Enjoy the Decline

I thought about Aaron Clarey’s book Enjoy the Decline as I read this comment at PJ Tatler by VoiceOfReason in response to the SF Chronicle telling people to lower their 2014 income in order to qualify for an ObamaCare subsidy:

VoiceOfReason
Let’s say your a married couple with 2 kids. Hubby and Wife work, own their home with a mortgage and each have a car with a car payment. Okay? So here’s the plan:

File for an amicable divorce, hubby gets the house, wife gets the kids. Wife quits her job and signs up for all the government benefits available to a single mother. She rents the house from Hubby, and Section 8 pays the rent, which covers the mortgage and at least one car payment. Food stamps and other cash assistance programs cover all the groceries. Other programs supply free electricity, cable, gas, water, etc. Obamacare supplies free healthcare for wife and kids.

Hubby continues to work (and live with family) and his Obamacare premiums are about the same for a single person as what he used to pay for family coverage. The rest of his salary is devoted to what is left of the second car payment and disposable income. Overall, the family budget has improved dramatically and lavish vacations become the norm.

Not only is the ObamaCare subsidy a disincentive for people to work, but it also makes more sense for those who make less money to stay single or as in the scenario in the comment above, divorce and collect benefits for the whole family. The only good thing here seems to be that dad is included in this particular benefits scam. But it could turn on a dime as pointed out by this commenter:

Meanwhile wife figures, hey, I’m not married. So what’s to keep me from having sex with a bunch of other men? It’s not like I’m cheating or anything. While that’s happening, the government comes after husband demanding that he compensate the government for all the benefits that are being paid out, threatening him with jail if he doesn’t pay up.

Read more from Tom Blumer: Obamacare’s Useful Idiots