SBA Web Chat: Tips on Healthcare Tax Credits
Aug. 4, 2010
If you need up-to-date information on healthcare for your small business, the Small Business Administration is holding a Web Chat. The SBA’s Web Chat will highlight small business health care, with a focus on how the Affordable Care Act will benefit small business owners through available tax-saving incentives.
Participants can learn about the newest tax credits they can take advantage of, and additional tax provisions to be implemented during the next several years.
John Tuzynski, chief of Employment Tax and Specialty Programs for the Small Business Self-Employed (SB/SE) Division at the Internal Revenue Service, will host the August web chat on “Healthcare and Small Business.”
SBA’s Web chat series provides small business owners with an opportunity to discuss relevant business issues online with experts, industry leaders and successful entrepreneurs. Chat participants will have direct, real-time access to the Web chats via questions they submit online in advance and during the live session, with instant answers.
WHEN: August 12, 2010, 2010, 1 p.m. ET. Mr. Tuzynski will answer questions for one hour.
HOW: Participants can join the live Web chat by going online to www.sba.gov, and clicking “Online Business Chat.” Web chat participants may post questions before the August 12th chat by visiting http://web.sba.gov/livemeeting/Aug10/ and posting their questions online.
To review archives of past Web chats, visit online at http://www.sba.gov/tools/monthlywebchat/index.html.
From the Coach’s Corner, however, please note these columns:
Healthcare Reform Increases Costs to Workers, Study
How Healthcare Law Would Affect Small Business
Oxymorons: ‘Healthcare Reform’ and ‘Public Servants’
The Link – Local TV Journalism, Bad Government Policy and Poor Economy
Updated Dec. 18, 2011
Do you ever wonder why the economic climate is unhealthy? Why the unemployment rate is so high? Or why government policies aren’t conducive to economic growth and the creation of jobs?
In essence, the culprits are government, business greed and inadequate coverage from local broadcast journalism.
Government is culpable because of its political theatrics – failure to set realistic priorities and implementation of unnecessary programs – an immature approach to budgeting.
Business greed led to the financial-sector collapse. That includes the behavior of Wall Street, disingenuous mortgage underwriting, the abrupt terminations of credit lines to businesses, and the predatory practices of credit card companies charging huge interest rates and fees for to small businesses and consumers for bogus reasons.
The federal government has ostensibly tried to correct the problems, but failed. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) has fought risky derivative trading and lending money to small businesses. The GOP claims to want to do something for small business. The credit card legislation hasn’t corrected all the injustices nor has it helped the majority of small businesses and consumers suffering from tepid or low credit scores as a result of the predatory practices.
The tax incentives to create jobs aren’t working because an economic engine, small business, isn’t in a position to do so. Either the businesses still have poor credit or they can’t afford to risk hiring workers. The incentives are just a pittance compared to the costs of a yearly salary, benefits and the risks of having to layoff newly hired workers. Unemployment insurance is too high for them, as it is.
And small business loans aren’t available to credit-challenged businesses. Even if they could get loans, it would only exacerbate the situation because the businesses aren’t making enough money to pay the loans back. They have too few customers. Consumers can’t afford to buy nor do they have the credit to do so.
Healthcare is a related issue. Polls show Americans opposed the efforts of President Obama and the Democrats. But the public officials didn’t listen.
Even Steve Jobs agreed before his passing, according to his biography: Will President Obama listen to Steve Jobs on the economy?
So where does that leave us regarding my premise about the connection – local TV news coverage, dysfunctional government and the economic downturn? Can we agree about the harmful effects of the Great Recession? Great.
How about the power of television? A little later I’ll point out how the power of TV is not being used and why is isn’t relevant.
That leaves the other two – news coverage and more analysis of government policy.
First, let’s consider governments’ refusals to implement best-practices in management and to adhere to transparency standards. These are huge problems and not just at the federal government level.
The state governments of California and Washington are typical examples:
California. Thanks to The Sacramento Bee, we wouldn’t learn “California agencies’ pay cuts hit departments unevenly,” or why. It’s rare for a local TV station to be as enterprising.
In a related matter, California state employees are given wide latitudes for leaves (see personnel policies). But only a third of the state agencies reportedly send certain payroll records to Sacramento. This means records are more costly to maintain, audit and verify such scattered cost centers, vis-à-vis a centralized location.
One also has to wonder about accountability. California state workers already enjoy comparatively high wages and benefits. The accrued vacation time is subject to abuse, especially when an outside watchdog is not allowed access to the records.
Typically, many government managers are afraid of their unions and employees. Last year’s furlough issue typifies the litigious atmosphere and lack of empathy for taxpayers. Government employees are notorious for gaming the system to disingenuously jack up their pensions. Pensions are calculated based on the workers’ level pay before retirement. Plus, California has a $48 billion unfunded pension liability, according to a Pew Study: “California Faces Challenges in Managing Bills Coming.”
So, it’s necessary to centralize the recordkeeping, and it would make it easier to check such records. When Californians are struggling in an era of high unemployment in an economic downturn, such state behavior is eye-opening. And given that California is mired in red ink, it’s important for state government to conform to best-practices.
Why else have a state controller?
Washington. With the exception of one statewide elected official who is retiring, it’s also important to question the Washington State Legislature’s and bureaucrats’ elitist handling of taxpayer assets and disrespect of transparency standards. Just a few years ago, I devoted multiple columns about their shell game to furtively circumvent the state’s legal spending limit after incriminating e-mails were discovered. It resulted in a case before the Washington Supreme Court.
But nothing changed and the chicanery continues.
Four times voters approved taxpayers’ protections. But lawmakers keep circumventing the wishes of voters. Despite multi-billion dollar shortfalls, the spending keeps increasing; while the private sector has cut back significantly and has lost about 200,000 jobs in the past few years.
Washington has an outstanding state auditor who has repeatedly demonstrated the need for transparency and conducts performance audits. But not enough people in state government want transparency and good performance.
TV News
My sense is that a TV steady coverage of important issues would help put a stop to the government dysfunction.
For example, the average half hour of TV newscasts in Los Angeles has a whopping 22 seconds devoted to reports about local government, according to research by the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.
The study, reported by Variety, indicates the 22 seconds is comprised of “…budgets, law enforcement, education, new ordinances, voting procedures, city and government actions and more…”
Local business and the economy got a sum total of 29 seconds per half hour.
To what did the stations allocate their news coverage?
- Crime – two minutes, 50 seconds
- Sports and weather – 3 minutes, 36 seconds
- “Fluff” – two minutes, 26 seconds
- Promotional teases – two minutes, 10 seconds
“KCAL ran the most news about local government, economy and business,” Variety reported. “As for the L.A. Times, the paper devoted 10 percent of its front-page space to local government and 6 percent to L.A. business and economy.”
Any you know what? This is typical of most local TV coverage throughout California, Washington and the rest of the nation.
Not to be gauche, but generally the closest the stations come to reporting on the economy and the impacts of business events and trends are ostentatious consumer investigations – but little about business, the big economic picture or public policy. The rest of the time they’re either rewriting Associate Press stories or rushing out to do live shots of traffic accidents. It’s tragic.
When I was a full-time broadcast journalist in the 1970s and 1980s, I learned the public does care about the impacts of government behavior and business on the economy. When we covered a story about state government, it was remarkable to see the abrupt change in bureaucrats’ behavior and ratings improved.
When was the last time you saw a business journalist on your local TV newscast? Or, for that matter, when did you last see an editorial?
Newspapers do a much better job in both areas. But even print business-journalist jobs have been disappearing.
It’s time for reflection and change in the Fourth Estate. It’s a question of pride in doing the right thing for the community. Otherwise, many Americans will continue to feel their economic and political freedoms are at-risk.
From the Coach’s Corner, here are more public policy columns.
“Domestic policy can only defeat us; foreign policy can kill us.”
-John F. Kennedy
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Terry Corbell is a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services (many are available online). For a complementary chat about your business situation or to schedule Terry Corbell as a speaker, why don’t you contact him today?
Showdown in Massachusetts – Winning the Hearts of Voters
Regarding the special election in Massachusetts, Martha Coakley vs. Scott Brown, pundits can choose to disagree in their analysis. But my sense is much of the analysis following the election appears erroneous.
Not to oversimplify the Massachusetts election, yes, voters were unconvinced about Ms. Coakley. Because of her ties with the top Democrats, voters were just as frustrated with the White House and Congress over the top 10 issues:
- Their ineptness in the sluggish economy and weak policies about job creation
- Failure to use a bully pulpit to get banks to lend to business and homeowners
- Wall Street bailouts
- Inability to regulate Wall Street with qualified, objective professionals and to end the dubious financial schemes and vehicles
- Disingenuous schemes to promote unwanted healthcare changes
- Deficit spending
- Weariness about big-brother government interfering with their businesses and lives
- Government’s preoccupation with pie-in-the-sky fantasies about solving unemployment with green initiatives for the short term
- Refusal to utilize the abundant but untapped offshore oil opportunities, which will result in higher tax revenue and create jobs
- Failure to develop an effective policy for China and its undervaluing of its currency, which subsidizes its exports to the U.S.
Healthcare reform?
Because of the unfortunate preoccupation with healthcare over economic issues, let’s consider the healthcare debate as one of the salient issues. Opponents to the healthcare proposals condemned the proponents’ healthcare proposals because they view it as a healthcare effort. They do not view it as healthcare reform and do not see any financial benefit.
Yes, polls show most Americans are opposed to the Senate and House bills. They are alarmed at the aggregate cost, and they are alarmed at the methods used to pass the bills. For them, many aspects of these bills are unhealthy.
The bottom-line for voters: Arrogance of public officials and their denial of economic and political liberties to voters are the core issues.
Most voters are appalled by the arrogance of the healthcare proponents. The voters believe the priority should be listening to the American public and solving the economic issues.
Hopefully, the White House will learn what the Clinton Administration folks learned the hard way. It was David Gergen who saved the Clinton Administration when it was mired in chaos in 1993 following its failed healthcare initiative and stagnation from organizational failures. And America did not want a co-president. Mr. Gergen knew the Clinton White House needed to reboot to get on track – to deal with the preferred business of the voters.
That’s what the Obama White House needs to do. Stop the arrogance. Act on the changes desired by most Americans.
The words of business philosopher Dr. Peter Drucker are applicable: “Arrogance is being proud of ignorance.”
A strong political campaign is almost synonymous with effective business marketing. For a candidate to win an election in this economic environment, it’s important to use classic business principles.
Therefore, six elements are required for success –
- Effectively listen – leave the ego behind.
- Convey a heavy dose of empathy for voters with an attitude of gratitude like a true public servant. Approach the campaign like a hungry job applicant.
- Take the high road at every turn like a successful diplomat and partner with the right centers of influence.
- Conduct a campaign analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
- Develop a strategic action plan.
- Execute the strategies in Blue Angels-like precision.
If these lessons are learned, America will get on track. Otherwise, voters will continue their disgust over the arrogance, and stolen economic and political liberties.
From the Coach’s Corner, here’s more on my views regarding healthcare: Oxymorons: ‘Healthcare Reform’ and ‘Public Servants’
