." -- Abraham Lincoln

"Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. And their prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make them well" (James 5:14-15).

News:

• Drudge Report: IRS to pay its employees $70 million in bonuses despite claims of being short on resources.
• Fox News Channel: FBI Director Robert Mueller, during Congressional hearings, admits using drones to spy on people in the United States.
• MSN: President Obama calls for a reduction and eventual end to nuclear stockpiles.
• CNBC: ObamaCare in California will increase individual health insurance premiums by 64-146%.
• MSN Money: Stocks suffer worst two-day decline since November, 2011; down nearly 560 points.