The victory by
Barack Obama on election night has resulted in a huge wave of firings and
layoffs all over America. A large number of businesses seem to have suddenly
shifted into panic mode. The number of layoff announcements that we have seen in
the last 48 hours has been absolutely shocking. So why is this happening? Well,
the truth is that the federal government is absolutely suffocating small
businesses all over America with rules, regulations and taxes. If you have never
tried to run a small business, then you have no idea how oppressive this system
actually is for people that are trying to run small businesses successfully. It
has steadily gotten worse over the years no matter who has been in the White
House and no matter who has controlled Congress.
So we shouldn't
put 100% of the blame on Obama. Bush massively expanded government and made
things harder on small business people too. But what many small business people
were looking for on this election day was just a little bit of help. Many were
desperately holding out hope that Obamacare would be repealed so that they would
not have to get rid of some of their employees. Many were hoping to get a little
bit of relief from the crippling regulations and taxes that are absolutely
crushing them. But now that Barack Obama has been given another four years, they
understand that there is no hope on the horizon and that things are only going
to get worse. So they are making the hard decisions that they feel are necessary
in order to survive in this economic environment.
And I certainly
don't blame them. You only want to have employees if you can make a profit on
them. And in this environment it is getting harder than ever to make a profit on
an employee. You see, the truth is that what you cost your employer goes far
beyond your salary or your hourly wage. I think many of you would be absolutely
shocked if you learned how much it actually costs your employer to employ you.
And now thanks to Obamacare, that cost is going to go up even more.
Many businesses
are not even feasible at all in this economic environment. Many small businesses
had been holding out hope that somehow this election might turn things around
and make it possible for them to keep going, but when Obama won it was kind of
like the straw that broke the camel's back.
You can't do
what the federal government and the state governments are doing to us and expect
to have a thriving economy. They are choking the life out of us.
New businesses
and small businesses are supposed to be at the heart of our economic system.
Unfortunately, the environment that has been created is absolutely killing them.
This is a recipe for disaster.
In a previous
article, I noted that the number of jobs created at new businesses in 2010 in
the United States was less than half of what it was back in the year 2000.
Now we can
expect that number to get even worse and we can expect large numbers of small
businesses to shrink in size or close their doors completely.
The following is
a list of some of the post-election firings and layoffs that we have seen since
Tuesday night...
1] Utah
A Utah coal
company owned by a vocal critic of President Barack Obama has laid off 102
miners.
The layoffs
at the West Ridge Mine are effective immediately, according to Utah American
Energy Inc., a subsidiary of Murray Energy Corp. They were announced in a short
statement made public Thursday, two days after Obama won re-election.
The layoffs
are necessary because of the president's "war on coal," the statement said. The
slogan is one used frequently during the election by Murray Energy CEO Robert
Murray, who was an ardent supporter of Republican presidential candidate Mitt
Romney.
In its
statement, Utah American Energy blames the Obama administration for instituting
policies that will close down "204 American coal-fired power plants by 2014" and
for drastically reducing the market for coal.
2] Ohio
I work for
the oldest and largest health insurer in the state of Ohio in the underwriting
department. At 9 a.m. this morning, my department (about 50) were called into a
meeting in the executive boardroom. We were informed that due to a provision in
the healthcare 'reform' effective 2014 called guarantee issue, our services
would no longer be needed, and we were offered severance. So Obama got to keep
his job, and we lost ours. It is maddening that some tyrant 400 miles away can
have such a ruinous effect on people’s
lives.
3] Nevada
A Las Vegas
business owner with 114 employees fired 22 workers today, apparently as a direct
result of President Obama’s
re-election.
"David" (he asked to remain anonymous for
obvious reasons) told Host Kevin Wall on 100.5 KXNT that "elections have
consequences" and that "at the end of the day, I need to
survive."
Here's an
excerpt from the interview:
"I've done my share of educating my employees. I never tell them which way to vote. I believe in the free system we have, I believe in the right to choose who they want to be president, but I did explain as a business owner that I have always put my employees first. I always made sure that when I went without a paycheck that [I] made sure they were paid. And I explained that I always put them first and unfortunately I’m at a point where I’m being forced to have to worry about me and my family now and a business that I built from just me to 114 employees."
4] Posted below is a list of layoff headlines from
the past few days that was posted on AmericanThinker.com...
Obama was
"fired up" and so were the voters, and so now, the mass firings begin.
Here's a
collection of today's headlines. Please say a prayer for the families who will
be suffering. Had Romney won, many of these companies would now be
hiring.
Teco Coal
officials announce layoffs
Momentive Inc
plans temporary layoffs for 150
Wilkes-Barre
officials to announce mandatory layoffs
600 layoffs at Groupon
More layoffs
announced at Aniston Weapons Incinerator
Murray Energy
confirms 150 layoffs at 3 subsidiaries
130 laid off in Minnesota dairy plant
closure
Stanford
brake plant to lay off 75
Turbocare,
Oce to lay off more than 220 workers
ATI plans to
lay off 172 workers in North Richland Hills
SpaceX claims
its first victims as Rocketdyne lays off 100
Providence
Journal lays off 23 full-time employees
CVPH lays off
17
New Energy
lays off 40 employees
102 Utah miners laid off because of 'war on
coal', company says
US Cellular
drops Chicago, cuts 640 jobs
Career
Education to cut 900 jobs, close 23 campuses
Vestas to cut
3,000 more jobs
First Energy
to cut 400 jobs by 2016
Mine owner
blames Obama for layoffs (54 fired last night)
Canceled
program costs 115 jobs at Ohio air base
AMD trims
Austin workforce - 400 jobs slashed
100 workers lose jobs as Caterpillar closes
plant in Minnesota
Exide to lay
off 150 workers
TE
Connectivity to close Guilford plant, lay off 620
More Layoffs
for Major Wind Company (3,000 jobs cut)
Cigna to lay
off 1,300 workers worldwide
Ameridose to
lay off hundreds of workers
5] According to the Blaze, the following
major corporations have all announced layoffs in just the past two days...
Energizer
Exide
Technologies
Westinghouse
Research in
Motion Limited
Lightyear
Network Solutions
Providence
Journal
Hawker
Beechcraft
Boeing (30% of
their management staff)
CVPH Medical
Center
US Cellular
Momentive
Performance Materials
Rocketdyne
Brake Parts
Vestas Wind
Systems
Husqvarna
Center for
Hospice New York
Bristol-Meyers
OCE North
America
Darden
Restaurants
West Ridge
Mine
United Blood
Services Gulf
You can get the
rest of the details right here.
6] The following is a list of companies
that will be laying off workers just because of Obamacare that was compiled by
FreedomWorks...
Dana Holding
Corp.
As recently
as a week ago, a global auto parts manufacturing company in Ohio known as Dana
Holding Corp., warned their employees of potential layoffs, citing "$24 million
over the next six years in additional U.S. health care expenses." After laying
off several white collar staffers, company insiders have hinted at more to come.
The company will have to cover the additional $24 million cost somehow, which
will likely equate to numerous cuts in their current workforce of 25,500
worldwide.
Stryker
One of the
biggest medical device manufacturers in the world, Stryker will close their
facility in Orchard Park, New York, eliminating 96 jobs in December. Worse, they
plan on countering the medical device tax in Obamacare by slashing 5% of their
global workforce - an estimated 1,170 positions.
Boston
Scientific
In October of
2009, Boston Scientific CEO Ray Elliott, warned that proposed taxes in the
health care reform bill could "lead to significant job losses" for his company.
Nearly two years later, Elliott announced that the company would be cutting
anywhere between 1,200 and 1,400 jobs, while simultaneously shifting investments
and workers overseas - to China.
Medtronic
In March of
2010, medical device maker Medtronic warned that Obamacare taxes could result in
a reduction of precisely 1,000 jobs. That plan became reality when the company
cut 500 positions over the summer, with another 500 set for the end of
2013.
Others
A short list
of other companies facing future layoffs at the hands of Obamacare:
Smith &
Nephew - 770 layoffs
Abbott Labs -
700 layoffs
Covidien -
595 layoffs
Kinetic
Concepts - 427 layoffs
St. Jude
Medical - 300 layoffs
Hill Rom -
200 layoffs
A lot of other
businesses are going to reduce the number of employees they have or reduce the
average work week in order to avoid the Obamacare insurance coverage mandate
that will soon be implemented.
This is how
CNSNews.com describes the choice that many employers will be facing...
That section,
known as the employer mandate, requires any business with 50 or more full-time
employees to provide at least the minimum level of government-defined health
coverage to those employees. In other words, a business must provide insurance
if it has 50 or more employees working an average of just 30 hours per week,
which is 10 hours per week fewer than the traditional 40-hour work week.
Thus, by
cutting employees' hours to ensure they average less than the 30 per week,
employers could potentially avoid the cost of providing the minimum insurance
levels mandated by Obamacare.
So if your
company trims the number of workers to just under 50 or starts going to "29 hour
work weeks", then you will know who to blame.
All of this is
complete and utter insanity. We are committing national economic suicide.
But perhaps we
deserve this. After all, Americans willingly chose their leaders on election
day. It is getting harder and harder to deny that our politicians are truly a
reflection of who we are as a nation.
The American
people chose this path, and now we get to see where it leads us.
SM/SM