Head of SBA claims she hasn't heard from any business owners who say Obamacare will hurt them
Since the election, there have been numerous high-profile examples of small business owners detailing how Obamacare and its employer-health-care mandate will force them to cut employee hours, raise prices or cut employees.
So certainly, Karen Mills, head of the Small Business Administration, would know all about this, right?
Nope, she claims that she's "not hearing that" from business owners and doubles down when pressed by Joe Scarborough on Morning Joe.
Scarborough makes the right suggestion for Mills - get out of the bubble.
Yesterday's Nevada Journal story detailing the struggles Nevada restaurant owners will have with Obamacare is a good place to start.
Nevada restaurant owners - increasingly anxious about the future of their businesses under the Affordable Care Act - are echoing statements by national restaurant chains about the excessive costs the law will impose on them.(h/t Michelle Malkin)
"I don't know what secret [the politicians] know, where they just assume we can write them a check," said Sam Facchini, owner of Metro Pizza in Las Vegas.
"We can't pay for this. Most of us [restaurant owners] operate on a thin margin and trying to stay in compliance [with the law] will make things much tighter." ...
Todd Clore, owner of Todd's Unique Dining in Henderson, says the law encourages more employers to try to avoid its provisions than comply with them.
"We're all looking for ways to avoid it," he said. "It changes the way we operate, from hiring to payroll to pricing, and it hurts small guys the most."
Jim Rees, co-owner and partner of Hash House A Go Go, which has five locations in Nevada, says cutting employee hours below the 30-hour threshold may be the only way to avoid penalties.
"I'd hate to see great employees forced to work two or three jobs because a law makes it impractical for an employer to let them work more hours," said Rees. "The two things we hate doing are cutting employees and raising prices, but the way the law's written means we could have to deal with both of those outcomes."
