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Daily Digest: Denver jail inmates signing up for health insurance, and 9 other stories

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Your daily resource for late-breaking news, upcoming events, the Denver weather forecast, Denver traffic information, and the stories that will be talked about on New Years Eve, Wednesday, Reported by Denver Post 15 hours ago.

Another 2.5 million signed up for health insurance through ACA marketplace in late December

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On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported that 4 million people had signed up for health insurance through the marketplaces established by the Affordable Care Act through Dec. 15, the latest for coverage to start Jan. 1, 2015. Reported by dailypress.com 13 hours ago.

What Could Happen to Health Insurance in 2015?

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Filed under: Health Insurance

*AZP Worldwide/Shutterstock*

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR

WASHINGTON -- The fate of President Barack Obama's health care law again hangs in the balance as the Supreme Court weighs another legal challenge to the program, now covering millions of people. And a Republican-led Congress prepares for more votes to repeal the Affordable Care Act, ignoring threatened vetoes by the president. Five questions about health care for 2015:

*1. What Does the Supreme Court Face?*

The biggest health care news of 2015 probably won't come from Congress or the White House, but the Supreme Court. The court has agreed to hear another lawsuit that goes to the heart of Obama's strategy for providing health insurance to people who can't get coverage through their jobs. The case will be argued early in March, with a decision expected late in June.

The plaintiffs contend that the law as written only allows the government to subsidize coverage in states that have set up their own their own health insurance markets, or exchanges. With Washington currently running the markets in 37 states, much of the law's coverage expansion could unravel if the Supreme Court agrees. It would be a moment of truth for the law's opponents and its supporters alike.

*2. Does Anybody Have a Plan B?*

If the Supreme Court rules against Obama, both sides would need a fallback plan, and quickly. Opponents of the health care law would face the prospect of more than 4 million people losing federal subsidies that cover about 75 percent of their premiums. Most of those consumers would wind up uninsured again, and presumably none too happy.

The president would have to contemplate going hat-in-hand to the Republican leadership of Congress to ask for fixes to his signature legislation, possibly opening up other contentious issues in the law. Republican governors and state legislators would have a choice, too. They could establish insurance exchanges, or watch many of their constituents lose coverage.

*3. What Is Congress Doing?*

With the Senate and the House both under Republican leadership, expect dozens more congressional votes to repeal "Obamacare," whether in whole or in part. It's not clear that full repeal can get through the Senate, where Democrats retain sufficient strength to block legislation by using procedural maneuvers.

But some provisions of the law are also unpopular with significant numbers of Democrats, and bills to roll those back may emerge from Congress. Examples: a requirement that 30 hours per week counts as full-time employment, a tax on medical device manufacturers, and a Medicare cost control board.

*4. What About My Taxes?*

Obama's health care law uses the income tax system to deliver carrots and sticks. The subsidies that have made premiums affordable for millions are distributed as tax credits. And the penalties imposed on those who ignore the law's mandate to get health insurance are collected as additional taxes.

In 2015, the law's connection to the tax system will become clearer for most people. All taxpayers will have to report on their 2014 tax return whether or not they had insurance. Those who got subsidies will have to show they got the right amount. If they received too much, their refunds will get dinged. Those who remained uninsured will either have to pay the taxman, or show that they qualify for an exemption. Tax preparation companies are expecting lots of new business.

*5. How Many Are Covered, Anyway?*

At last count, about 6.7 million people got private coverage through the insurance exchanges in 2014. Another 9.7 million got on Medicaid, the insurance program for low-income people, expanded under the law by more than half the states. Some of those people would have switched from other coverage.

Still, the number of uninsured Americans has dropped significantly -- by more than 10 million people as of mid-2014. While the economic recovery doubtless contributed, Obama's law does seem to be delivering on a core promise.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments Reported by DailyFinance 11 hours ago.

5 things to know: Obama health law again in play

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The fate of President Barack Obama's health care law again hangs in the balance as the Supreme Court weighs another legal challenge to the program, now covering millions of people. The court has agreed to hear another lawsuit that goes to the heart of Obama's strategy for providing health insurance to people who can't get coverage through their jobs. The plaintiffs contend that the law as written only allows the government to subsidize coverage in states that have set up their own their own health insurance markets, or exchanges. Opponents of the health care law would face the prospect of more than 4 million people losing federal subsidies that cover about 75 percent of their premiums. The president would have to contemplate going hat-in-hand to the Republican leadership of Congress to ask for fixes to his signature legislation, possibly opening up other contentious issues in the law. With the Senate and the House both under Republican leadership, expect dozens more congressional votes to repeal "Obamacare," whether in whole or in part. Obama's health care law uses the income tax system to deliver carrots and sticks. Reported by SeattlePI.com 10 hours ago.

Tiger-Consulting Announces Marked Revenue Increase, Additional Milestones Achieved in 2014

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Boutique agency specializing in Asia HR, Payroll, PEO, Local Bill Pay and Software Migration Services and mainly supporting Western businesses that have or want to have 1-100 employees in satellite operations across Asia-Pacific, sees significant growth in 2014. Tiger-Consulting also highlights the achievement of other major milestones including now serving 200+ clients—many household names—spanning industries including Information Technology (IT), Telecommunications, Social Networking, Finance, Pharmaceuticals, Gas & Oil, Food & Beverage, Travel, Recruitment and Hospitality.

(PRWEB) December 31, 2014

Tiger-Consulting, an American-owned and managed firm specializing in Asia HR, payroll and business support services for American, Canadian, European and Australian-based businesses, announced today a 35% increase in revenue in 2014. The following are additional achievements this year:·     Tiger-Consulting now serves 200+ clients and enjoyed a 35% revenue increase in 2014.
·     The firm has become a trusted partner to big brands around the world.
·     We've formed strategic partnerships with international healthcare providers to offer locally compliant insurance solutions in Asia and worldwide for individuals and families. These new alliances enable us to reduce the cost of insurance as well as streamline the insurance delivery and support processes.
·     Tiger-Consulting now provides 1-stop shop tax support in the United States as well as Asia. Americans working in Asia need Asian tax and U.S. tax preparation and support services.
·     The firm launched its local Bill-Pay service for clients who no longer have to mail checks and make costly international wire transfers to pay their bills in Asia. We simplify the process by making the payments on their behalf.
·     We now offer expanded health insurance options for employees of our 200+ enterprise clients as well as independent contractors and companies in need of affordable health coverage in Asia. Tiger-Consulting offers “group” and “individual” health insurance in Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.
·     Tiger-Consulting has registered a Board of Investment (BOI) entity in Thailand to recruit and hire foreign IT consultants to most efficiently and cost-effectively support and maintain Thai commercial networks and banking systems.
·     We've also added consultation services regarding the possible impact on business across Asia-Pacific following the Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN)’s release of plans to transform 10 key countries into a single economic market

“The year 2014 was a good year. We’ve continued to improve and expand our services across Asia. Expert long-term professional clients, partners, and staff combined with fine-tuning processes and increased volume have enabled us to maintain our existing prices. This was another “win-win” year for our clients and Tiger Consulting. Thank you for your continued support. Happy holidays to you and your families,” said Neil Satterwhite, Tiger-Consulting Founder & CEO.

For questions regarding the firm’s International HR, Payroll, PEO, Local Bill-Pay, Insurance, Tax Preparation and/or Onsite Payroll Migration & Management Support Services, just send an email to info(at)tiger-consulting(dot)net. Custom quotes are complimentary.

About Tiger-Consulting
Tiger-Consulting is committed to making expansion and management of satellite operations easier for international businesses. The HR, Payroll, PEO, Bill-Pay, and Employment Outsource Firm supports operations for 200+ enterprise clients that have (or want to have) 1-100 employees in Asia-Pacific. Tiger-Consulting has offices and experienced teams on the ground in 14 countries: Australia, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. Through strategic partners, the firm also supports clients in Europe, South America, and other key markets. Reported by PRWeb 9 hours ago.

Publix to offer insurance benefits to married same-sex couples

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Publix Super Markets Inc. plans to offer its gay and lesbian employees who are legally married health insurance coverage for their spouses beginning Jan. 1. "We are offering this benefit to associates who are married in any state where same-sex marriages are legal, regardless of the associates' state of residence," spokesman Brian West wrote in an email. "We hope this change makes spouse coverage decisions simpler for our associates." The Lakeland, Florida-based grocer, which recently opened its… Reported by bizjournals 8 hours ago.

MNsure deadline marks a smoother Year 2 start

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A key deadline Wednesday capped a smoother start -- though it wasn't perfect -- for the second year of the state health insurance exchange. Reported by TwinCities.com 7 hours ago.

Minimum-Wage Increases: The Justice of Redistribution

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As we enter the new year, 3 million low-wage workers in 21 states will gain a small increase in their wages, thanks to increases in state minimum wages. People you know will see a wage increase -- your neighbor, your teenage kid, the person who serves you coffee and donuts.

The minimum-wage increase is a good thing because it increases income in a small way to the workers on the low rungs of our economy. A stagnant minimum wage redistributes income from workers to owners and managers and, ultimately, shareholders and customers. As the minimum wage has failed to keep up with inflation and productivity increases, our political economy has redistributed significant income from low-wage workers to owners over the past 40 years. One reason this happened is that workers have no leverage vis-à-vis corporations. They are price takers for their labor.

Minimum-wage increases reverse this redistribution so that workers win back a little bit of what they have lost. Minimum wages should be associated with value added instead of the powerlessness of workers to demand higher wages. But minimum-wage workers are not compensated for the value of their work for their employers. Raising the wage begins to remedy that undercompensation. If the wage goes too high, then employers will not hire workers, because their compensation exceeds the value of their work. But as we have seen, this is not the case with minimum-wage increases, which simply means that for the past decades workers have been paid less than the value of their work for employers.

How does increasing the minimum wage redistribute income? An increase in the wage results in a decrease in the payments to managers and profits for the establishment. That's redistribution. We can argue that this might not happen because of productivity increases by the worker, but that merely means that the productivity increases (or a portion thereof) that might have gone to the employer instead go to the employee -- hence redistribution from owners to workers. Redistribution also can occur between worker and customer. If a restaurant increases prices due to an increase in the minimum wage, in an attempt to avoid a decrease in profits, then the customers pay more. These customers have the disposable income to patronize restaurants. We can make the assumption that the customers have greater incomes than the people who wait on them. Thus, an increase is again redistributive, with the increase coming from increased prices paid by customers. Imagine: In Seattle an Amazon IT person goes out to lunch. (It feels like they all do.) Instead of paying $15 at the Skillet truck, they pay $17. They have lost $2, and the Skillet truck workers will have seen an increase in their wages. Redistribution to minimum-wage workers is good for them and pushes up the floor for the bottom half of all wages.

We too often equate increasing the minimum wage with living standards and poverty levels. This is dangerous for several reasons, including the fact that it sets a precedent for slicing and dicing the minimum wage: Do you have dependents? Do you pay for your own health insurance? How old are you? Are you paying for tuition yourself? All these are important questions, but taken to their logical conclusion, they move the minimum wage into welfare policy, so that an 18-year-old student could get paid less than a 25-year-old who is on her parents' health insurance, and she might get paid less than a single mom with one kid, who could get paid less than a spouse in a household with three kids, etc. These are life situations best handled by social policy, social insurance and the appropriate provisions of public goods and services. But a focus on the minimum wage as welfare policy debases the fact that we should be raising the minimum wage because we should be insuring that workers are paid the value of their work. That is, such a focus disrespects workers as workers.

A lot of liberals don't want to call increases in the minimum wage "redistributive." It brings the reality of class conflict too close to the surface, apparently, and portrays workers as workers, not as victims. But in order for workers to not be victims, they must be compensated for the value of their work. That is not happening now, not in these United States. These state minimum-wage increases begin to reverse the damage, precisely because they are redistributive, from the owners of capital to the workers they employ. That is a good thing -- and an excellent beginning for the new year! Reported by Huffington Post 4 hours ago.

GOP legislators thwart bids to expand Medicaid

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Governors across the political spectrum are hitting a roadblock in their bids to expand Medicaid with federal funds: While some of these governors themselves have criticized the president's health care law in general, they've come to see one component — Medicaid expansion — as too generous to reject. Partisan politics have driven states' Medicaid decisions ever since the Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that expansion was optional, not mandatory, under the new law. Medicaid, the health insurance program for low-income and disabled people, covers about 65 million Americans, more than one in five. Among other changes, it would offer vouchers to newly eligible adults to help pay for employer-sponsored coverage, and require co-payments for treatment. In Wyoming, Gov. Matt Mead opposed Medicaid expansion during his first term but now says it would save the state money and provide needed insurance to poor people. Alaska's new independent governor-elect Bill Walker and North Carolina's Republican Gov. Pat McCrory also face serious GOP legislative opposition to their ideas for expanding Medicaid. Reported by SeattlePI.com 21 hours ago.

GOP legislators thwart Medicaid expansion

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Medicaid, the health insurance program for low-income and disabled people, covers about 65 million Americans. Reported by NY Daily News 16 hours ago.

The 2015 GOP Clown Car: Bigger, Meaner, and More Dangerous Than Ever

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Another year gone and another string of long-winded, factually inaccurate, and manufactured comments from the clowns in the Republican Party are behind us. With every passing year that the little clown car pulls up it seems to get a little bigger and every year more and more clowns pour out and step up to the podium to obfuscate and pontificate. Nearly everything they say would lead one to believe that they are impervious to reality and yet their statements are made in such a way and with such confidence that it's as if they had received the message from God Himself.

When you pay attention to the news and politics as much as someone like me does you get to a point that a facepalm is a frequent occurrence. Eventually eye rolls are more common. And hopefully, if you've managed to maintain a shred of your sanity, you get the occasional chuckle out of hearing someone in politics bloviate about something they apparently know nothing about. Having any faith in humanity makes it hard to believe or accept that some of these folks actually believe what they're saying. Common sense would dictate otherwise, but not everyone is blessed with common sense. After all, people vote for morons, usually against their own best interest, and people watch FOX News despite evidence that the channel gets its facts wrong more than 50 percent of the time.

In fact, Fox News host Sean Hannity got the award for "Worst Host" in a poll conducted by the Mediaite website. Mediaite asked fellow media members to pick the best and worst of cable news networks: Fox, MSNBC, and CNN. Respondents were told that their votes would be kept anonymous to encourage honesty. Hannity won hands down and he didn't take it well as evidenced by an epic, public, all caps, tantrum on Twitter.

The most ridiculous comments seem to come from Republicans and I would defy anyone to say otherwise. I have yet to see anyone come up with a list of comments from liberals that comes close, in volume or content, to lists of stupid things Republicans or conservatives say on a fairly regular and consistent basis. It might be low hanging fruit, but there's a lot of it and every time one of them opens their mouths America becomes a little more ignorant.

Hannity isn't alone. The Republicans, as a whole, have been wrong about nearly everything this past year. As Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman writes in the New York Times:
All year Americans have been bombarded with dire news reports portraying a world out of control and a clueless government with no idea what to do. Yet if you look back at what actually happened over the past year, you see something completely different. Amid all the derision, a number of major government policies worked just fine -- and the biggest successes involved the most derided policies. You'll never hear this on Fox News, but 2014 was a year in which the federal government, in particular, showed that it can do some important things very well if it wants to.
There are some good points in the article and Krugman provides some clear examples of how the Republicans were ridiculously wrong about their cartoonish view of a tyrannical, weak, and useless government.

Among the issues the right-wing clown machine got wrong were Ebola, the economy, and health care according to Krugman. While the GOP was busy spreading fear and propaganda, the rest of us watched as Ebola was not the epidemic that would wipe out the country the way the pre-midterm hysteria made it out to be. As it turns out the CDC (a government agency) knows what they're doing and America wasn't over run with Ebola or members of ISIS and Mexican drug cartels flesh-eating disease carrying zombies.

The GOP gave it their best shot, though. Representative Phil Gingrey (GA) tried to tell us that illegal immigrants were carrying Ebola across the border via drug gangs:
As a physician for over 30 years, I am well aware of the dangers infectious diseases pose. In fact, infectious diseases remain in the top 10 causes of death in the United States... Reports of illegal migrants carrying deadly diseases such as swine flu, dengue fever, Ebola virus and tuberculosis are particularly concerning.
Rep. Steve Stockman (TX) thought there was something more nefarious afoot and that any potential action or inaction by the federal government would somehow lead to American citizens losing their rights and freedom:
It's just a strange non-response, a strange way of handling it and I think that if it does go forward and we do not control it, there may be an overreaction where the government starts taking away the rights of those that aren't that necessarily involved or need that to happen," he said. "I hope that's not the case, but as you know this current government uses crisis to advance their philosophy and their agenda.
In the end, conveniently after the midterms, it turned out that Ebola was limited to less than a half-dozen people in the U.S. and only one person died. We haven't heard about it since.

The economy has improved dramatically. Private sector jobs are increasing, the stock market is going gangbusters, gas prices are down, and last quarter the economy showed the fastest growth in a decade. Forbes magazine even had the audacity to say that Obama's economy out-performed that of the GOPs lord and savior, the great Ronald Reagan. Not bad for a Muslim-Nazi-business-hating communist.

That brings us to Obamacare, the single most hated GOP issue. Ten million more people with health insurance, most for the first time and tens of thousands of lives saved in a single year. Sure, the website didn't run too well for a month and that was covered ad nauseam on every news channel and pointed out by every member of the GOP around the clock, but when it comes to lives saved and made better? Crickets. Add to the obvious benefits that tens of thousands of bankruptcies and ruined lives that will be avoided. The media and the GOP went completely dark on the entire up-side. Apparently a lack of suffering doesn't make headlines.

On Obamacare, Krugman writes:
In fact, Year 1 surpassed expectations on every front. Remember claims that more people would lose insurance than gained it? Well, the number of Americans without insurance fell by around 10 million; members of the elite who have never been uninsured have no idea just how much positive difference that makes to people's lives. Remember claims that reform would break the budget? In reality, premiums were far less than predicted, overall health spending is moderating, and specific cost-control measures are doing very well. And all indications suggest that year two will be marked by further success.
While the GOP fought affordable health care every step of the way by delaying, trying to repeal it, blocking, and even shutting down the government in the name of liberty, human suffering, and needless deaths, Obamacare remains, for now, a reality.

The list of other things that Republicans were wrong about is fairly long, but here are a few that Krugman didn't get to that stand out. Marriage equality has been accepted by most of the country and children haven't magically become gay or started having sex with farm animals. Marijuana has been legalized for full use in two states and medical use in others and no cartels have taken over Midwestern towns -- in fact, drug cartels are out billions of dollars as a result. Obama's immigration policies haven't allowed swarms of illegal immigrants into the country with calves the size of cantaloupes and pregnant women from ISIS haven't dropped anchor babies on U.S. soil. Minimum wage has gone up in multiple states and corporations haven't moved to third world countries or had to apply for welfare. And you can now buy a Cuban cigar without being shot in the street.

All in all, despite the GOPs best efforts, things have gone pretty well and some significant things have been accomplished.

It's a new year though and the clown car about to be sworn in next week is bigger than ever with a majority in both the Senate and the House. A car full of gun loving, poor hating, veteran screwing, climate change denying, Wall Street deregulating, health care repealing, and wealthy old white man loving clowns. Their plans so far include repealing Dodd-Frank, cutting and privatizing social security, cutting pensions, defunding Obamacare, eliminating food stamps and welfare, raising taxes on the middle class and working poor, cutting taxes for the super-rich and corporations, and who knows how many other Benghazi, IRS, and impeachment hearings we'll have to endure. They have the numbers to do what they want and by this time next year we could be having a completely different conversation in a completely different country.

While it hasn't been a great year, I'm thankful that the GOP has provided me with the low hanging fruit only they are capable of providing and I'm looking forward to 2015 and the prospect of more ridiculous claims and comments.

*Read more at nowitcounts.com* Reported by Huffington Post 4 hours ago.

These 19 States Just Hiked The Minimum Wage: Here Come The "Unintended Consequences"

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These 19 States Just Hiked The Minimum Wage: Here Come The Unintended Consequences Starting on January 1, 2015, a one year-delayed component of Obamacare kicks in: according to the health care law, businesses that employ at least 100 full-time workers — or full-time equivalents, including part-time workers — must offer health benefits to at least 70% of those working at least 30 hours a week by Thursday, or pay a penalty. This will expand to by next year, when companies will have to provide insurance to 95% of their workers, and firms with 50 to 99 employees must offer coverage as well. As a result, and as even the USA Today reports, "many businesses in low-wage industries *have hired more part-time workers and cut the hours of full-timers recently to soften the impact of new health law requirements that take effect Thursday*."

More details:



Businesses in low-wage sectors, such as restaurants, retail and warehousing, are feeling bigger effects because health insurance represents an outsize share of their total employee costs, says Rob Wilson, head of Employco, a human resources outsourcing firm. Many of those with just fewer than 100 staffers have hired more part-timers in recent months, while those with at least 100 are reducing the hours of existing employees, he says.

 

Michelle Neblett, senior director of labor and workforce policy for the National Restaurant Association, says many restaurants are being more cautious about boosting the workweek of part-timers to 30 hours or more, doling out such increases to reward top performers.

 

Those strategies have not had a noticeable impact on the labor market. Monthly job growth has averaged 240,000 this year, up from 194,000 in 2013. And full-time employment has increased at about twice the rate of part-time payrolls, Labor Department figures show.

 

Still, the number of part-time workers who say they'd prefer full-time jobs has remained stubbornly high. That can at least partly be traced to the inclination of the restaurant, retail and hotel industries to hire more part-time workers to sidestep the ACA mandate, Royal Bank of Scotland wrote in a recent report.



Of course, the reason why the BLS has not yet revealed the reality of the shifting US labor force, and why there is virtually no real wage growth across the US, is that the BLS simply backs into statistically goal-seeked results, using seasonal and statistical (birth/death) adjustments to smooth a trendline to beat a monthly bogey used by algos to bid stocks higher. Meanwhile, the reality at the micro level, is that increasingly more Americans are seeing their work status transformed from full-time to part-time status, earning less in the process, having no healthcare and retirement benefits and virtually no job security.

As a result, starting this year, some 19 states just increased their minimum wage threshold, with 3 more states due to follow later in 2015. This takes place at the state level because for numerous reasons, there simply wan't enough of a consensus to pass this at the Federal level. The Daily Signal has the details:



In three states—Arkansas, Nebraska and South Dakota—voters approved ballot measures in November to increase the minimum wage, effective Jan. 1, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

 

Alaska voters passed an initiative raising the minimum wage in the state to begin Jan. 1. But the pay increase isn’t effective until 90 days after the election results are certified, Feb. 24.

 

Meanwhile, legislatures in seven states—Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont and West Virginia—approved laws boosting the minimum wage. Those laws go into effect today.

 

Though Delaware and Minnesota’s state lawmakers voted to raise the minimum wage, those increases won’t begin until June and August, respectively. The District of Columbia will see a minimum wage hike beginning July 1. New York raised its minimum wage to $8.75 an hour beginning yesterday and will see another increase to $9 an hour beginning Dec. 31, 2015.

 

Nine other states will see increases in their minimum wages today as state laws mandate automatic increases to make up for rising prices. Those states are: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, Ohio, Oregon and Washington.

 

Among states raising the minimum wage, Washington state will boast the highest at $9.47 an hour–but only until July 1, when the District of Columbia will have the highest in the nation at $10.50 an hour.



These are the states in question:

 

So in the grand scheme of this this should be net neutral: more part-time jobs offset by higher wages, not too bad right? Wrong.

For one thing, For according to a recent UCSD study, for three years, researchers followed low-income workers residing in states that saw wage hikes and those that did not. The study found that minimum wage hikes had negative impacts on employment, income and income growth. In other words, the probability of part-, and full-time workers to get fired rises even more as a result of an artificial push to the wage/labor supply-demand curve.

In fact, while one can applaud the attempt to boost standards of living, one can be certain that the only thing the media will be focusing on in 2015 will be the "unintended consequences" of this action:



“Minimum wage supporters have good intentions, but those good intentions cannot repeal the law of unintended consequences,” James Sherk, an expert in labor economics at The Heritage Foundation, told The Daily Signal. He added: "Minimum-wage increases reduce the total earnings of low-wage workers — the higher pay for some workers gets completely offset by the nonexistent pay of those no longer employed."

 

In its study, UCSD researchers found that after minimum-wage increases, the national employment-to-population ratio decreased by 0.7 percent points between December 2006 and December 2012.

 

*In addition, the study found that minimum-wage increases hindered low-skilled workers’ ability to rise to lower-middle -lass earnings.*



And then there are rising prices. As shown previously, just the adverse impact to the bottom line already led to increases in consumer prices across various restaurants in the US.

 

That's just the beginning. As small and medium-businesses struggle across America to make ends meet, it is the big businesses that have all the economies of scale and all the leverage. And, as a result, prepare for this:

 

Which is just the intended result: after all, the one thing missing from the "recovery" is inflation. Well, prepare to welcome unintended consequences number one of central planning. The only problem, declining wages aren't going anywhere. And that's for those who are lucky enough to hold jobs. Also, don't forget that the only shining spot in the US wage field - shale jobs - is finished, and going forward not only will the shale patch not generate rising wages, but will in fact lead to the largest surge in layoffs seen in years.

Which is precisely what propaganda is for. And after all, Americans who can no longer afford to buy, or even rent a home can always live in their car, and now, thanks to plunging gas prices, heat themselves while sleeping in someone's driveway. Because as the media loves reminding us each and every day, sub $2 gas is a "tax cut" for improverished American consumers everywhere. 

Now if only those same consumers had full-time jobs and/or anything resembling stable (forget rising) wages, they would even spend more just as Keynesian theory suggests, if only in theory. Reported by Zero Hedge 16 hours ago.

How The Affordable Care Act Forced Me To Be Uninsured

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This is the story of how a professional health economist, who knows all ins and outs of health insurance, ended up becoming involunarily uninsured as a direct result of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). I am self-employed, and I have several significant pre-existing conditions. In other words, I'm [...] Reported by Forbes.com 11 hours ago.

Obamacare is finally hitting employers

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Employers with 100 or more full-time workers must now provide affordable health insurance to at least 70% of staff. Reported by CNNMoney 10 hours ago.

Getting to know the Obamacare tax forms N.J. consumers will have to navigate

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Now that the 2015 has begun, here are three more new numbers taxpayers may need to learn: 1095-A, 8962 and 8965. If you purchased health insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplace, those numbers will be critical for you this year. Reported by NJ.com 10 hours ago.

Employer mandate: big savings may prompt shift from corporate to individual plans in 2015 (Report)

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Employers who are subject to the mandate to provide health insurance for their workers can expect more alternatives, including private exchanges, according to Benefitspro, writing about an Aon Hewitt report. "If employers are subject to the mandate, it may be more affordable to terminate insurance, pay the penalties and let employees pick the plan they want," Rick Lindquist, president of Zane Benefits Inc. in Murray, Utah, told Benefitspro. "Switching from corporate to individual plans can save… Reported by bizjournals 9 hours ago.

​No health insurance? Fines to rise in 2015

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Penalties will rise this year for people who haven't signed up for health insurance, but fines won't have as much of an impact on Hawaii residents as they will on the Mainland. Under the Affordable Care Act, this is the first year that taxpayers are required to report whether or not they have health insurance to the Internal Revenue Service. Those without coverage already face huge medical costs if an accident occurs. Now they will be fined as well. The insurance requirement and accompanying penalties… Reported by bizjournals 5 hours ago.

H&R Block: Half of Those With Obamacare Subsidies May Owe IRS

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The Affordable Care Act's requirement that most Americans carry health insurance means that tax filers have to tell the U.S. government whether they had coverage in 2014 and whether they received Obamacare subsidies to help pay for it. Reported by Newsmax 3 hours ago.

Region’s top stocks led by biotech, semiconductors

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Region’s top stocks led by biotech, semiconductors Biotech and semiconductor companies dominated the list of the Bay Area’s 10 hottest stocks last year. The only consumer company on this year’s Top 10 list was Electronic Arts, which ranked fifth with a 105.4 percent total return. The Redwood City video game maker was also the second-best performing stock in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index last year, after Southwest Airlines. Two game consoles were released at the end of 2013, the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. [...] Electronic Arts had the best game pipeline. “Battlefield 4” also did well, and its Madden football franchise was up year over year, which surprised a lot of people. Titanfall was a hit, but was exclusive to Xbox. Olson says EA stock will extend its run in 2015, mainly because there are so many more Xbox and PlayStation consoles than a year ago. The Top 10 list comprises Bay Area companies that ended the year with at least $200 million in market value and a stock price above $12. The Bottom 10 list comprises companies that finished with at least $100 million in market value and a stock price above $6. The Bay Area’s top performing stock in 2014 was InterMune, a Brisbane biotech company acquired by Roche in September for $74 per share. The stock was trading at $53.80 before the merger announcement in August. Health care The second-best stock was chipmaker Spansion, which got a takeover offer in early December from Cypress Semiconductor. Daniel Ives, a managing director with FBR, explained that sentiment among tech investors shifted from consumer stocks in 2013 to enterprise or business spending in 2014. “A lot of emerging, under-the-radar sectors have really become the darlings of Wall Street,” he says. Cybersecurity, big data and cloud are really the three hottest subsectors across tech. Hardly a week went by without a data breach somewhere last year, and it was capped off with the Sony Pictures finale. “Their management team has shown excellent execution and they have continued to beat and raise (earnings) expectations,” Ives says. The company also got a leg up when it settled a patent-infringement lawsuit filed by Juniper Networks on terms “that were less onerous that what Wall Street was fearing,” Ives says. Another 2014 winner was Enphase Energy of Petaluma, which makes microinverters for solar panels that convert direct current from the sun into alternating current for use in homes and buildings. Historically, solar systems used a big box called a centralized inverter. “Enphase was the first and is still the biggest manufacturer of microinverters” that are integrated onto the backs of solar panels. Enphase, which sells mainly for home use, benefited from another very strong year of growth in residential solar installations. Makers of large inverters have had to cut their prices and their margins are suffering. Enphase has been able to avoid that, but it will face increased competition this year from large players such as SunPower, which acquired a microinverter company, and LG Electronics, which developed one it is putting into its own modules, says M.J. Shiao, director of solar research at GTM Research. Enphase is diversifying by “pushing heavily into commercial” and investing in energy storage as well, Shiao added. Enphase has not turned an annual profit but is “on the cusp of profitability,” says Pavel Malchanov, an analyst with Raymond James. Malchanov follows both Enphase and Silver Spring Networks, which makes smart-grid systems that utilities use to monitor energy usage. Silver Spring ranked second-worst among Bay Area stocks last year with a 60 percent decline. “They supply hardware and software to make the grid more secure” and protect it from outages and potential terrorist attacks, he says. [...] it often takes longer than expected to fulfill contracts because of regulatory delays. Revenue for 2014 came in about 30 percent below what was expected at the start of the year “and the market punished” the stock. Edging out Silver Spring as the Bay Area’s worst stock was E2Open, with a drop of 60.1 percent. The Foster City company makes supply-chain software that product manufacturers use to manage their raw materials inventories. The stock was up 69 percent in 2013, but the company lost three customers representing about 10 percent of subscription revenues in one quarter last year when they were acquired. E2Open is not profitable, and management missed some revenue expectations. [...] Berg says he recommended buying the stock about a month ago. Most companies replacing solutions are going toward software-as-a-service or cloud-based technology and they are one of the leading vendors. Kathleen Pender is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Net Worth runs Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. E-mail: kpender@sfchronicle.com Blog: http://blog.sfgate.com/pender Twitter: @kathpender Top 10 Bay Area stocks Includes companies with at least $200 million in market value and end-of-year stock price above $12. Biotech (pulmonary & fibrotic disease) Flash memory chips for cars, consumer electronics Solar equipment Network security software Electronic Arts Video game publishing Computer hardware and storage Integrated Device Technology Chips for communications, computing, consumer products Chips for computer networks Biotech (fungal, bacterial, inflammatory disease) Chips for cell phones, electronic devices Bottom 10 Bay Area stocks Includes companies with at least $100 million in market value and end-of-year stock price above $6. Enterprise supply-chain software Communications equipment Biotech (respiratory, bacterial, gastrointestinal disease) Applied Micro Circuits Investment advice for retirement-plan participants Sells health insurance online Adept Technology Reported by SFGate 4 hours ago.

12 Ways to Survive a Forced Early Retirement

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12 Ways to Survive a Forced Early Retirement Filed under: Retirement, Careers

*Shutterstock*

By Teresa Mears

When most workers plan for retirement, they expect to work until their full retirement age, which is 66 or 67 for people born after 1942, or even longer. But some workers find themselves out of a job at an age when it's difficult to find another one -- and at a time when they expected to be in their peak earning years. Others are forced out of the workforce because of illness or responsibilities as a family caregiver."About 45 percent of people retire earlier than they planned," says Jamie Hopkins, a professor of taxation at the American College in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, and the associate director of the New York Life Center for Retirement Income. "You really need to have that contingency plan for early retirement."

The option of getting a high-paying job may be off the table, especially for those in industries that rely heavily on contractors. While it's illegal for employers to discriminate because of age, many older workers find it difficult to get hired. An analysis of September 2014 unemployment data by the AARP Public Policy Institute found that job seekers 55 and older had been unemployed an average of almost 42 weeks, compared with about 30 weeks for those under 55.

*Your Options*

But workers do have steps they can take if they are forced into early retirement. If you're able to work, finding new work, even if it pays much less and isn't in your field, may be the best option. Others may find cutting expenses is their only viable alternative. Some people may end up doing both.
"Don't grab at what seems like the easy money because you can really hurt yourself in the long run." - Liz Weston

If you can avoid drawing Social Security early, do it, even if it means tapping your retirement savings, advises Liz Weston, a personal finance columnist and author. Claiming Social Security at 62 means your monthly benefit will be 25 percent less than it would have been had you postponed your retirement until you reached your your full retirement age of 66 or 67. If you wait just a few more years, until you're 70, you'll get another 32 percent. You won't find many investments with those guaranteed returns.

"Social Security is your best bulwark against being poor in retirement," Weston says. "Don't grab at what seems like the easy money because you can really hurt yourself in the long run." Here are 12 ways to cope if you're forced into early retirement:

1. *Take a job with lower pay and less status. *Keep in mind that it will be tough to match the job you held prior to early retirement. "You shouldn't expect to get back to where you were in terms of pay," Weston says. "Knowing that can help you adjust your expectations so you don't turn down a job with decent pay."
2. *Consider part-time or consulting work. *This may enable you to continue working in your field or pursue another career interest. It might even pay better than getting another full-time job.
3. *Reduce expenses.* This could include selling your home, relocating or tightening your budget to exclude unnecessary expenses. "A lot of people put off doing the big cuts because they're hoping against hope that something comes through," Weston says. "Maybe you downsize now instead of waiting for retirement."
4. *Take advantage of unemployment benefits*. If you're laid off, you are probably eligible for unemployment. You've paid into the system all your working life, and there is no shame in taking the benefits. If you have no income, you could be eligible for other benefits as well, such as food stamps, job training or employment counseling. Those who are forced to retire early because of illness may be eligible for disability benefits. "They are there for a reason, to help you through these times," Hopkins says.
5. *Look for health insurance on the Affordable Care Act exchange. *If you lose your job, you are eligible to apply for new insurance. Now that you likely have a lower income, you could qualify for a subsidy or for Medicaid. Those options may be cheaper than the COBRA offered by your employer, which allows you to stay in your former employer's group health insurance plan for up to 18 months, but requires you to pay the full cost.
6. *Cut off your adult children.* You may also need to make your college-age children downsize, taking out their own loans and perhaps going to a less expensive school. "The faster you get the kids up to date about what you can and can't do, the better," Weston says. "They have a whole working life in front of them. You don't."
7. *Consult a **financial adviser**.* There may be smart moves you can make with your investments to help boost your retirement income, such as converting a regular IRA to a Roth in a year in which you don't earn much, Hopkins says.
8. *Be smart about collecting Social Security.* If you're married, or ever have been for at least 10 years, you have a number of ways to claim benefits. Doing it right could mean collecting significantly more, Weston says. Do some research to ensure you're collecting as much as you possibly can.
9. *Keep up your professional networks.* You may think you'll never look for a job again, but you may change your mind. Or, you may decide to pursue freelance projects and consulting. Either way, knowing people will open more doors - and faster.
10. *Investigate a **reverse mortgage**.* If you have a lot of equity in your home and are 62 or older, this may enable you to increase your income while staying in the house. Be sure to take into account all the fees and the costs of continuing to maintain the home. This can be a risky option because if your income isn't enough to pay taxes, insurance and upkeep, you could still lose the house.
11. *Pursue hobbies and other things that make you happy*. For many, it's hard to adjust for a life that's not built around work. Devoting your energy to other projects can help you make peace with not working or working in a job that you find less interesting. "It's a way of displacing work as the center of your life," Weston says.
12. *Embrace the joy of simple living. *The simple living movement has drawn thousands of devotees who find that living with fewer material things makes life better. "They're all about living on less and living more fulfilling lives," Weston says.

 

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