By: Dale Weckbacher
Proverbs 18:9
He who is slothful in
his work
Is a brother to him
who is a great destroyer.
NKJV
For much of my working career I have worked for small
businesses. When I began my career, the
conventional wisdom was that you wanted to work for a large corporation in order
to get benefits but through the years small businesses have become competitive
in the labor market and I have always been able to have benefits wherever I
have worked. Perhaps one of the greatest
benefits I have derived from working for small businesses is the opportunity to
gain experience doing a wide variety of things.
I have observed the hardworking people of this country often
gravitate to small businesses in order to better utilize their skills. This does not mean that there are not hard
working people in large corporations but someone that does not have a solid
work ethic does not survive for long working for a small business. In addition, the owners of small businesses
do not have the luxury of sitting in a corner office while the company runs and
generally have to be actively involved in the day-to-day operations of their
company. Unfortunately, the hardworking
people that either work for or own small businesses in this country are under
attack.
Labor unions originally formed with the purpose of allowing
employees of companies to group together giving them power to negotiate pay,
benefits, and working conditions. In
large part due to the work of labor unions we now have laws in place governing
safe working conditions, fair wages, reasonable hours, and even benefits. (1) Unfortunately, as often happens, through the
years labor unions have lost sight of their original intent and now primarily
work as political action committees that collect dues from their members to
support political candidates. Often, the
candidates supported by the labor union are not the candidates the individual
members of the union support. (2)
With these facts in mind, it is not surprising that union
membership among the working people of our nation has fallen to a 97-year low
of 11.3%. (3) Most of the hardworking people in our country
go to work every day because their either own a business or were hired by a
business owner to do a job. Their focus
is on using their skills to do the best job they are capable of doing. Unfortunately, the onerous regulations of an
ever-growing oppressive government, in large part funded by political
contributions from large crony corporatists and union bosses are working
against their efforts.
Add to that the threat of an influx of cheap labor into our
country by the granting of amnesty to those illegally in our country and we
have a recipe for disaster for the hard working citizens of our nation. (4)
Unfortunately, the hardworking citizens
of our country do not have many friends in either political party. This is because both Democrat and Republican
politicians view illegals as potential voters and favor granting them amnesty,
believing that doing so will result in these people voting for them in the next
election. (5)
Granted small business owners could benefit from this influx
of cheap labor. This is why the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce favors comprehensive immigration reform, believing it will
be a boom to business, especially small business. (6) However, this appearance of cheap labor is
actually a Trojan Horse because if the government grants these people some form
of legal status, these small business owners will be required to pay them at
least the minimum wage. To make matters
worse, the same politicians that tout the benefits to small business owners of
granting amnesty to illegals are also debating increasing the minimum
wage. So much for the promise of cheap
labor. (7)
Then, the government adds salt to the wound with the
implementation in 2015 of the employer mandate of Obamacare. This mandate was to take effect this year but
through executive order, the president delayed it. This year we witnessed millions losing their
health insurance coverage. Most of those
losing their coverage this year were those having private coverage. Next year we could witness millions losing
their employer provided health insurance as companies are required to provide
health insurance coverage for their employees or pay a fine. (8)
Of course, there is a way out of the mandate for
employers. All they have to do is reduce
their employees’ hours to less than 30 yours.
(9) However, this will mean a 25% decrease in pay
for employees currently working 40 hours a week. This constitutes yet another attack on the
hardworking citizens of our nation.
We constantly hear politicians speak of a war on women in
our nation. However, as we can see from
this evidence, the real war in our nation is a war on the hardworking people
and small business owners of our nation.
Our President told us this week that the key to economic growth is the
extension of unemployment benefits. He
even went as far as to say that extending unemployment benefits creates
jobs. (10) Mr. President, the current labor
participation rate tells us that 91.8 million people have dropped out of the
workforce. (11) I work with numbers in my profession and
these numbers reveal that the universe of jobs is decreasing, not
increasing.
The definition of insanity is continuing to do the same
thing expecting different results. We
have continued to extend unemployment benefits and the universe of jobs
continues to decrease. What our nation
needs are policies that offer incentives to hardworking Americans and small
business in this country instead of punishing them. In Wednesday’s posting, I will begin
proposing some of the things the government can do to begin incentivizing small
business and hardworking people in this country.
1. The History Channel. Labor Movement. www.history.com.
[Online] The History Channel. [Cited: January 10, 2014.]
http://www.history.com/topics/labor.
2. Unionfacts.com.
Use of Dues for Politics. 222.unionfacts.com. [Online] [Cited: January
10, 2014.] http://www.unionfacts.com/article/political-money/.
3. Greenhouse,
Steven. Share of the Work Force in a Union Falls to a 97-Year Low, 11.3%. www.nytimes.com.
[Online] The New York Times, January 23, 2013. [Cited: January 10, 2014.]
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/24/business/union-membership-drops-despite-job-growth.html?_r=1&.
4. Boyle, Matthew.
16 HOUSE REPUBLICANS TO OBAMA: AMNESTY 'FINAL ECONOMIC BLOW' FOR AMERICAN
WORKERS. www.breitbart.com. [Online] Breitbart News, January 8, 2014.
[Cited: January 10, 2014.]
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/01/08/16-House-Republicans-to-Obama-Amnesty-would-represent-the-final-economic-blow-for-American-workers.
5. Hall, Jon N.
The Real Threat from Comprehensive Immigration Reform. www.americanthinker.com.
[Online] the American Thinker, June 20, 2013. [Cited: January 10, 2014.]
http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/06/the_real_threat_from_comprehensive_immigration_reform.html.
6. Lee, Tony.
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE PRESIDENT WANTS TEA PARTY TO 'FEEL SOME HEAT'. www.breitbart.com.
[Online] Breitbart News, January 8, 2014. [Cited: January 10, 2014.]
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/01/08/Chamber-of-Commerce-Pres-Wants-Tea-Party-to-Feel-Some-Heat.
7. Unz, Ron. No
Immigration Amnesty Without a Minimum Wage Hike. www.theamericanconservative.com.
[Online] the American Conservative, May 24, 2013. [Cited: January 10,
2014.]
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/no-immigration-amnesty-without-a-minimum-wage-hike/.
8. Fox News.
Second wave of health plan cancellations looms. www.foxnews.com. [Online]
Fox News, November 20, 2013. [Cited: January 10, 2014.]
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/11/20/second-wave-health-plan-cancellations-looms/.
9. Commerce, U.S.
Chamber of. Employer Mandate. www.uschamber.com. [Online] [Cited:
January 10, 2014.] www.uschamber.com/health-reform/employer-mandate.
10. Benson, Guy.
Obama: Extending Unemployment Benefits Creates Jobs, You Know. www.townhall.com.
[Online] Townhall.com, January 8, 2014. [Cited: January 10, 2014.]
http://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2014/01/08/obama-extending-unemployment-benefits-creates-jobs-n1773077.
11. Durben, Tyler.
People Not In Labor Force Soar To Record 91.8 Million; Participation Rate
Plunges To 1978 Levels. www.zerohedge.com. [Online] Zerohedge, January
10, 2014. [Cited: January 10, 2014.]
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-01-10/people-not-labor-force-soar-record-918-million-participation-rate-plunges-1978-level.
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