There has been a great deal of emphasis on health care this year, while tens of millions of Americans are trying to survive on unemployment. Many of those who have been out of work for more then a year, have either given up or their unemployment benefits have expired. They have also fallen out of the official unemployed. Those who were self employed and had their business fail are also not counted as unemployed. They are also not eligible for any benefits.
So why has the administration focused most of their efforts on a program that 80 percent of Americans like? Maybe it’s time for our government to help business employ more Americans! The Stimulus Plan has only created or saved 650,000 jobs. Far short of the 3.5 million promised by the President and Congress. But congress is planning to add more taxes on those who have a Cadilac health plan. You know, those who are already paying $750 per month for health insurance.
Business need tax breaks rather then additional expenses. Taxes, fees, penilties or whatever else you call it prevents businesses from hiring more workers. It would help if our federal government would simply get out of the way! The business market has recovered in the past and Capitalism will pull us out of this recession if the government will STOP HELPING!
Ken Bear Cole
A Second Look Business Consulting LLC
Well put Ken. I’m curious if the governments idea for resolving the country’s economic woes works in other areas? For example, can a home owner who is behind on their mortgage borrow more money and spend beyond their means and not default on the loan? How about the small business owner who lost business during this recession to the point where they can not afford to keep the employees? Can they borrow more money against lower invoicing to make payroll?
The argument seems to be, working on Healthcare will help the economy. Same small business guy example…If the business owner can not afford to pay their employees, does it make sense to borrow thousands to cover a FREE healthcare program?
Hmmm, that seems a little off to me. I don’t expect that we’re ever going to return to anywhere near the level of employment we had a year or two years ago. Those days are done. It’s time to think about what our future is really going to look like, and not work to return to the past. People don’t need as much stuff as they did in the past and we’re all waking up to that fact. That said, I would suggest we look at different models – more job-sharing, more jobs that are actually needed, rather than lots of make work so we keep people in offices 40 hours a week. I’d rather work 10-20 hours a week doing something useful than 40 making widgets or bullets. Less work hours = more time for higher/continuing education, growing our own food, and raising children well. I look forward to the paradigm shift though I think it is and will continue to be challenging. It will go easier when we shift perspectives rather than stick to what “worked” in the past.