Neal Asbury opened his nationally syndicated “Neal Asbury’s Made in America” show on Radio America by warning that with Obama’s re-election, Obamacare is here to stay, and with it will come new taxes that will hit businesses hard. Already many employers are either laying off employees or converting full-time jobs to part-time jobs so employers aren’t hit by Obamacare costs and penalties, and don’t have to meet Obamacare’s tax bite.
Joining the show as a first time guest was Republican Congressman Michael C. Burgess MD, who spent nearly three decades practicing medicine in North Texas, and now represents Texas’ 26th district.
“I opposed Obamacare from Day One and am still fighting to overturn it. We knew long ago that Obamacare costs would hit the hospitality industry really hard and we are seeing that occur for employees making less than $15.00 an hour. They are either being let go or having to work part time,” said Dr. Burgess.
Dr. Burgess proposed that Obamacare simply doesn’t work, and small businesses feel the brunt of it. He suggested that Obamacare is “dialing back the country.”
“Even Denny’s is having to add 5 percent on all of its bills to pay for Obamacare, which means that it will affect worker’s tips. They should start serving the ‘Obamacare Slam,’” joked Burgess.
But as a physician, Burgess said that there is nothing funny about the number of physicians that can no longer afford to treat Medicaid patients because the reimbursements are now so low.
He hopes that Texas will be able to avoid the employer mandate that demands that they pay rising healthcare costs, which could be a boon to hiring in Texas.
Next up was first time guest Ronn Torossian, who founded 5WPR and is its current CEO. He has grown the firm to be one of the top 25 PR Agencies in the U.S.
“Hurricane Sandy made a mess of New York, shutting down electricity and causing some companies to close for five days. But here are the Occupy Wall Street people oblivious to everything and complaining about Lloyd Blankfein, the chairman of Goldman Sachs. People don’t know Blankfein who had nothing when he started and worked his way up to become a leading international banker. But today, we have a culture that teaches us that success is a bad thing. That’s ridiculous,” said Torossian.
He added that his company’s tax rate is above 50 percent, which creates an environment that punishes entrepreneurs like himself.
Dr. Elaina George, Board Certified Otolaryngologist, joins Neal to comment on the rise of the nanny state.Dr. Elaina George, Board Certified Otolaryngologist, joins Neal to comment on the rise of the nanny state.Dr. Elaina George, Board Certified Otolaryngologist,Dr. Elaina George, Board Certified Otolaryngologist, Made in America’s next guest—and new to the show–was Adam Tragone, managing editor of Human Events, which has been the nation’s leading conservative voice since it was established in 1944.
“We’re seeing some very scary rhetoric from the GOP that makes it look like they are caving into the Democrats. They’re proposing the same programs they did years ago, and we’re not seeing anything new. They’re the same arguments that didn’t work then, and there‘s still no room for compromise. Even if the two parties could compromise on simplifying the tax code, the Democrats still won’t go for that,” suggested Tragone.
In a conversation with former speaker Newt Gingrich, Tragone said that Gingrich is of the opinion that Democrats want to return to the Clinton tax policies, but that isn’t going to happen. Gingrich also noted that he doesn’t think that Obama needs to compromise on anything since he thinks he has a mandate, and that the liberal press will continue to paint the GOP as the party of the rich while the Democrats are seen appealing to the middle class.
Neal’s final guest was first time guest Christy Vogel founder and president of MarketingDirection.com a full-service marketing firm based in Tampa, Florida, that
provides clients with part-time marketing executives.
“We’re finding that many businesses went under because they didn’t have the expertise, couldn’t afford marketing support, or didn’t have the time to devote to marketing. So we saw a niche to provide experienced marketing executives who can either work remotely or work on site to help develop a successful marketing program for our clients,” said Vogel.
She noted that when she started her company she thought it might be daunting to recruit former full time marketing executives, but instead, found that they relished the flexibility of working part time.
Once again, Neal and co-host Dr. Roffman continued the weekly “Cronyism Report,” an ongoing look at how federal funding payouts are wasting taxpayer dollars.
Neal was more than suspicious that the Petraeus announcement didn’t occur until after the election. He also wondered why the left doesn’t see any connection between the tax burden of Obamacare and the layoffs that are occurring across the country.
“They are only interested in the politics. But where is the compassion for all the people that are losing their jobs?” asked Neal.
Rich also was skeptical of the timing of some post-election occurrences. For example, that while Obama was bragging about steady job growth before the election, suddenly after the election, there are 450,000 more people seeking unemployment benefits. Part of that can be attributed to Hurricane Sandy, but the many layoffs in Ohio and Pennsylvania (the highest numbers in the country) have nothing to do with Sandy.
Although the weekly cronyism report was abbreviated, Dr. Roffman reported that Hill International, which received a $1.5 billion federal grant to build homes in Iraq, coincidently has Joe Biden’s younger brother as having an interest in the company. Very convenient!
Each week Neal Asbury’s Made in America provides Neal’s insights into the week’s top news stories and their impact on the worlds of entrepreneurship, small business ownership and the overall economy. Neal’s analysis, together with co-host Dr. Richard Roffman, a veteran 30-year publisher with extensive domestic and international experience, takes a non-biased approach based on real life experience in business as an American manufacturer and exporter. Made in America airs nationally each Saturday from 7-8:00 PM on Radio America. Link to Made in America at http://www.nealasbrysmadeinamerica.com.
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