What an interesting couple of days it has been for our country, as we focus on the Constitution, the power of the Supreme Court, the scope of overall federal authority in the 21st century, the difference between a tax and a penalty, how to truly curb rising health care costs and what the Affordable Care Act will do to small business owners in general, and the staffing industry more specifically. And all the while, a Muslim man with Allah scrawled crudely on his t-shirt alternately stands and kneels on the street in front of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue loudly – and freely – praying in Arabic.
So as we celebrate our nation’s birthday, it’s a fitting time to acknowledge that no matter which side of the debate we find ourselves on, it’s a wonderful thing to be able to have that debate and discourse freely, without fear of reprisal or retribution. Even if that means praying to a foreign God in a foreign language in front of one of the most iconic structures and symbols of our nation.
This has been an interesting couple of days for me as well. You see, only hours after the landmark Supreme Court decision and the posting of this Obamacare Will Force Me To Shut My Doors piece, I was in Washington, D.C.
In fact, at the exact moment I was reading all the comments stream in on my phone (26 and counting) in response to the article, I was literally walking around the Supreme Court building, Capital Hill, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial, the National WWII Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, before ending up at the White House.
Actually, my final destination was a hotel a few blocks away, where I safely arrived just in advance of an epic storm that knocked out power to a million people, and still leaves hundreds of thousands in the dark.
Mother Nature competed for headlines with Supreme Court Justice John G. Roberts, and I would say over the weekend and into the beginning part of the holiday week, the battle was pretty even.
I’ll tell you something though, the talk on the radio airwaves in Washington, and the headlines in The Washington Post weren’t very even. The Post may be slightly left leaning typically, but this wasn’t one of those times.
Here are some sample headlines from Sunday’s Commentary section.
Court’s awful ruling taxes our patients…
Roberts unleashes vast federal power…
Mighty Roberts has struck out…
Chief Justice Roberts: Genius or traitor?
And on and on.
Karen Harned, executive director of the National Federation of Independent Business Small Business Legal Center, wrote that small businesses have been hit with the double whammy of higher health care and health insurance costs, plus they have been told they have to purchase a product they don’t want and/or can’t afford.
“There is little chance for a small business to grow and thrive under Obamacare…Thanks to the Supreme Court decision, small businesses will be crushed by higher taxes and a health care law that never should have been passed in the first place.”
The NFIB has joined 26 states in filing a lawsuit against the government, arguing the entire law should be thrown out.
The final word though might not lie with the Supreme Court, but rather with the court of public opinion, in the form of next November’s elections. Oral arguments have already begun.
Enjoy the holiday. Celebrate America.
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
It’s funny, I spent a good amount of time yesterday in front of my tv watching the HBO docudrama John Adams (circa 2008). It had quite an effect, reminding me of the principles our nation was founded on and the prediction of our founding fathers, even at America’s birth, on what a disasterous effect a two party government would eventually have on our nation. I think that those men would be ashamed at how big our federal government has become and how they have wormed their way so completely in every person’s life. I wonder, do we have the same resolve today that we did in the late 1700′s to turn this nation back into something great?
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I’ve tried to digest what consequences will be reaped by the imposition of the Affordable Health Care Act. I don’t see any positives! As a small business owner it appears we will be “taxed” or “fined” out of business. I see another bureaucratic program that is doomed to fail but not without causing great financial hardship on the businesses who can survive the results of this Supreme Court decision. The very health care system our (foreign) neighbors are seeking refuge is getting forced down our throats. Our country is so far off course it resembles very little of what our Founding Fathers hoped it would become……
Sadly,
Joe Straining
Elite Personnel, Inc.
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Please don’t assume everyone who owns a staffing company or a small business agrees with you. This piece reads like right-wing propaganda.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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SBO, I’d love to hear your rebuttal on the facts of the article or any statements then? You post a terse, 2 sentence rebuke yet offer nothing to the discussion…
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Right wing propaganda?! Ouch. Does this mean I am going to have to turn in my press pass?
I have spent the majority of my career as a journalist, and have been accused far more times of being a bleeding heart liberal than a purveyor of right wing propaganda.
“Small business owner,” when was the last time you were in our nation’s capital?
For me, it had been years. And sandwiched in between the Supreme Court ruling on one end, and the 4th of July on the other, it was indeed an interesting four days.
And yes, it did have an impact on me. Specifically, it made me appreciate the freedom(s) we have in this country. Is that the part you think makes me sound right wing? I don’t think that’s a partisan view. I hope not.
As it turns out though, that second paragraph where I stated that sentiment, is the only part of the piece where I voice my opinion. The rest of the piece is factual, not subjective.
If you want to say my choice of headlines and quotes is subjective, or made to support a particular view, I would come back and say all journalism is subjective to at least some extent, if just for making those choices.
Again though, if you had been in Washington, and listened to the radio and TV reports and read the newspaper articles, you might have a different take on this.
As I am writing this, I am surrounded on my desk by nine sections of The Washington Post, and I am amazed at what I read.
The response to the Supreme Court vote, in aggregate, I would opine has been overwhelmingly negative.
If you have a different view, or would like to cite particular exceptions you have to my piece, I would encourage a more detailed response.
As for me purporting to speak on behalf of the staffing industry, or small business owners everywhere, goodness no. What would give you that idea?
I have said time and time again I have not spent one day owning, operating, and/or managing a staffing business. I don’t pretend to have any keen understanding of the business. I am in this space as a professional observer, trying to create conversation(s).
And with 33 comments – and counting – in these two pieces, that has been a success.
Lastly, given my recent trip, I simply have a newfound appreciation for the freedom to have those conversations and express my views.
If that sounds like propaganda, that is unfortunate on a lot of levels.
Hi David…with all due respect your coverage is heavy-handed against the Supreme Court and its decision which although reeking of partisanship found itself skewered ironically by the Right for allowing a mandate which the Right itself advocated for many years.
“If I go there will be trouble, an’ if I stay it will be double” – The Clash
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I would invite SBO to experience the current MA Healthcare Nightmare. We, as a profession, have been identified as some sort of transgressor by our own governor and as a source of revenue. When our healthcare law first passed, there was a simple test as to whether the business had to pay a fine for not providing healthcare. We had to show that 25% of our employees were on our plan OR we had to make a 33% (or greater) contribution to a premium for an individual (you cannot buy a plan that only offers a 33% contribution in MA).
The enforcement agency then changed the OR to AND so there was no way that any agency in MA could meet requirements. Let’s face it, we provide, in many cases, secondary income to families or re-entry/ transition into the workforce. My agency has 80% of its field employees on a qualified plan through a spouse or via some other avenue. I can never meet the minimums under these changes (Current laws prevent you from participating in more than 1 employer sponsored health plans). Even though all of these employees are covered by a health plan, they still count in figuring out how many “Full Time Equivalents” you have and then fine you on those FTEs.
It gets better… If you called the “help” line with a question on your filing, the auditors of this new program answered the phone. When you are audited, there are no standards by which the audit was conducted. I spent over 80 man-hours putting together documentation for the auditors. There is no formula available to calculate what your fine will be; arbitrary numbers are produced in the hopes you’ll “settle” for a lesser number.
The MA Healthcare law is the blueprint for Obamacare; it’s very difficult for me to get “giddy” over legislation that continues to cut into my ability to function in a free-enterprise environment. Unions, the government and many others are exempted from Obamacare yet I, small business owner, am continuously told I will fund entitlements for all. SBO, pull your head out of the sand and start thinking for yourself and look at the implications this will have on your ability to perform your job.
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Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Mark!
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As a taxpayer, small business owner and supporter of the staffing industry, I have every hope – and motivation – for Obamacare to succeed. Your well formed comments Mark paint a very clear picture of exactly why, however, there is so much concern and skepticism around it. If indeed Massachusetts is the model, and your experience is a precursor for what staffing companies in the rest of the country will eventually face, well, nightmare is a good word choice.
As for your comment Gregg, au contraire, mon frère. To say my coverage is heavy-handed presupposes I have taken a stand and/or enunciated an opinion on the Supreme Court’s decision. In my two posts, and numerous comments, I have done neither. I challenge you to cite a specific sentence or passage that shows otherwise.
The only opinion I have stated in my two posts on this subject is my newfound appreciation for the freedoms we possess – and so freely exercise – in this country.
Everything else I have stated is fact. I have 10 sections of The Washington Post next to me as I am writing this, and I just got through scouring them again for some overtly positive articles about the Supreme Court decision. I couldn’t find any.
Today on the home page of the paper’s website is a piece entitled “Are GOP strategists getting queasy about repeal?” The opening sentence of the piece by Greg Sargent is “Yes, Obamacare remains unpopular.”
Further, I don’t think I can be accused of taking things out of context or not being balanced. I can’t change the facts, I am just reporting the facts.
Take also for example the quote I lifted from a Washington newspaper from the woman at The National Federation of Independent Business. The organization says it is “the leading small business association representing small and independent businesses.” They are a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization founded in 1943, although I am sure somebody, somewhere could discover a “hidden agenda.” Regardless, I consider them a credible source for the purposes of this discussion, as did a writer and editor at the newspaper.
If this executive director of the NFIB Small Business Legal Center takes exception to the Supreme Court decision, and says small businesses will have “little chance to grow and thrive under Obamacare,” I think that is worth reporting.
I don’t see that as akin to my taking a heavy handed approach towards the high court. If this woman had said “Obamacare is the best thing to hit the country since the New Deal,” I would have used that quote.
On the subject of balance, I love that line spoken Sunday night by Sam Waterston, who is playing the old school cable network news division president on the new HBO series “The Newsroom.”
“Balance is irrelevant. It doesn’t have anything to do with truth, logic or reality.”
Obamacare will eventually be something that businesses embrace and society accepts as a cost of this nation, much as they have with the costs of our endeavors overseas. It will be under the authority of the IRS which is already understaffed and over-regulated. I foresee this shining a much needed light into the holes of that agency. Expect and plan for disaster and chaos before they find order within the agency to handle this health care initiative. Understand this is very much an IRS issue now.
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Hi Beth…having spent most of my career selling or implementing software for large government organizations (airlines) i certainly share your concern about the execution side of this not just at the IRS but also at the state level.
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