Originally published July 18 2013
Three-fourths of small businesses to fire workers or cut hours due to Obamacare
by J. D. Heyes
(NaturalNews) The administration is doing everything it can, spending tens of millions of taxpayer dollars and hiring legions of new federal workers, aimed at convincing you that Obamacare won't be the "train wreck" one of its chief authors in the Senate, the retiring Montana senior statesman Max Baucus, has claimed it will be.
Besides skyrocketing costs, Obamacare will lead to physicians retiring early so they don't have to deal with its plethora of punitive mandates, force existing doctors to limit services, punish Americans who choose to opt out - and, most importantly in Obama's lousy economy - force employers to let workers go or substantially cut their hours.
But hey, that's not us talking here, though we've been accused of fomenting "right-wing propaganda." That is the talk of business owners themselves.
No relief in sight
In fact, according to a just-published survey, a staggering 74 percent of small businesses - nearly three-quarters - say they will have to cut hours and jobs in order to stay afloat, thanks to the employer mandate in Obamacare, which requires businesses with 50 or more full-timers to buy them expensive health insurance. This is in spite of the fact that President Obama, in a purely political move - and one that may even be illegal - has decided to delay implementation of the employer mandate until after 2015 (after the 2014 elections).
Per The Washington Examiner:
Despite the administration's controversial decision to delay forcing companies to join Obamacare for a year, three-quarters of small businesses are still making plans to duck the costly law by firing workers, reducing hours of full-time staff, or shift many to part-time, according to a sobering survey released by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Noted the survey: "Small businesses expect the requirement to negatively impact their employees. Twenty-seven percent say they will cut hours to reduce full time employees, 24 percent will reduce hiring, and 23 percent plan to replace full time employees with part-time workers to avoid triggering the mandate."
The new normal - high unemployment
Talk about a job-killer. And yet this president, and his supporters in Congress who voted for the "Affordable Care" Act, still want you to believe that all is well - that jobs won't be affected, health care will finally be available to all and that it will cost less and be better than at any time in the past. If Obama believed that - truly believed it - why would he delay implementation of the employer mandate?
What's worse, under this abysmal, job-destroying law, working just 30 hours per week, not the traditional 40 hours, is considered "full-time." So workers who are used to putting in a 40-hour work week, and who may just be scraping by at that, are going to see their hours cut by more than 25 percent. Worse, to make up for the shortfall, millions will have to find an additional part-time job just to stay afloat financially.
This is better, Mr. President?
"Dealing with Obamacare is the biggest worry of small businesses and comes as they continue to see a sluggish economy which has already put a brake on their hiring," the Examiner noted. "Just 17 percent reported adding employees in the past two years. And only one-in-five small business owners believe that they will add employees in the next two years."
Six in 10 won't hire next year at all
Train wreck? How about an asteroid strike? That's the impact Obamacare is having on hiring. So as scores of our fellow Americans enter their eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, twelfth month or more of joblessness, think of how much longer it will take them to find a decent, well-paying job that offers 40 hours per week of steady work, maybe even with a few benefits.
Other "highlights" of the survey:
-- 77 percent of small business owners say the country is on the wrong track economically;
-- Six in 10 businesses say they have no plans - none - to hire at all next year;
-- Concerns over new regulations has risen substantially, from 35 percent in 2012 to 42 percent now.
To say Obamacare will be an unmitigated economic and health care disaster is the understatement of the millennium. Indeed, as we reported July 16, employers are already slashing jobs because of Obamacare [http://www.naturalnews.com].
It's about to get worse.
Sources:
http://washingtonexaminer.com
http://www.uschambersmallbusinessnation.com
http://www.naturalnews.com
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