Small-business owners are sweating this summer -- and it’s not necessarily because of the weather. Many worry that a form of nationalized health care could soon become law, and that this would cost jobs.
“I give my employees health insurance but I can’t afford to meet the government mandates,” one owner told the National Federation of Independent Business. “I will have to eliminate several employees to reduce my payroll expense.” (NFIB is a trade organization that helps businesses).
 “I don’t believe we’ll be able to comply. We will have to eliminate pay increases and Christmas bonuses. Full-timers will be eliminated and all staff will be part-timers, and that will likely be insufficient,” another added.
“In general, H.R.3200 will hurt my business due [sic] to increasing my costs. Ultimately that may mean letting people go. How is that helping the economy or small business?” wondered a third owner. No wonder NFIB has come out in opposition to the “reforms” proposed in the House of Representatives.
Many politicians insist they can add a government-run “public option” health insurance plan on top of the trillions of dollars in obligations our federal government is already facing. But small-business owners know better.
The government plans have a big problem: The extra taxation and spending would destroy many small businesses, the very foundation of the American economy.
Half of all private workers in the U.S. are employed in firms with fewer than 500 workers. These small firms have also created somewhere between 60 and 80 percent of all new jobs in the last decade.
But some politicians are willing to endanger that growth. Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y., chairs the crucial Ways and Means Committee. To pay for health care “reform,” he wants to slap a surtax on roughly 2 million tax filers.
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