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3/12/2009
You don't know whether to scream or cry
I recently sat in on a Heart of the Valley Chamber’s “Meet Your Legislator meeting. Staff from Rep.’s Petri and Kagen’s offices attended, as well as staff from Senator Kohl’s and Feingold’s offices. Discussion centered around the Stimulus Bill (well, the aides most often called it by its real name – you know – the $850B+ "Recovery and Reinvestment Act"). The buzz words of the day were “small business” – such as, “the bill makes small business part of the solution” – you get my drift.
Most of the presentations consisted of the aides reading aloud Talking Points for Small Business that came out of their various D.C. offices. Accounting detail after accounting detail. Not like a night at the movies, I assure you.
One of the small business owners (a health insurance broker) in the audience asked the aides a very specific question about the COBRA assistance measure in the bill. Something like this:
Certain employees who have been laid off can, if they so opt, continue paying health care premiums through the business’s group health plan. Under the “stimulus bill,” those employees can have 65% of their COBRA premium paid by the federal government. At $300, $400 and $500 a month, that 65% subsidy can mean a great deal.
The problem is the employer must pay the subsidy and wait to get “paid” by the federal government until he files his payroll taxes, when he takes a tax credit… And that’s only if the employer has enough employees left to have enough payroll taxes owed to get credit for all the premium(s) he paid.
So you see, it’s a cash flow problem for the employer – and believe me, I see small businesses that are struggling with this. Well, that was a bit complex and difficult to follow, so there were a few questions back and forth. One of the aides, experienced, helpful and certainly well-intentioned, but in this case very perplexed, figuratively threw up her hands and said:
“But the stimulus package is supposed to help small business.”
As one of the attendees said, “I don’t know whether to scream or cry.”
Jo Egelhoff, FoxPolitics.net
COMMENTS
Jo,
It's pouring water from the deep end of the swimming pool into the shallow end to make the shallow end deeper. Throwing up your hands? You've got to keep them in motion to help you tread water!
Steve Erbach, Neenah
NeenahPolitics.com
Steve Erbach (Wed Mar 11 17:05:28 2009)
Jo - what you've just experienced is government bureaucracy at its best.
Standby for heavy rolls in the swimming pool in the next 2-4 years. By that time the public will be so sick and tired of carrying water (from the deep end to the shallow end) they'll mostly be using their "I voted for the other guy" bumper stickers!
I predict that in 4 years we'll have a new hope and new change.
Duke (Thu Mar 12 07:34:34 2009)
Exactly why this 'small business owner' (independent contractor) will NEVER hire an employee. If I can't do it, I don't need the income.
The Feds with their regulations ... and now the 'forced unionization' of America will suck the life out of any business.
Nope, don't need that. If the government wants to encourage a business person to hire employees, they have a lot of house cleaning to do because as it is right now there is NO incentive for a person to hire another person as an employee.
Jeff (Thu Mar 12 08:25:01 2009)
All of this taking the money from one pocket and putting it in the another and then back again is rubbish.
Single payer on health care is the only answer: Everybody is in and Nobody is out. With the current administration and our local representative back peddling on this, it'll be necessary
to take the issue directly to them.
That's HR 676. I'm in the Medicare system. The Medicare system works.
I've signed up for the delegation to meet with our man in the 8th District at this organization:
www.singlepayeraction.org
Hard to say if that will get enough traction. But apparently a million have signed up to do so.
Lon Ponschock (Thu Mar 12 09:21:15 2009)
"“But the stimulus package is supposed to help small business.” "
Dear Government.
Stop .. helping. Please.
Thank you!
Brian Dunbar
(Thu Mar 12 12:31:52 2009)
I say cry. You are describing the politics of Wisconsin in simple, but clear detail. Words are created for the masses that have no meaning, but they are assembled in such a nice form, it doesnt hit you until you're somewhere else.
Belleville (Thu Mar 12 13:51:33 2009)
"The Medicare system works". So do ALL Ponzi schemes...at first.
emily matthews (Fri Mar 13 09:25:06 2009)
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