Americans for Limited Government:
“Our Counsel John Vinci has noted that Obamacare’s regulations are now 2,864,094 pages long. That’s about 700,000 pages more than when last reported at the end of February. This is 620 times the length of the U.S. Constitution.
For context think 3 – 4 bibles: 593,493 words in the Old Testament and 181,253 words in the New Testament gives a grand total of 774,746 words.
3 bibles = ~2.325m words
4 bibles = ~3.100m words
Now ask yourself honestly who the hell is reading 3 – 4 bibles worth of legislation.
And here’s the graphic proof of what these regulations have already done to our recovery:
http://michaelscomments.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/ef9bcd3d422b48a18c196e86446c00762.jpeg?w=460&h=336
Month-to-month net change in private sector jobs.
Before ObamaCare: 66,800 jobs per month.
NICE!
After ObamaCare: 300 jobs per month.
UGH!
Source for chart:
U.S. Dept of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.
@Nan G: #2,
It is a safe bet that if the abomination which the Democrats foisted on the Nation because they could, is not reversed in January by Romney, we will see the whole country Full-Throttle it over the cliff.
The CBO has predicted that the 17+ % of GDP being spent on health care would rise to 25% by 2925 – who knows where reality will lie. Small and large businesses will be hit hard and put at great competitive disadvantage, and their international commercialization efforts will be harmed.
Healthcare reform is absolutely necessary and reforms should be phased in over time, starting with a lid on the legal profession – lawyers have managed to prevent serious medical liability reform to become part of policy. But this Obamacare disaster, especially its being implemented in the middle of a recession, will accelerate the economy toward an abyss called ‘no-return’.
If this Administration gets returned to the W.H., – Employment will cave-in, taxes will go through the roof, average incomes will drop further than the $4,300+ which they’ve already dropped in the past 4 years, . . . . and then a serious shitstorm will move onto the landscape for good measure.
The thing is, we haven’t seen the entirety of the Obamacare regulations yet. Many of them have yet to be written. And, as written, Obamacare itself leaves open continuing changes by congress and the IPAB to make new regulations when needed.
Much like the current tax system, if Obamacare is here to stay, a whole new industry will come about based on ensuring that employers and employees abide by the current regulations within the law. A whole new industry that siphons wealth away from businesses and taxpayers. Yay! Just what we need.
And, of course, that will spawn another new sector within the lobbyist industry, influencing congress-critters by money and perks to make favorable rulings and regulations on their behalf, while the common citizen gets screwed by both ends at once.
Thank you liberal/progressives for foisting upon the country a huge disaster waiting to happen. And meanwhile, the actual healthcare will suffer, along with the people the liberal/progressives claim to be helping. Typical.
I guess this thing will be similar to the way liberals view the Constitution, as a living document.
Good point, James R.
Another reason the bill had to be so bloody long!
All of the costs of ObamaCare are loaded in over the next 7 years.
We’ve already been paying for two years for it with 8 new taxes as well as the built-in new fee on pharmaceutical companies.
(Did one of those companies forego cleaning in order to not raise prices? It was closed after mold got into it’s injection meds. Hundreds of Americans have spinal meningitus from it, dozens have died.)
But MOST of our costs will come in starting AFTER the ELECTION.
They include, but are not limited to:
*New restrictions and penalties on HSA and FSA accounts.
*New Fee on medical device manufacturers.
*New increase in Medicare HI tax and application to investment income for high earners.
*New health insurance tax.
*Individual and employer mandates.
*New tax on ”Cadillac” plans.
For 2011 this cost American taxpayers $9.8 billion.
This year it cost $12.4 billion.
Next year it is estimated to cost $37.9 billion.
2014: $42.1 billion.
2015: $62.8 billion.
2016: $68.7 billion.
2017: $74.9 billion.
2018: $91.1 billion.
2019: $101.5 billion.
But those are all gov’t estimates.
And you know the gov’t always has to revise UPWARD their cost of doing business.
What does the length of the document have to do with its relevance? It length is mainly a function of the bureaucratic, legalistic society into which we’ve evolved.
@Liberal1 (Objectivity):
Not ‘evolved’, Lib1. More correctly, we, as a country, have been pushed into it by the well-meaning “do-gooders” of society who wish to protect us from ourselves.
And the length of it does matter, Lib1. By complicating the law, it allows for corruption and deceit to rule the day, rather than in accomplishing the stated purpose.
And why should any American stand for Congress, who have exempted themselves from the law, to write the regulations, or determine who writes the regulations, for the rest of us? You may wish to give away all of your freedoms and liberties, along with your responsibilities, to another person or group, but most of us don’t want to. We’d rather be responsible for our own lives.
Liberal/progressives relish the slavery. Conservatives, classic liberals, and libertarians abhor it.
@Liberal1 (Objectivity):
The longer it is the more complex it is. Which make it harder for providers to know how to comply with it. Which means more time trying to figure that out and more time defending their practices against it and possible violations of it.
The more overbearing our government gets the harder it is for services to be provided in most any field. The constructors of this law weren’t experts in healthcare but bureaucrats. Next time you get sick go see a bureaucrat for help.
@Mully: Don’t forget that the crowning achievement of obozocare is to fine any organization whose admin costs exceed 15%. The catch 22 of obozocare is that the ever growing complexity guarantees that all private providers will disappear and we know that the gummint will never be held accountable to the 85% rule. Just check out how the UK handles “Death Panels”. Just follow the neglect rule to just let them die.
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/392232/20121008/nhs-starving-dehydration-dying-patients-age-uk.htm
@Marine72:
Great point about the 15% rule.
Even among charities it is difficult, although not impossible, to keep administrative costs under 15%
I’ve used the free charity rating system here for years.
http://www.charitynavigator.org/
The gov’t is as bad as it gets, eating up huge amounts before anything drips down to the needy.
@Nan G: #6,
One of the HIDDEN costs which no one has factored in is the NEW ‘legal’ burden which Obamacare will lay on all businesses, big and small. The CBO’s numbers don’t factor these costs in, . . . they can’t.
When you have a document which no one read before passing it because it was too complex and too long, you have every member of the Legal profession dancing in the streets. Companies will have to incur increased hard out-of-pocket costs for vetting the impact on their current and future employees.
Lawyers with a shingle on street corners across America will be Ready, Willing and Able take money from the local neighbouring dress or coffee shops. Awesome.
This Administration is a blight on the landscape and a disaster to anyone looking for work.
@Marine72:
Good point.
@James Raider:
Yes, one of the reasons hubby is retiring in a couple of months is that he’d need a new accountant AND instead of merely having a law group on retainer, he’d need a permanent lawyer on staff.
And that’s just for the ramifications of ObamaCare!
We’ll be moving to Utah after he’s retired.
A great state.
Great people.
@Nan G: @<a #14,
Clearly this is a fact which voters who support the Obama Administration don't grasp. Government bureaucracies are a burden on all businesses, and some policies and regulations are more onerous than others. Some just kill all hope of a business succeeding.
Entrepreneurs and potential entrepreneurs understand this better but it should be made clear to anyone of the 24 million who are unemployed or underemployed. It’s not always clear to the employees or potential employees, but the burden slaps you in the face when you want to hire.