Americans

59% of Americans disapprove of Obama’s handling of health care policy

By Naomi Lopez Bauman
11/12/2013
According to a recent poll by Pew Research, President Barack Obama’s overall job approval rating is tanking. While the president is seeing better marks for his handling of the economy, he is facing growing disapproval in a number of areas, including health care. According to the report: Obama also gets negative ratings on health care...

TAGS: ACA: Affordable Care Act

Lowest labor-force participation rate since 1978

By John Klingner
11/10/2013
The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that the national unemployment rate rose in October to 7.3 percent from 7.2 percent one month earlier. There are 11.3 million Americans currently unemployed. The U-6 unemployment rate, which includes all workers who are unemployed or underemployed, rose to 13.8 percent, up from last month’s 13.6 percent. In total,...

TAGS: jobs, labor force participation rate, LFPR, unemployment

11.3 million Americans remained unemployed in September

By John Klingner
10/23/2013
After nearly a month’s delay due to the federal government’s shutdown, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced yesterday that the national unemployment rate edged down in September to 7.2 percent from 7.3 percent one month earlier. Overall, 11.3 million Americans remain unemployed. The U-6 unemployment rate, which includes all workers who are unemployed or underemployed,...

TAGS: BLS: Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment, jobs, unemployment

ObamaCare triage

By Naomi Lopez Bauman
10/21/2013
The Obama administration has emerged from its bunker and is now in full-fledge campaign mode on ObamaCare after the recently unveiled online enrollment system has encountered numerous glitches and low sign-up rates. The most revealing thing about President Barack Obama’s Rose Garden speech this morning is that – after a calamitous roll-out – he never...

TAGS: ACA: Affordable Care Act

ObamaCare: Quinn touts 100K enrollees; all in Medicaid

By Naomi Lopez Bauman
10/17/2013
Gov. Pat Quinn has been touting 100,000 new Cook County enrollees as evidence of ObamaCare’s success. The reality is that this claim reflects both desperate and creative government accounting. The governor was referring to 100,000 people who enrolled in the state’s Medicaid expansion program earlier this year under an early pilot project in Cook County....

TAGS: ACA: Affordable Care Act, Cook County, Get Covered Illinois, Medicaid, Pat Quinn

ObamaCare glitches

By Jonathan Ingram
10/06/2013
The ObamaCare exchanges have been riddled with glitches. I spent three hours last week trying to look at what’s available and couldn’t even create an account. It was not the “fast, completely scalable and secure” experience I was promised by the chief technology officer at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The administration has claimed these problems are related...

TAGS: ACA: Affordable Care Act

How ObamaCare will affect premiums for Springfield residents

By Jonathan Ingram
09/30/2013
Oct. 1 marks the first day of ObamaCare’s open enrollment period. Despite the fact that consumers are expected to start buying plans tomorrow, the state and federal government have been tight-lipped about what will be available on the ObamaCare health insurance exchange. The federal government has begun trickling out bits and pieces about the plans, but...

TAGS: ACA: Affordable Care Act, health insurance

Taxpayers subsidizing health insurance costs for Congress

By Naomi Lopez Bauman
09/19/2013
Only 7 percent of those who support the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as ObamaCare, believe it is OK that members of Congress and their staffs are exempt from one of the most burdensome ObamaCare rules. At issue is a fundamental question of fairness. Under ObamaCare, individuals purchasing insurance on the new ObamaCare health care exchanges...

Union boss calls for ObamaCare repeal

By Paul Kersey
09/16/2013
Before ObamaCare became law, many labor unions – including the Laborers’ International Union of North America, or LiUNA – supported it. But over the last several months, labor unions have become more and more alarmed over the actual effects of the law. Now Terry Sullivan, General President of LiUNA, has gone further than any other union leader...

TAGS: ACA: Affordable Care Act, LIUNA: Laborers' International Union of North America

Unions outpace corporations in super PAC spending

By Justin Hegy
09/13/2013
Labor unions are losing influence, popularity and the fight over labor policy in many states. To soften their fall, unions have dramatically increased political spending.