Yesterday, President Obama insisted that a coalition of Senate Republican legislators is playing partisan politics yet again. He told Americans that he knows exactly what small businesses need in order to start productively hiring, and that’s the Small Jobs Act, which is currently before the Senate.
The business community does not need President Obama to lecture to them about partisan politics, and they certainly do not need him to do the same about legislation that replaces the private sector with agencies of the federal government to “promote” entrepreneurship, exporting, and so on.
Businesses have witnessed an onslaught of federal legislation with the economy only sputtering along and a net negative balance for overall employment. The President fails to note that the health care reform legislation passed earlier this year includes crippling mandates and fees on small- and medium-size businesses. (Those testy Republicans would like to see at least one of these provisions, the new requirement that all businesses file a 1099 for every business transaction exceeding $600, repealed in any “jobs bill.”)
No one questions that business owners want to begin productively hiring. This is highly unlikely to happen, however, when burdensome components of Obamacare, expiration of the Bush tax cuts, permanent extension of the estate tax, and possible new energy taxes all still loom.
