Obama Batters Business: Businesses & Business Leaders Wary

Business appears to have concluded: the appeals for reconciliation are false or misleading. By Dr. Merrill Matthews For months President Obama has been slapping business around with harmful & abusive language lectures and legislation only to return and profess his sincere affection. And like so many battered women business frequently came back bloodied & bruised yet still hoping to make the relationship work. Call it the battered business syndrome.   President Obama walked into the White House with momentum and tones of goodwill even from industries and business leaders skeptical of his proposed policies. The Chamber of Commerce the National Federation of Independent Business the Business Roundtable Big Health Insurance Big Finance Big Pharma and Big Oil among others and business leaders across the country all hoped for a mutual and lasting relationship based on trust and respect. But then came the abusive language fat-cat bankers or Speaker Nancy Pelosis reference to health insurers as immoral and villains; then the frequent lectures where the president summoned business and industry leaders to the White House to demand they cease opposing his reform efforts (or face the consequences); and finally legislation: ObamaCare cap and trade (in the House) multiple stimulus and bailout packages financial reform and lots of new taxes. Eventually business cried out Ive had enough! and walked out. Whether Republicans will become the battered business shelter remains to be seen. They havent offered much of a plan for healing the pain other than saying they would stop the abuse but sometimes thats enough. Like the typical abuser the president is oblivious as to why the relationship has collapsed--and he blames the victim.

• Didnt he tell business how much he cares?
• Didnt he listen to business leaders concerns?
• Didnt he provide some tax breaks and rein in the worst abuses of the health insurance and financial industries?
• Arent profits up?
• Arent businesses sitting on nearly $2 trillion in cash reserves?

All to no avail. Business appears to have concluded that the appeals for reconciliation are false or misleading. Take the presidents much-touted small business tax credit for purchasing health insurance. When the Institute for Policy Innovation (where I hang my hat) got its announcement in the mail the CFO was initially hopeful. Then he looked at the narrow qualifications--full credit only available to firms with 10 employees or fewer average wages of $25000 or less and the employer pays at least 50 of the premium and dropped the card in the trash. I suspect the vast majority of small businesses will do the same. But even while Obama holds a gift in one hand he uses the other hand to slap business with more taxes and regulations. Theres the new Form 1099 tax requiring companies to file on every business-to-business transaction of $600 or more. The IRSs Taxpayer Advocate Service estimates that requirement will affect 40 million businesses. And dont forget the presidents push to end the Bush tax cuts; a new 3.8 Medicare tax on investment income; and the tax on those gold-plated health insurance plans just to name a few. Plus there are the countless regulations in our future countless because no one can figure out how many there are. For example while some count 159 new agencies boards and commissions in ObamaCare the Congressional Research Service claims its impossible to know how many because the legislative language is so vague. I count nearly 3000 mentions of the word Secretary in ObamaCare with the vast majority of those referring to Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius. Over and over again we see:

1. the Secretary shall establish;
2. the Secretary shall promulgate regulations;
3. the Secretary shall develop standards;
4. the Secretary shall periodically review;
5. the Secretary may develop & impose appropriate penalties;
6. the Secretary may adjust the rates.

And then theres the Dodd-Frank financial bill. According to The Wall Street Journal a legal firm estimates that the law will require no fewer than 243 new formal rule-makings by 11 different federal agencies. The result is that businesses and business leaders are wary. Theyre reluctant to:

1. Hire ... because they dont know how much a new employee will cost when the full Obama agenda is implemented.
2. Invest ... hence the cash reserves because they dont know how much the government will take for its share.
3. And theyre reluctant to complain because well that leads to more abuse.

So the economy is slowing and the president is complaining again. While business having just regained its independence and dignity is leery of reentering an unequal and self-destructive relationship with the Obama administration. Merrill Matthews is a resident scholar with the Institute for Policy Innovation in Dallas.