In hopes of reducing the impact of Obamacare, Olive Garden and Red Lobster are reducing hours and studying the impact.

Right now, this is just a small test, involving only four stores markets. However, if large chains are testing in that direction, no doubt other companies are doing the same. I also suspect smaller chains have already shifted to that model completely.

Please consider Prepping for Obamacare, Chain Cuts Workers' Hours.

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Mike Shedlock

Mike Shedlock

Mike Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for Sitka Pacific Capital Management.

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David4 Wrote: Oct 12, 2012 10:59 PM
It would take a truly Great Recession to produce a large enough pool of spare workers to staff all these retail-ments at part time. So look to see if we get an economy of lots of part-time workers working two or more jobs, for a total work-week close to 40 hours. They will not get legal-required full-time benefits, just the benefits that the employer has to offer to attract a qualified steady workforce.
-- Until the government changes the laws again.
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KopfShuss Wrote: Oct 12, 2012 12:49 AM
Iraq war ends with a $4 trillion IOU-Veterans’ health care costs to rise sharply over the next 40 years

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/iraq-war-ends-with-a-4-trillion-iou-2011-12-15

The nine-year-old Iraq war came to an official end late 2011, but paying for it will continue for decades until U.S. taxpayers have shelled out an estimated $4 trillion.
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KopfShuss Wrote: Oct 12, 2012 12:50 AM
Over a 50-year period, that comes to $80 billion annually.

Near the start of the war, the U.S. Defense Department estimated the war would cost $50 billion to $80 billion. White House economic adviser Lawrence Lindsey was dismissed in 2002 after suggesting the price of invading and occupying Iraq could reach $200 billion.

“The direct costs for the war were about $800 billion, but the indirect costs, the costs you can’t easily see, that payoff will outlast you and me,” said Lawrence Korb, a senior fellow at American Progress, a Washington, D.C. think tank, and a former assistant secretary of defense under Ronald Reagan.
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KopfShuss Wrote: Oct 12, 2012 12:51 AM
Those costs include interest payments on the billions borrowed to fund the war; the cost of maintaining military bases in Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain to defend Iraq or reoccupy the country if the Baghdad government unravels; and the expense of using private security contractors to protect U.S. property in the country and to train Iraqi forces.
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toan_thang Wrote: Oct 11, 2012 8:03 PM
We can have a discussion about the Vietnam war and its after-effects.

Many Republicans also say something like this, "The North Vietnamese were brutal to the people they conquered once we left. How many people died at the hands of the conquerors?"

No doubt about that. You can add in several million more from Cambodia who died in the 'Killing Fields.'

I met some 'boat people' while working in 1982. One guy was from Haiphong in North Vietnam (the number one B-52 target) He said that he feared 'going to school' more than the American bombing. That's why he fled and ended up in the USA.

What was the alternative in 1973? Keep half a million American personnel there and continue to pay those costs, forever?
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Artie C. Wrote: Oct 11, 2012 7:06 PM
We'll be seeing a lot more of this too, before all is said and done.
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anti-neocon Wrote: Oct 11, 2012 1:36 PM
you mean obama-romneycare.
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badgerpat Wrote: Oct 11, 2012 2:22 PM
Nope. He means Obamacare. Try to keep up.
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anti-neocon Wrote: Oct 11, 2012 3:05 PM
what did i not keep up with?? there is no "obamacare" that is distinct from romneycare, and romney himself admits that he is proud to take credit for it.
most recently romney said he likes many parts of obama-romneycare and will keep them. he also said that he will replace obama's version of "healthcare reform" with his own version.
try to keep up.
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Artie C. Wrote: Oct 11, 2012 7:07 PM
Romney care was a state issue. Obama made it a national issue. Here endeth the lesson.
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John C6 Wrote: Oct 11, 2012 5:27 PM
Dear anti,

Mitt Romney has a business background and it is reasonable to believe
he will craft policies that are business friendly and create real, private
sector jobs, not the phoney ' crony capitalism ' we're getting from Pres.
Obama.

Sincerely,

John Lepant
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Joseph64 Wrote: Oct 11, 2012 1:12 PM
Welcome to the new age of the part time worker thanks to Obamacare. Full time employment will now be the exception rather than the rule as business hire more part timers to avoid being caught up in having to supply health insurance to full time workers. Not only won't they have to buy them insurance, they will also be exempt from the penalty because they will have no full time workers that the penalty applies to.
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Joseph64 Wrote: Oct 11, 2012 1:17 PM
The American worker will be cut to around 25-30 hours a week at most to avoid being classed as a full time employee and then after the reduction in pay from the loss of hours will have to go out and source their own insurance or pay the penalty for not having it. Even those on the left will be screaming for the repeal of Obamacare before it's all over.
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Artie C. Wrote: Oct 11, 2012 7:09 PM
Then the Department of Labor will step in and mandate that ALL workers be guaranteed a minimum of 40 hours per week and they all be unionized other wise heavy fines and seizure of assets will be enacted. Watch and see.
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Jay Wye Wrote: Oct 11, 2012 12:48 PM
in Orlando,time-share mogul David Siegel told his employees that If Obama is reelected,they will all be out of work,as he will close up shop and lay off everyone.
The Orlando Sentinel newpaper is trying to portray it as Siegel telling his employees how to vote.
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johnsnare Wrote: Oct 11, 2012 2:15 PM
The Orlando sentinel, is a typical liberal left wing rag. Common business fundamental at play here. As a business owner you are looking at ways to increase profits, and reduce costs. Employee benefits are terribly expensive. As an employee, i would prefer the cut in health cost,to keep my job.
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Pistol Wrote: Oct 11, 2012 2:46 PM
Sometime a little before Pearl Harbor, FDR perceived the need for lots of mass-produced airplanes in a hurry. He put a proven industrialist, a personal friend whose name escapes me, on the job to create Consolidated Aircraft from several smaller companies. Consolidated designed and built the PBY Catalina flying boat, which was lend-leased to the Brits and located the Bismarck. They built more Liberator bombers than Boeing built b-17's. The high performance of the Liberator was a major factor in winning the Battle of the Atlantic. In short, Consolidated was big, and good.
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Pistol Wrote: Oct 11, 2012 2:51 PM
As the war came to a close, the workers decided to unionize and assume more control over the operation. The Honcho warned them he would not share decision making, but was ignored. Whereupon, he dissolved the company overnight, sold the assets in pieces, mostly to Boeing, Lockheed and Grumman, and walked off with his cash.
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Artie C. Wrote: Oct 11, 2012 7:10 PM
I know somebody who flew on the Liberators on sub patrol.
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Pistol Wrote: Oct 11, 2012 7:45 PM
My cousin trained and flew on the Liberator and was very relieved to transfer to B-29's. The Liberator flew higher, faster, farther with more bombs than a B-17, but that performance was achieved at the expense of the over-built rugged construction of the B-17. But it was perfect for anti-sub patrol in the hitherto unreachable areas in the center of the Atlantic.
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Pistol Wrote: Oct 11, 2012 7:45 PM
My cousin trained and flew on the Liberator and was very relieved to transfer to B-29's. The Liberator flew higher, faster, farther with more bombs than a B-17, but that performance was achieved at the expense of the over-built rugged construction of the B-17. But it was perfect for anti-sub patrol in the hitherto unreachable areas in the center of the Atlantic.
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Dr_Zinj Wrote: Oct 11, 2012 11:57 AM
Obamacare was designed to force people to lose their company benefit insurance and force them into a dependency on the federal government. Every single person who voted for that bill should be executed.
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Wumingren Wrote: Oct 11, 2012 12:38 PM
I recommend using the noose from a bridge or crane method, so that their stinking carcasses can be left hanging for all to see. Maybe they should be left hanging low enough for the people to beat their worthless bodies with sticks, but high enough so the dogs can't tear them apart before their time.
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Artie C. Wrote: Oct 11, 2012 7:11 PM
Well, execution is a bit harsh. Give'em another chance to right a wrong.
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Wumingren Wrote: Oct 12, 2012 11:47 AM
No more chances. They're all incorrigible.
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Davole Wrote: Oct 11, 2012 11:11 AM
The administrators of these 2 companies are the first to publicly voice their strategy which is intended to minimize their anticipated punitive financial burden due to Obamacare - many more will follow although they may not publicly reveal their plans.
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Blair31 Wrote: Oct 11, 2012 10:53 AM
I was watching PBS' Frontline, Tuesday night, and it was about Romney and Obama. Romneycare, like Obamacare, has an individual mandate. Where did it come from? The Heritage Foundation. That's right. The now-maligned individual mandate came from the Heritage Foundation. It was one of the proposed alternatives to Hillarycare. Obama was against the individual mandate before he was for it. Remember this, Comrades, Obama wanted a single payer system like Vermont's. Annie Kuster, who's running against Charles Bass in a rematch of 2010, thinks Obamacare didn't go far enough. She wants a single payer system too. Portability's important. So, too, is interstate competition. Let's have a loser pays system to cut down on malpractice suits.
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binc Wrote: Oct 11, 2012 10:31 AM
Those that wanted revenge on the rich and are so eager to spend the money of others will change their vote only when it personally affects their own wallets. This shows their utter hypocrisy and therefore I don't feel sad for them one iota.
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Blair31 Wrote: Oct 11, 2012 1:10 PM
"Socialism is great idea until you start running out of other people's money." Dame Margaret Thatcher.
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anti-neocon Wrote: Oct 11, 2012 1:39 PM
that's a good reason to NOT vote for obama-lite romney.
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badgerpat Wrote: Oct 11, 2012 2:25 PM
No, it isn't, you stinking moron. If you don't vote for Romney you get Obama. Why is that so difficult for you to understand?
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anti-neocon Wrote: Oct 11, 2012 3:08 PM
but if i vote for romney, i will get obama's clone. i will discuss and debate facts and issues with you, but this personal attack juvenile insult thing gets old very fast.
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lehigh69 Wrote: Oct 11, 2012 4:56 PM
Better obummer-lite than BO himself...
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Jay Wye Wrote: Oct 11, 2012 10:17 PM
there's a GREAT deal of difference between Romney and Comrade Obama,even if you can't/won't see it.

but you go ahead and throw away your vote to a 3rd party,and help Comrade Hussein get re-elected.
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R.3 Wrote: Oct 11, 2012 10:27 AM
Free markets have become a myth. Uninformed voters elect inept lawmakers to fix a problem the lawmakers created in the first place. We, as a nation, are now a long way from realizing regulating every detail of business and manipulating the money supply is not a recipe for economic growth.
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Greg1084 Wrote: Oct 11, 2012 7:12 AM
Funny in a sad way how many of the ill effects of Obamacare are hitting the very demographic that was most enthusiastic about him. What percentage of waiters at Red Lobster do you reckon voted for The One?
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Pistol Wrote: Oct 11, 2012 8:11 AM
Its invariable, Greg1084. There is always some sort of backlash reaction to any regulation, as the population at large tries to avoid the cost, large or small as it may be. The pain is inversely proportional to the flexibility of the individual involved. This is why it is difficult to impossible to really tax the ultra rich. They have unlimited options, up to merely changing citizenship to another country, as many entertainers do. Those folks living paycheck to paycheck don't even have the flexibility to go look for a better job, let alone do things like move their assets offshore or into taxfree municipal bonds.

Life is tough, and its even tougher when you are stupid.
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Pistol Wrote: Oct 11, 2012 8:13 AM
And when the rich are breaking even, the poor are starving.
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DrBarbara Wrote: Oct 11, 2012 11:57 AM
True words. Thanks, Pistol.
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T.C.7 Wrote: Oct 11, 2012 5:54 AM
Flagged all posts by the sick, disturbed, kenadidfarah.
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Pistol Wrote: Oct 11, 2012 1:45 AM
Once again, the unskilled and uneducated take the brunt of unintended results of big government attempts to create fairness. Soon these types will be working 2 part-time jobs, neither with benefits, once again showing that government fiats have exactly the reverse effect intended. High tech employees like computer programmers and plumbers are asked to work overtime, so as to reduce benefit costs by reducing the number of workers. Government is not the solution, it is the problem.
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Wumingren Wrote: Oct 11, 2012 12:37 PM
I've worked several part-time jobs, and it is very difficult to get schedules to opperate in one's favor. You're constantly negotiating with one or the other employer for a bit of leeway in hours, allowing you to get from one job to the other on time. Once you get that all worked out, you'll never get vaction times to coincide, so say good-bye to vacation. Yes, you'll get vacation time with one employer, but when you're still working at the other job, that's not a vacation. I went 7 years without a real vacation, and hours left me working every single day of the week. I didn't even have a weekend off. If anyone thinks this is going to end well, they're complete idiots.
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Pistol Wrote: Oct 11, 2012 2:31 PM
Wumingren, you have my sympathy and respect. You and folks like you are the real pillars of civilization. Only if you see better times ahead in the system you are stuck in, do you keep your cool.

I hope better times are now yours, and more ahead.
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