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Republicans and the media mislead the public on the CBO/ACA report

A recent report released by the CBO (Congressional Budget Office) with regard to the Affordable Care Act has prompted Republicans to find the nearest right-wing reporter and many members of the media to catch the public's attention through misleading headlines. This is because the CBO declared that due to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), 2 million less people will be working.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor took that information to make the following statement:

"The CBO's latest report confirms what Republicans have been saying for years now.

Under Obamacare, millions of hardworking Americans will lose their jobs and those who keep them will see their hours and wages reduced."

However, that's not what the CBO actually stated in their report. The report actually said this:

"The estimated reduction stems almost entirely from a net decline in the amount of labor that workers choose to supply, rather than from a net drop in business' demand for labor, so it will appear almost entirely as a reduction in labor force participation and in hours worked relative to what would have occurred otherwise rather than as an increase in unemployment (such as part-time workers who would prefer to work more hours per week)."

In other words, the decrease in employment numbers won't actually be due to people losing their jobs, so much as people being afforded more options since they won't be fully dependent on their jobs for healthcare. So, it's safe to say that Eric Cantor, other members of the Republican Party, as well as many members of the media are misleading the public by saying otherwise.

The CBO also reported this:

"The ACA's subsidies for health insurance will both stimulate demand for health care services and allow low-income households to redirect some of the funds that they would have spent on that care toward the purchase of other goods and services - thereby increasing overall demand. That increase in overall demand while the economy remains somewhat weak will induce some employers to hire more workers or to increase the house of current employees during that period."

In other words, the ACA will wind up increasing job opportunities for people whom are actually looking for work, and will help to stimulate the economy since it will afford many families the chance to spend money on goods and services they would have otherwise spent on healthcare.

It's really a sad chain and trend we have going on in this country as far as news-reporting goes. Many reporters no longer fact-check politicians, and fact-checkers have gone on to fact-check both politicians and news-reporters. If this trend continues, I suggest "news"-reporters join reality television shows and fact-checkers become news-reporters, because it seems as if the only ones reporting the news anymore are fact-checkers.

http://www.factcheck.org/2014/02/the-aca-losing-job-vs-choosing-not-to-work/

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