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President Obama Is Working Overtime To Obstruct The Economy

June 2, 2016 10:01AM

It seems the Obama administration becomes more economically illiterate with every passing year. President Obama only has 8 months left in his presidency, but he is working overtime to obstruct the economy in as many ways as possible before he leaves office.

Last week, the president announced the implementation of his latest plan to insert the government into the free market with his new overtime rule. The new rule requires that employers pay overtime to salaried employees who earn less than $47,476 versus the old threshold of $23,660. This new rule will hurt employees, employers, and the economy.

This rule will cause businesses to hire fewer employees, meaning less available jobs. It will also have a broader negative impact, which will result in lower baseline salaries, loss of access to benefits and vacation time due to more workers becoming hourly, and less overall job flexibility.

Salaried workers who earn less than $47,476 will now have to punch a clock and track their hours. One of the greatest benefits of a salaried position is the ability to work remotely, or take comp time in exchange for putting in a long weekend here and there. For many, that flexibility has disappeared with the stroke of a pen.

Lastly, this rule will prevent employees who would normally choose to go the extra mile in order to move up the ladder from doing so. Throughout history many ambitious employees have chosen to work long hours to separate themselves from the pack and become more successful. That opportunity has also now been taken away.

The law will also hurt employers. Those who wish to grow will have to carefully weigh the costs of hiring another employee. This will be especially painful for small business owners and start-ups. Business owners will have to devote time and money to meticulously tracking the hours of employees and devote additional management supervision time for checking time clocks and approving overtime.

According to a study done by Business Insider, wages are predicted to grow under the new rule by $1.2 billion, whereas the administrative costs of the new rule will total $18.9 billion the first year. The majority of workers will see no wage increase under this rule, they will just see less access to employment and a decrease in the quality of their employment.