Postulated: If you wish to see more of something, you subsidize it; if you wish to see less of something, you tax it.  I assume that we are all on board with this, yes? – After all, this has been a major point used to justify sin taxes for, well, my entire life. In other words… “tax it out of existence” is a sentiment that is not exactly unique to this post.

Which leads to this observation from Andy Puzder, head of the company  that operates Hardees and Carl’s, Jr:

About 40% of [CKE Restaurants CEO Andy] Puzder’s employees are part-time and therefore exempt from ObamaCare’s coverage mandates. “That percentage of employees will probably go up. Everybody is hiring more part-time employees,” he says, though he is quick to add that “we’re not firing anyone to hire” part-time workers. “Through attrition, three full-time employees go away and you hire four part-time employees who basically have the same hours.”

Mr. Puzder also expects fast-food restaurants to deal with ObamaCare by replacing workers with kiosks. “You’re going to go into a fast-food restaurant and order on an iPad or tablet instead of talking to a person because we don’t have to pay benefits for any of those things.”

If you tax something, you get less of it. And the universe is fundamentally disinterested in how unfair that is.  The g0vernment has decided to impose a significant new tax on employing new workers. If the tax was lower, less employers would look for alternatives to paying that tax; if the tax was, God help us, higher then more employers will start looking for alternatives.  And the average employer is usually far more worried in making payroll than s/he is about getting the approval of, say, a hardcore online progressive who’s secretly bitter that the entire thing isn’t actually single-payer anyway.  And as well they should: recent scandals aside, the IRS doesn’t consider Democratic/liberal plaudits to be actual legal tender.

All of this is what we in the punditry business call objective reality.  It’s a fascinating place to live, objective reality: I often wish that what passes for philosophers among the Democratic base would visit it more often.

(Via Hot Air)

Moe Lane (crossspost)