US Chamber of Commerce Survey finds small business against Obamacare

Despite the administration's controversial decision to delay forcing companies to join Obamacare for a year, three-quarters of small businesses are still making plans to duck the costly law by firing workers, reducing hours of full-time staff, or shift many to part-time, according to a sobering survey released by the US Chamber of Commerce.

"Small businesses expect the requirement to negatively impact their employees. Twenty-seven percent say they will cut hours to reduce full time employees, 24% will reduce hiring, and 23% plan to replace full time employees with part-time workers to avoid triggering the mandate," said the Chamber business survey provided to Secrets.

Under Obamacare, just 30 hours — not the nationally recognized 40 hours —is considered full-time. Companies with 50 full-time workers or more are required to provide health care, or pay a fine.

The administration recently decided to wait a year before businesses had to comply, but many are trying to get ready anyway. The president did not delay the mandate that Americans must have health insurance or pay a fine, however.

The Chamber's second quarter small business survey found that just 30% are ready for the law and even understand what is required.

Dealing with Obamacare is the biggest worry of small businesses and comes as they continue to see a sluggish economy which has already put a brake on their hiring. Just 17% reported adding employees in the past two years. And only one-in-five small business owners believe that they will add employees in the next two years.

The Chamber added that "nearly one-in-four employers say the health care bill is their biggest obstacle to hiring more employees."

Other key findings from the Chamber Survey:

—77 % continue to think the American economy is on the wrong track. However, small businesses are more optimistic about their local economy and individual business.

—The majority (61 %) of small businesses do not have plans to hire next year.

—Concerns about regulation have increased significantly from 35% last quarter to 42% now.

Small businesses are looking for leadership on issues that will remove barriers and encourage growth.

—88% of all small businesses support addressing entitlement spending to resolve America's growing financial challenges and escalating debt.

—83% support congressional efforts to reform the tax code — with the majority focusing on making it less complex.

—81% of small businesses surveyed believe the immigration system is broken and needs to be reformed.

—In contrast to the president's recent speech pushing new energy regulations, 90% of small businesses support easing EPA regulations and opening up more federal lands for drilling.

The George Zimmerman Trial and the Trayvon Martin media bias

How does Al Sharpton keep getting on television?  The guy is a total idiot.  Today on Meet The Press all he could talk about was how unfair the Zimmerman trial was.  Trayvon Martin was this wonderful young kid.  A perfect citizen and George Zimmerman gunned him down.  How Martin's parents were wonderful people and that there was no way the George Zimmerman trial was fair.

Was Trayvon Martin a little angel?  Not at all.  He was a little punk in truth.  He had been suspended from school twice in the previous weeks and should have been arrested.  The only reason he was not arrested was for the fact that the Miami-Dade School System has their own police department that chooses to overlook such.

The first suspension was for for getting caught with a burglary tool and a dozen items of female jewelry.  Hmmm.  I wonder what was going on there? The second time for getting caught with marijuana and a marijuana pipe.  Great kid.  Instead of helping the kid the school system pushed him aside.

The media along with the two dumbest people in American politics, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, decended on Florida and painted Trayvon Martin as this great kid with great parents.  The facts are this.  Trayvon Martin was not an angel at all.  He was a 17 year old punk that should have been in juvenile hall rather than walking the streets after dark.

Did he deserve to get shot and die at the hands of George Zimmerman?  Hell no.  Not at all.  It was a tragic event that never should have happened.  Both Zimmerman and Martin could have prevented it easily.  Instead they both took dramatic steps to escalate a sad situation.

All sides are at fault here.  George Zimmerman.  Trayvon Martin. The media.  The stupid Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson.  The Miami Dade School System.  Everyone.  But the fact is that there was a fair trial and the verdict stands.

Idiot of the Month Award - Paul Bowler and Wayne County New York

Well this was an easy one to award.  My Idiot of the Month Award will be shared this month.  Paul Bowler and Wayne County New York are co-winners.

Goodness gracious.  So in the goofy land of Wayne County, New York we had four youngsters between the ages of 8 and 10 years old caught vandalizing a house in the neighborhood. I mean hammers and paint.  Smashing holes in the walls.  Painting all through the kitchen.  Almost $50,000 damages to a house a Mr. Jesse Daniels was renovating for his father-in-law.

Just so happened Mr. Daniels lives next door and heard all the smashing around late at night.  While his wife called the police, Mr. Daniels went next door to investigate where he found the four little punks.

He took the hammer and paint away from the boys and put them in a closet to await the arrival of the police officers.  So now after the event, Mr. Daniels is being charged by Wayne County, New York with child endangerment for putting the four little punks in a closet for ten minutes until police arrived.

Seriously?  Come on now.

The sad thing is that the father of two of the boys, a Paul Bowler, agrees with the charges against Mr. Daniels.  He feels the boys were traumatized. 

Well hell yeah.  They need some serious traumatization.  Maybe they'll learn a lesson and stop that kind of crap.  It is sad they have such a poor father in Paul Bowler.  He needs to put his foot down and let his boys know that kind of behavior is unacceptable.  Instead, his poor little punks were traumatized when they were caught being little criminals.

It is also sad that Wayne County has such a poor District Attorney in Richard Healy that he would allow such charges in the first place.  Can we not vote this guy out of office already?

Come on people!  What is our country coming to?

Idiot of the Month - Paul Bowler and the Wayne County District Attorney

How poor is our United States Supreme Court?

Wow.  The United States Supreme Court is just flat out poor.  A bunch of old, out of touch people appointed for life to carry out the policies of their political party.

For instance their latest ruling denying an Arizona law requiring some sort of proof of US citizenship when registering to vote. 

Seems like a logical and straight-forward law right?  What is wrong with showing you deserve the right to vote in our elections?  To function in the United States you need proof of citizenship.  A birth certificate.  A passport.  A drivers license.  If you do not have any of these it is not hard to go get one proving you are an American.

Instead the Supreme Court stated that is is proof enough that a person has the right to vote simply by checking the box on the registration form "swearing" you are a US citizen.  By checking that box you are allowed to register.

Come on now.  Anyone can register is what that means.  There is no proof required.  We are on the honor system and we know how that works.  Ridiculous.

President Obama using the IRS for Political Purposes

I know the Right has thrown accusation after accusation of improper behavior and abuses of power at the Obama Administration for years now.  It seems the latest round are extremely creditable and President Obama is going to have his Presidency devalued beyond repair.  First the Benghazi coverup is becoming increasingly more obvious despite Obama'a denials.  The latest round of Congressional hearings have proven the White House lied and covered up the truths of the terrible events.

Now we have admissions and evidence of the Obama Administration using the IRS for political purposes. The IRS singled out and harassed conservative political groups, including during the election year of 2012. The mere mention of the IRS understandably sends a jolt of anxiety through most Americans, so the implications of this conduct for Tea Party and other conservative groups are obvious. This was the worst kind of dirty politics, and an affront to even the most basic trust in government.

While the IRS admitted this egregious conduct, already there have been lies peddled about the depth and scope of this malfeasance. At first we were told that the breaches were limited to low-level civil servants in a few field offices. But that was also false, as we now know Washington DC-based IRS officials were involved too.

The familiar script from Obama and his phalanx of public relations protectors in the White House--that the IRS abuses are not political, and only those who want answers have any political motivations--sounds increasingly obtuse, and pathetic. All the obfuscation on these issues come from the same direction, and benefit the same side of the political aisle.

And ultimately, incompetence and ignorance are poor excuses for a chief executive. The president can only claim he didn't know what his agencies were up to so many times.

 

Vikings on The History Channel Great Television!

Well let me start by saying that I completely enjoy Vikings on The History Channel. Do I have some issues? Of course, but overall it is a fresh and fun series. The Norse are not a popular or overdone subject by any means and I think that is the main reason I am enjoying the show so much.

 The environment and scenery is breathtaking. All I can say is "Wow". Scandanavia is quite gorgeous. I have made several trips hiking in the Colorado Rockies and I have travelled extensively in Peru. The scenes in Vikings rival for sure. It has definitely put the area of Europe on my map for a future hiking/exploring adventure!

 Read about my hiking adventure at Machu Picchu

The characters are quite interesting. The main character is the best. Ragnar Lothbrok played by Travis Fimmel. He is the epitomy of Viking tough. He also has charisma and smarts though and Ragnar is clearly intent on leading raids to the west (England) rather than the east as has always been done.

His nemesis is none other than the Earl/Lord of the lands. A truly underhanded and  mean Viking by the name of Earl Haraldson who cares for nothing more than his own wealth and power. Earl Haraldson wants things done his way and anyone who does not fall into line suffers greatly. Vikings is the story of Ragnar's Viking friends and family and their trials and tribulations. I won't go into much more detail so as to not spoil the show for anyone, but trust me it is worth checking out.

My main drawback with the series is that it seems to fly along. I wish they would have doubled the number of shows it took to get where they are now. This would have given them time to really develop the interesting characters. If HBO had grabbed this project they would have done it on a Game of Thrones or Boardwalk Empire level. How great could Vikings have been?

It is still must see tv for me, but oh the possibilities. Any way around it though, Vikings is good television. The History Channel has taken pains to make the conditions and story historically accurate. It is a subject that television and film have yet to give much time to. Hopefully this series will change that as the Viking culture and conquests are quite fascinating.

President Barack Obama says the US has no debt crisis

Seriously?  This guy must be living on another planet.  But I guess I shouldn't be surprised to hear it from a President that has piled more debt onto our nation's citizens than any other president in our history as well as all previous US Presidents combined!

"We don't have an immediate crisis in terms of debt," President Obama said in an exclusive interview for Good Morning America.  In the same interview he called our current national debt "sustainable".

Unbelievable.

Well let's see.  Our current national debt is $16.7 TRILLION right now.  The Congressional Budget Office projects that another $7 TRILLION will be added to that number over the next 10 years on our current path.  That is WITH the current cuts that took place a couple of weeks back.

Seems like a pretty substantial debt problem to me.  We are broke and only printing money and buying our own bonds is keeping us afloat.  Am I the only one seeing this picture?  One day in the coming years this is going to have to be reckoned with and it is not going to be pretty.  We are all going to suffer for the excesses and waste.

After hearing Obama's comments it is even more evident why nothing gets done in Washington.  The leadership does not even believe we have a major problem with government spending, tax loopholes and unsustainable social welfare programs.  Nothing will get addressed in any meaningful manner anytime soon.

Until we get a President that recognizes the problem it will never be dealt with in any meaningful manner.