Q4 GDP boosted by Obamacare spending, Obama lies economy dies, Market Watch orwellian version vs Zero Hedge reality, Healthcare largest expenditure, Economy in ruins as food stamp usage soars for labor force dropouts
“two-thirds of the “boost” to final Q3 personal consumption came from, drumroll, the same Obamacare which initially was supposed to boost Q1 GDP until the “polar vortex” crashed the number so badly, the BEA decided to pull it completely and leave this “growth dry powder” for another quarter. That quarter was Q3.”…Zero Hedge December 23, 2014
“One of the CBO’s most intriguing estimates is that by 2017 there will be 2 million fewer full-time jobs on the market than there would have been without Obamacare, and that figure could climb to 2.5 million by 2024.”…Market Watch February 4, 2014
“Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.”…George Orwell, “1984″
The fourth quarter GDP was lower than forecast at 2.6 percent.
It would have been lower without the higher costs of healthcare brought on by Obama and Obamacare.
Here is the Orwellian spin from Market Watch.
“The U.S. economy slowed a bit more than expected in the fourth quarter after expanding at the fastest pace in eleven years during the fall, according to data released Friday.
Gross domestic product — the value of all goods and services produced by the U.S. — grew at a 2.6% annual clip in the fourth quarter, the government said Friday. That’s below the 5.0% pace recorded in the July-September period.
Economists polled by MarketWatch forecast GDP would grow by a seasonally adjusted 3.2% in the October-to-December period.”
“Consumer spending was a major positive in the fourth quarter, expanding 4.3%, the fastest pace since before the financial crisis.”
Read more:
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/economy-downshifts-to-26-rate-in-the-fourth-quarter-2015-01-30
“Consumer spending was a major positive”????
And talk about Orwellian.
From Market Watch January 30, 2015.
“White House says economy grew 3.9% using a different measure of growth”
“On the surface this gives the appearance that the economy hit a sizable soft patch.Read full MarketWatch report.
But White House chief economist Jason Furman noted that all of the swings in the fourth quarter came from two notoriously volatile sectors—net exports and government spending.
In a blog post, Furman noted that the economy increased at a 3.9% rate in the October to December period, applying an alternative measure of GDP that strips out these volatile sectors. That figure is only a tad slower than the 4.1% rate in the third quarter.”
Read more:
(Refer to the numerous “1984” quotes on this site for the proper decoder ring settings)
Now for the reality from Zero Hedge January 30, 2015.
“Thanks Obamacare: This Is What Americans Spent The Most Money On In Q4”
“If readers need clarification on what was the primary source of spending-based “growth” for the US economy in the fourth quarter, the same source that bumped up final Q3 GDP from 3.9% to 5.0%, please ping us: we will gladly explain the chart below. And just in case it is still unclear what Americans are spending their “gas sasvings” on, here it is one more time.”
Read more:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-01-30/thanks-obamacare-what-americans-spent-most-money-q4
From Zero Hedge December 10, 2014.
“The spin continues:
“It’s a fair bet that most of the reduced energy costs are going to show up as added spending by consumers somewhere,” said James Hamilton, an economics professor at the University of California, San Diego.
Here’s the thing, Professor Hamilton is spot on. The only problem is what this added spending will be used on. Sadly, it is neither trinkets, nor gadgets, nor BigMacs, nor even surging cell phone and home internet bills. Unfortunately for the proponents of the “oil crash is unquestionably bullish for America” (as an aside, the falacy of a statement is directly proportional to how “unquestionable” it is), where the bulk of “savings” for those Americans who have to spend on gas (primarily those Americans who commute to work, i.e. the middle class) is… on Obamacare.
Here is confirmation that in a centrally-planned economy, it is the unintended consequences that always prevail in the end:
Iowans are feeling the heat from Obamacare’s rising premiums, especially Wellmark customers with Blue Cross Blue Shield.
As of January 1, 2015, Blue Cross Blue Shield customers will experience a 14.5 percent increase in premiums, while Wellmark Health plans will see a 11.9 percent increase.
Hundreds of thousands of consumers nationwide who bought insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act will face a choice this fall: swallow higher premiums to stay in their plan, or save money by switching. That is the picture emerging from proposed 2015 insurance rates in the 10 states that have completed their filings, which stretch from Rhode Island to Washington state.
In all but one of them, the largest health insurer in the state is proposing to increase premiums between 8.5% and 22.8% for next year, according to a Wall Street Journal review of the filings. That percentage represents the average rate increases for all individual health plans offered by that carrier
Aetna has said it is likely to seek rate increases of more than 10% for individual marketplace plans in 2015, according to a note from Citigroup analyst Carl McDonald. An Aetna spokeswoman said that with health-law fees, generally increasing health-care cost trends and other factors, “that level of increase would not be out of the realm of possibility,” but it was too soon to say what it would request.”
Americans increasingly have to dig into their own pockets to pay for medical care, a shift that is helping to curb the growth in health spending by employers and the government.
The trend is being accelerated by the Affordable Care Act because many private plans sold by the law’s health exchanges come with hefty out-of-pocket costs, which prompt some people to delay or put off seeking care. For the exchanges’ 2015 policies, which went on sale last month, “bronze-level” plans have an average deductible of $5,181 for individuals, up from $5,081 in 2014, according to a November report from HealthPocket, which publishes health insurance market analyses. Bronze plans generally cover 60% of consumers’ medical expenses.
And that ignores the fact that the average deductible for workers who get employer health coverage has shot up 47% to $1,217 from $826, and that one in three Americans said they or a family member delayed medical care because of costs in 2014.”
Read more:
Citizen WElls 