WHO THINKS UP THIS STUFF?

DATELINE: Hubrisville, Feb 5 – Common sense is a type of gravity. It’s a lot like Newton’s force which keeps us from floating into outer space. Common sense keeps us from getting carried away by ridiculous ideas.

But, common sense does not have the same pull on everyone. Some on the planet have such lightweight thought processes that common sense can’t bring them down to earth no matter how strong the facts.

The latest stunningly absurd, gravity-defying notion is that millions who are induced to quit their jobs by Obamacare didn’t want to work anyway. So, the President’s signature legislation is doing them a huge favor.

Or so goes the argument, at least according to Jason Furman, the Chair of the President’s Council of Economic Advisors. Like, who in their right mind would want to work when they don’t have to work? Sitting on the government dole is everyone’s secret desire.

How did all of this come up? The bi-partisan Congressional Budget Office, in a report released yesterday, predicts a reduction in the labor force due to Obamacare’s disincentives to work.

The CBO estimates the loss of 2.5 million full time employees who will choose to become either part-timers or no-timers as a result of the law. This is more than three-times the previous CBO projections. In Congressional testimony today, the CBO Director stated that the labor loss will be the central force in reducing economic growth in the coming years.

It’s difficult to call Furman’s my-feet-don’t-touch-the-ground mumbo jumbo justification for disincentives an actual spin on the truth. Gravity defying as it is, it doesn’t rise to the lofty spin level. It’s far too pathetic. His analysis is like Bush 43 claiming that the Great Recession did no harm because people who lost their homes didn’t want them anyway. After all, making those tedious monthly payments is such a drudge. Going straight from his or her own cozy confines to someone else’s is everyone’s secret desire.

What is much more stunning than Furman’s argument is that someone actually thought of it. It came from a fully inflated airhead who believes the only motivation to work is to pay for your share of employee benefits.

Obamacare removes that major inconvenience as long as you’re happy with less and thrilled with your upward mobility being shutdown.