Speaking of the Medicaid time bomb as we are prone to do on occasion, here's the bottom line on the news out of DC Monday. The coast is clear but only until 2020. The R's proposed legislation to dismantle Obamacare will mean Medicaid will continue to insure current patients and add new ones, but come 2020 the expansion would stop. Considering it is billions of Medicaid dollars flooding into the sate that have provided the bright spot in the mostly dreary employment stats, that is sour news indeed.

About 900,000 of the state's roughly 2 million residents are now on Medicaid which insures primarily low income households of which we have plenty. But if the DC legislation passes in its current form the party is really over for New Mexico on Jan. 1, 2020:

After that, states adding Medicaid recipients would no longer receive the additional federal funds the statute has provided. More significantly, Republicans would overhaul the federal-state Medicaid program, changing its open-ended federal financing to a limit based on enrollment and costs in each state.

While that was crossing the crowded blog desk, we received this from the bean counters over at  NM Workforce Solutions. In their latest forecast for state job growth for the years 2014 to 2024, they say healthcare will be the fastest growing sector, with employment growth at nearly 23 percent. But if Medicaid is going to be scaled down, they might want to do some recounting of the beans.

Some days one thing flows into the other. Monday was like that as we received more confirmation of the welfare state that has taken a mighty hold here since the Great Recession/Stagnation/Depression/Depopulation:

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, North Dakota had the highest employment–population ratio among the states in 2016, with 69.2 percent of the civilian working-age population employed. West Virginia had the lowest ratio at 50 percent. New Mexico at 53.7 percent recorded its lowest employment–population ratios since the series began in 1976. The employment–population ratio is the proportion of the civilian noninstitutional population 16 years of age and over who are employed. The ratio for the country as a whole was 59.7 percent.

Well, work is vastly overrated anyway. Look at the Legislature's first 50 days of its 60 day sessions. They get it.

Is conservative reader Jim McClure writing with a bit of sarcasm when he opines on jobs in our enchanted land?:

Joe, the home builders’ strategy to attract retirees that you reported on makes more sense than the pipedream of creating high-end jobs and attracting millennials to fill them. . . Attracting seniors requires no change to New Mexico’s established institutions. Retirees don’t need schools and won’t demand that educators teach children to read. They will spend money in our stores and restaurants, but don’t need jobs and won’t start businesses. Retirees will create jobs that match the capabilities of New Mexico’s workforce: restaurant servers, house cleaners, landscapers, security guards and caregivers. They don’t need commuter trains or fancy buses and will not generate rush-hour traffic. Best of all, an influx of retirees will stimulate construction of new subdivisions and communities. Gated, of course.

Jim, we need to talk to you about our idea for green chile laced prune juice. We could make a mint.
A LOT EASIER

Amazon just made it a lot easier for the Governor and the legislature to raise about $40 million in badly needed new revenue each year. That's how much the state may realize from taxing Internet sales. Amazon's announcement that it would start doing just that in New Mexico come April 1 seems to assure passage of that part of the budget package that is being negotiated in Santa Fe. That's $40 million down and about $150 million to go. . .

THE BOTTOM LINES

Reader Jeffrey Paul writes on social media about how he is preventing his house from getting robbed in crime-ridden ABQ:

I've taken out my home alarm system and de-registered from the Neighborhood Watch. I've got two Pakistani flags raised in my front yard, one at each corner, and the black flag of ISIS in the center. The local police, Sheriff, FBI, CIA, NSA, Homeland Security, Secret Service and other agencies are watching my house 24/7. I've never felt safer, and I'm saving $24.95 a month.

Hey, Jeffrey, forget that green chile prune juice idea we were going to serve up with McClure. We've got to talk flag marketing with you--and fast.

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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2017