Sunday, July 22, 2012

Obamacare Bad for Businesses

In the past 24 hours, two new polls have once again demonstrated that Obamacare is causing uncertainty for businesses, thereby hindering economic growth.  In a Gallup survey, 57% of Americans thought Obamacare would make things worse for businesses — a margin just short of the 60% of Americans who thought the law would make things worse for taxpayers as a whole.

A separate survey of small businesses conducted by the US Chamber of Commerce echoes the Gallup findings.  That survey found that 72% of small business owners concluded that Obamacare makes it harder for their firms to take on new workers, compared to only 3% who said that the clarity of the Supreme Court’s decision on the law would lead to new hiring.  Many owners also commented that the law would encourage their firm to reduce the size of their labor force, and/or cancel health insurance entirely and dump their workers on to Obamacare Exchanges.

President Obama has attracted controversy in recent days on the basis of remarks he made Friday implying that government is the source for businesses’ success.  Yesterday’s Obamacare surveys reveal, however, that under Obamanomics, those businesses who still can succeed aren’t succeeding because of government intrusion — but despite it.