Neal Asbury began his nationally syndicated “Neal Asbury’s Made in America” show on Radio America (now on 47 stations) with the alarming news that the nation’s labor force participation is at its lowest rate since 1978 under Carter’s moribund administration.
Made in America welcomed first-time guest Ali Meyer, a reporter for CNSNews, who revealed that the percentage of American civilians 16 or older who have a job or are actively seeking one dropped to a 35-year low in October to 62.8 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“At no time during the presidencies of Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton or George W. Bush, did such a small percentage of the civilian non-institutional population either hold a job or at least actively seek one. Despite the 11,034,000 who have dropped out of the labor force since Obama took office, the national unemployment rate has remained at a relatively high level. October 2013 was the 59th straight month of 7-percent-plus unemployment in the United States,” noted Meyer, who added the workforce is down 1,450,000 workers.
Meyer also reported that the worker participation rate is down 2.1 percent under Obama, making it harder for businesses to hire and for the millennials, who were promised more work under Obama, to find employment. In effect they are being short changed on starting their careers.
Coming off the recent Hollywood love fest known as the Academy Awards, Neal and Dr. Roffman found it hypocritical that the progressive Hollywood elite, who chastised Americans for not paying their fair share of taxes, are themselves moving out of California due to the state’s high tax rate.
“They are talking out of both sides of their mouths. They liked talking about being part of the ninety-nine percenters, until they realized that taxes were taking more money from their pockets and so they are moving to states with lower tax rates,” suggested Neal.
Co-host Dr. Rich Roffman marveled at the many ways that Obama’s policies have unintended consequences, even for his own supporters.
“While fast food and restaurant employees are applauding Obama’s support for the minimum wage, some restaurants in Florida are adding an Obamacare Surcharge to pay for higher healthcare costs. But patrons are pushing back from the surcharge by paying servers less tip money. I don’t think anyone saw that coming,” proposed Dr. Roffman.
He also expressed disbelief over Michelle Obama’s contention that “America’s moms are confused and defeated by grocery shopping.” He wondered if this could lead to a federal program to start teaching people how to shop.
“Maybe some of the Obamacare navigators could be hired to help people navigate through grocery stores,” quipped Neal. “It might eliminate ‘pile-ups’ in aisle two!”
First time guest Dr. Larry Kawa, president of Kawa Orthodontics, joined the show to explain his account of the challenges he faces with Obamacare, which has received widespread media coverage and is entitled, ”My True Obamacare Horror Story.”
In his op/ed piece he describes himself as “an American business owner who has suffered personal injury as a result of Obamacare and its implementation, and I’m not the only one.”
He takes Obamacare and the President to task for “thinking that he can tweet the laws instead of having them passed by Congress.” He estimates that to comply to the employer mandate, which was to take effect on January 1, 2014, he expended over 100 hours, and with all of the time, energy, effort, money, opportunity costs, anticipatory costs, etc. his business suffered over $1 million worth of damages.
As a result, Dr. Kawa is suing the U.S. Department of Treasury, Secretary of Treasury Jack Lew, the Internal Revenue Service and IRS Acting Director Daniel Werfel challenging the Obama administration’s decision to delay the enactment of the so-called “employer mandate” provision of the Affordable Healthcare Act.
This is a true “David vs Goliath” story since no other companies – big or small – is joining his suit.
He bases his suit on two main points: 1) That the president’s actions are unconstitutional; and 2) that he opposes the waiver of the employment mandate.
“With my suit, some people tell me that I’m being obstructionist, but I just want to comply with the current laws. It’s Obama that is being obstructionist by changing laws without oversight,” suggested Dr. Kawa.
The final guest on “Made in America” was Justin Danhof of the Free Enterprise Project, who got in hot water with Apple CEO Tim Cook during the annual shareholders’ meeting; Danhof confronted Cook about Apple’s claims that they were environmentally responsible.
“I asked him a simple question whether or not their investment in environmental projects had any negative impact on earnings. In particular, would Apple make these same investments if they weren’t being subsidized by American taxpayers?” asked Danhof, who revealed that Cook was livid that Danhof introduced this subject, and suggested that Danhof should sell his Apple stock if he wasn’t on board with Apple’s policies. “It’s about time Apple admitted that this cultured feeling of environmentalism is about making money, and not about a true belief in sustainability,” concluded Danhof.
Reminding listeners that cronyism hurts all of us, Neal and co-host Dr. Rich Roffman concluded the show by returning to ways that cronyism rewards the few at the expense of the many.
“We talked about Accenture being retained for $91 million to fix the disastrous Obamacare site designed by CGI at cost of about $500 million. What do these companies have in common? Neither is based in the U.S. (CGI is in Canada and Accenture is headquartered in Ireland); both were hired in non-bid contracts; and both have long ties to the Obama administration. That is the definition of cronyism,” proposed Dr. Roffman.
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.nealasburysmadeinamerica.com.
MAR
