Small-business owners, the engines that create jobs in America, have no confidence in President Obama, nor do they trust him. They will be reluctant to take risks in the negative environment he has created. The problem of Mr. Obama’s lack of business experience is exacerbated by an administration with the fewest number of business-savvy people in the history of the country. It shows. Our president’s actions (and inaction) illustrate his lack of understanding of small-business needs.
In 2008, Mr. Obama, a U.S. senator from Illinois, ran for president on an anti-business, pro-union platform. One of his early acts in the White House was an executive order limiting large stimulus projects’ access to union shops. By locking out many qualified businesses and reducing competition, projects became more expensive, thereby creating fewer jobs. Mr. Obama further burdened small-business regulation by requiring businesses to track and report to the Internal Revenue Service all expenditures greater than $500 to other businesses. Because of the small-business outcry, this was rescinded.
To make matters worse, instead of working to strengthen the suffering economy, Mr. Obama dissembled about open discussion and leveraged his control over both houses of Congress to ram Obamacare down our throats without giving the public a chance to weigh in on it. This created one of the biggest problems for small businesses, as understanding and implementing Obamacare is a daunting task that takes resources away from business. It also increases regulation and risk to the cost of hiring and maintaining employees. One now can appreciate small-business owners’ reluctance to hire.
Everyone I talk to thinks that if Mr. Obama ever increases the taxes for those (mostly small-business owners) earning more than $250,000 annually, then tax increases for middle-income America would soon follow. Given Mr. Obama’s past, I shudder to think of the havoc he would wreak if re-elected. Only when Mr. Obama is gone will small businesses take risks, hire again and have confidence that they can thrive.
JERRY LOFFREDO
Chandler, Ariz.
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By Rand Paul
Obama acts as though we no longer have a Constitution
