| by David Van Risseghem- Sept 12, 2016: During a recent conference in Chicago, I had the opportunity to join a dinner gathering with Steven Moore. Mr. Moore is a Senior Contributor to Freedomworks. He is also an economic contributor to Fox News, as well as an economic adviser to the Trump campaign. Moore decried the sabotage sustained by the US economy via the Obama regulatory strangle hold. Moore referred to the 49ers and 29ers. 49ers The Affordable Care Act(ObamaCare) contains some devastating mandates upon commerce, to pay much of the cost of healthcare in the nation. Any corporation or individual who provides full time employment to 50 or more individuals must provide for their healthcare major insurance coverage. Not merely their actual medical costs; but actually buying an insurance policy from an approved list of favored underwriters. |  Economic Adviser, Steven Moore |
I also recently spoke to a very well known & successful Oklahoma businessman who has owned several auto dealerships and other business ventures. He agreed with Moore, that the federal rules are so oppressive that he and other countless corporations deliberately shrank their operations so as to stay permanently below the 50-employee threshold. The 50th full time employee ends up costing the employer so much money that there are no known business models where a staff of 50-80 employees is even able to compete in the market. A startup would have to leap from the 49th employee, to a staff of nearly double that, in order to find a scale where the numbers add up sensibly.
29ers
One common innovation to seek a way around the 49er trap, is the 29er. We often associate the designation of 'full time' employee as one who works a 40-hour week. The natural thought is that a corporation could just limit some employees to 36 hours. Well, Obama's people were ready for this. So they defined "full time" employment at 30 hours per week. That's less than 3 full 8-hour days per week.
Many skilled and competent workers are devastated by this regulation and find themselves having to work 2 jobs and upwards of 60 hours per week just to provide for their own households. And they still have no healthcare benefits from their employment.
Employers are struggling with poorly run operations as a result of the revolving staff and terrible communications breakdown which comes with having a different staff at their locations on each day of the business week.
Many skilled and competent workers are devastated by this regulation and find themselves having to work 2 jobs and upwards of 60 hours per week just to provide for their own households. And they still have no healthcare benefits from their employment.
Employers are struggling with poorly run operations as a result of the revolving staff and terrible communications breakdown which comes with having a different staff at their locations on each day of the business week.
Less Affordable Healthcare
The most devastating impact upon families is that healthcare costs did not drop by 30% as President Obama assured us. In fact, it continues to rise dramatically. And several affordable policies are no longer legal to offer to the US consumer. Households who no longer need maternity coverage are still required to buy it. And doctors are dropping several policies from their list of accepted underwriters. If you want to keep your doctor, you'll have to buy a 'Cadillac' plan or pay cash for services. But then Obama's policies require you to pay an added tax just for having a 'Cadillac' plan.
