I received a number of interesting emails from readers in response to Prepping for Obamacare, Olive Garden and Red Lobster Cut Workers' Hours; Are Other Companies Doing the same? Tip Sharing Lowers Minimum Wage; Like One, Like All?.

Here is a sampling of emails.

Reader John, Owner of 37 Restaurants Chimes In

Hello Mish,

I own a chain of 37 fast food restaurants. I am doing the same thing as Olive Garden  [going to part-time workers] as are many of my small (50 to 1000 employees) competitors. This ObamaCare tax will continue to cause a large shift in employment figures starting now and continuing for the next several years, decreasing the unemployment rate as each full time employee gets replaced with more than one part time employee.

John

Reader Kris writes About Whole Foods

Hello Mish,

Thanks for your wonderful data analysis on all my favorite B(L)S topics...

As an anecdotal note to Prepping for Obummer care... Whole Foods also limits their non-management hourly workers to 20 to 29 hours per week. Says so right on any of their existing location employment openings via their online application process.

Thanks and keep up the great debunking work.

Kris.

Reader Mark (a Medical Doctor) Discusses Obamacare
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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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14 Comments So Far
gjmlb Wrote: Oct 21, 2012 9:58 PM
Wish all the employers who will be hard hit by Obamacare would educate their employees
as to the problem, and hopefully the employees are at this late date already registered and
will vote not to have their jobs endangered by our sitting pres.
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Daddio7 Wrote: Oct 21, 2012 9:55 PM
Mr. Popp, how about we all order our backpacks directly from China? That way you can just close your shop and collect unemployment, what, you're self employed, no unemployment for you. Who cares about your livelihood when I can have a nice, cheap backpack.
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uvuvuv Wrote: Oct 21, 2012 6:47 PM
one problem with health costs that is never mentioned is medical supplies. for example where i worked in my actual job we received these components cushioned with this ripple cut foam rubber padding. then for my evening job in insurance i saw that same foam padding used to prevent bed sores going for $600. i had an accident and had to use crutches. when i healed up i took them back to the pt dept and they said, oh no, they're yours. at least hospitals caught on that disposable bedding was more expensive than doing laundry. medicare doesn't want to buy anything outright if it can be rented. therefore a nebulizer will be rented at $20 a month indefinitely into the future instead of buying it outright for 200.
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Ron4594 Wrote: Oct 21, 2012 10:59 AM
There will be many more part-time jobs, and no full-time jobs, under The Obamba.
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Scott853 Wrote: Oct 21, 2012 9:31 AM
If businesses figure out a way not to pay, by making more workers part time, don't be too sure this President, who has a habit of taking the law into his own hands, ignoring laws he has sworn to uphold, makes new laws without authority, spends money in unauthorized places..don't be too sure this President won't start enforcing ObamaCare anyway he wants. For instance, he could step up IRS audits on companies that make the switch to part timers. Perfectly legal.
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Scott853 Wrote: Oct 21, 2012 9:29 AM
The comment by Joe Popp was priceless, priceless I tell you. "No one here knows how to sew anymore." that's because ba**rds like you laid all our good sewers off and they all had to find jobs in other career fields. Duh.
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uvuvuv Wrote: Oct 21, 2012 6:50 PM
would you pay 300 for a hi-tech columbia backpack instead of 75. look in your driveway. a toyota, oh my goodness.
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Daddio7 Wrote: Oct 21, 2012 10:03 PM
Gee, my driveway, Chevrolet, Ford, Dodge.
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LtScrounge Wrote: Oct 21, 2012 9:15 AM
We need to get off of the 1984 Newspeak about Obamacare. First off we don't have a healthcare problem in this country, we have a health insurance problem. The primary cause of that problem is the ignorance of the people buying it, and that is compounded by the ignorance/lying of the people who insist on regulating it. Insurance rates are based on the risk that the insurance company has to take, and all of the additional coverages that the morons in DC keep mandating increases that risk and premiums have to rise to cover those risks. You want to see health care AND health insurance costs drop? Here are what needs to be done to do exactly that. It won't make everyone happy, (the leeches, hypochondriacs, continually recycling rehab residents,
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clubgitmo Wrote: Oct 21, 2012 9:11 AM
Anyone with any brains knew this was going to happen. nobamacare will bankrupt an already bankrupt country.
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Greg1084 Wrote: Oct 21, 2012 8:49 AM
If you really want to have a competitive system that runs on market principles the place to start is elimination of medical licensing by the government. The elephant in the room is a government-sponsored monopoly. Open your eyes and have a nice long look at it. Think about how it got there, and what MUST be done to get rid of it. Until you see it you won't be able to deal with it. It's just like that first step in AA. You have to admit you are an alcoholic. With licensing you have to finally realize that you exist in a manipulated monopolistic system. Take the red pill, Neo.
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Pistol Wrote: Oct 21, 2012 8:03 AM
Barrycare, minimum wage, and unions make unskilled workers more expensive as fulltimers, so of course employers will shift to part timers. Jobs requiring skilled work like engineers, computer science, and accountants are difficult to shift to part time, so to keep down expenses, employers go to overtime. Its cheaper to pay 3 employees for 160 hours in a week, than pay 4, since the cost of benefits is thereby lowered by 1/4. This is another contribution to increasing the difference of skilled and unskilled work, which increases polarization. Barryrules are tearing the country apart.
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Daddio7 Wrote: Oct 21, 2012 10:11 PM
Actually with fully socialized healthcare there would be no need for benefits and it wouldn't cost more to hire extra workers. Employment goes up, your productivity goes up, your profits go up, and the taxes paid to government go up, everybody wins.
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Cobranut Wrote: Oct 22, 2012 4:11 AM
Keep on drinking that Kool-Aid, Daddio.
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