[graphicgr8s]

Because many do. I see those people all the time, see their rants on facebook, hear them occasionally at work, etc, etc. They are often barely able to hold a conversation on the subject of the economy, foreign policy, healthcare, you name it, but they sure know one thing - they hate Obama. It's his fault, somehow, although they can't articulate why, exactly. Often they can't even correctly repeat the talking points they're trying to channel.



How, specifically?

Well 999 I don't hate the guy. And I hope he lives a long time and enjoys his great grandkids down the line. No. He's not someone I would sit with and have an unsweetened ice tea with but I don't "hate" him. He just isn't competent enough to be POTUS. Hell Parallax is more competent that he is. And before you go on a rant just because a person has a certain job doesn't mean they are qualified. Many a CEO is left in place yet is unqualified or incompetent. Just like Barry.

[jsherman999]

Well Les, I've lost half of my client base. Much of it in the medical field. They have shut down their private practices. Many have gone to work for large practices or hospitals. Some just retired early. They're afraid of the unknowns of ObamaScare. Even here in Tampa with all the old folks many doctors refuse to take Medicare because in many cases they won't get paid enough to cover their expenses.
Some clients are just holding onto their funds because they have no clue what's coming down the pike and if they're going to be around next year. And I'm talking large, old firms.
We're big into social media advertising. I go to seminars to promote the business. I am out calling on old customers trying to upsell. Hell just trying to sell period. To any one. I don't care.
How bad is it? Well last month I tried an experiment. Quoted a job lowball. (With a regular account not a prospect) Wanted to see what happened. No. I wouldn't have lost money just not make as much as we should have. No sale. I no longer have a clue how to pry money out of customer's hands. And this is a business I know backwards, forwards, sideways and diagonally. Something I've been doing for over 35 years.

No Les, it's not the direct regulations, laws, edicts, and mandates from Obama on our business. It's "trickle down regulation" that's killing us. If my clients are going out of business because of laws that affect them then it affects us. And it's not just my shop. I talk to others and hear the same thing. October was a little better of a month. People thought Obama would be out. and spending loosened up a little. November is not doing as well, Not by a long shot.

EPA is always inspecting us. Even had to fight a fine they tried to impose. They are idiots. Yes we won. But it cost money to fight.

And specifically how has Obama caused anything you list above?

You mention "the medical field", in part. I work for a huge conglomerate operating in the US medical sphere. We see pluses and minuses to Obamacare, but are expecting a net benefit. We see the healthcare industry beginning a mild expansion, over and above what it would have enjoyed if the ACA had not passed. There are winners and losers, but the net effect is (we project) positive.

It sounds like you're describing the general effects of a sluggish economy on your business, and then ascribing that to "regulation", yet you can't name any new "regulation" Obama put in place that is affecting you. You also don't seem wiling to acknowledge where this country was headed when he took office in 1/2009. Obama inherited an economy nose-diving into depression.


.

[GeneV]

Well Les, I've lost half of my client base. Much of it in the medical field. They have shut down their private practices. Many have gone to work for large practices or hospitals. Some just retired early. They're afraid of the unknowns of ObamaScare. Even here in Tampa with all the old folks many doctors refuse to take Medicare because in many cases they won't get paid enough to cover their expenses.

And you know that is the result of Obamacare because????

It is funny you mention clients in medicine, because I used to represent a number of medical practices. My unofficial specialty a decade or so ago was merging or associating them to better negotiate with insurers. They were squeezed and squeezed and eventually all disappeared as clients before President Obama was even nominated. Nothing we could do would make negotiating with insurers easy, and many doctors just gave up and became employees. We now have the captive physician groups divorcing themselves from insurers and all the parties suing each other. It has nothing to do with health care reform, but with conflicts with insurers that have been growing for 20 years.

At least here, smaller private medical practices have been an endangered species for some time.

[Parallax]

Hell Parallax is more competent that he is.

I'm not quite sure how to take that, George.

And before you go on a rant just because a person has a certain job doesn't mean they are qualified. Many a CEO is left in place yet is unqualified or incompetent. Just like Barry.

That's the Peter Principal. (Cliffs Notes version of the Peter Principal is that everyone will eventually be promoted to a level of incompetence.)

[normhead]

And you know that is Obamacare because????

It is funny you mention clients in medicine, because I used to represent a number of medical practices. My unofficial specialty a decade or so ago was merging or associating them to better negotiate with insurers. They were squeezed and squeezed and eventually all disappeared as clients before President Obama was even nominated. Nothing we could do would make negotiating with insurers easy, and many doctors just gave up and became employees. We now have the captive physician groups divorcing themselves from insurers and all the parties suing each other. It has nothing to do with health care reform, but with conflicts with insurers that have been growing for 20 years.

At least here, smaller private medical practices have been an endangered species for some time.

You learn so much cool stuff on this forum.

Since I've been retired, Tess and I have been running an outfitting-guiding business in the summer. Our problem is insurance. It's hard to keep up with the qualifications they want, and they have completely unreasonable rate structures. It would cost us $2000 a year for insurance and we'd do approximately 6 trips. Our bigger competitors pay the same rate and they do 70-80 trips a summer. Obviously we have to charge a lot more to cover insurance costs. The insurance industry has become a form of government. Some insurance company should come up with a reasonable per client rate. There are 300,000 trips in the park ever year and 13 medical evacuations on average. 2 dollars a night for insurance that would be more than enough to cover those evacs. SO how does that relate to me paying $10 a night, which is what I pay? On a six day trip, with 5 people, which is our average outing, I would pay $400 to the insurance company, and they would take home more than I would. Allowing unregulated private sector companies to make decisions like this is killing us. Most of the other guides in this area have just given up and work for the big guy.

Our guiding business fell apart this year too. The low Euro, the Olympics, a drought and a bunch of other things meant that the Germans who seem to be our main clientele didn't come. And every business in our area from the gas station to the grocery store suffered because of it. But it's hardly Obama's fault. The chorus of some people seems to be blame Obama for everything. And I can guarantee you, those companies, like the insurance companies, the regulated industries who have the right to become fat and bloated and are taking something for nothing in many cases, are happy you believe it's Obama's fault. On a societal level their practices won't stand the light of day and as long as everyone is blaming Obama for everything, they are off the hook.

The level of Obama hate going on right now is fuelled by corporations who want your money. The biggest problem with Obama care is it messes with the insurance companies, who are raking in billions in un-necessary charges. So of course they are going to do everything they can to direct hate at him. What's unfortunate is the huge number of people who really aren't paying attention and see the simple solution as "stop Obama" when in fact stopping Obama will do absolutely nothing for them.

[seacapt]

And you blame Obama for your financial woes? You don't appreciate that you, your children, your grandchildren . . . cannot be denied healthcare for preexisting conditions? What about once everyone is signed up for healthcare, how those of us who already have it should see our rates go down? You don't think the world is a safer place with most of the Al Qaeda leadership wiped out? I suppose you could care less that the country's become more tolerant of GLBT, that we've stopped torturing people, that our reputation in the world has significantly improved, that the Lily Ledbetter act was signed . . .

I think I get it. You can't see any improvement to your pocketbook and that is all that matters to you, right?

Les I don't own a "little pocketbook" , I carry a wallet and lately it's usually empty
If all I cared about was money I wouldn't have taken responsibillty for the son of a pill popping welfare queen 10 years ago.Yes I actually have done something to help rather than just talking about it and supporting a system that really doesn't work.
I do blame Obama for the financial woes of many small businesses and the country in general. He spends money as effectively as a drunk sailor in a strip club.
He has been unable to inspire investor confidence. In part due to the vagueness Dodd Franks banks refuse to lend to the people who really need it to build their businesses. All the government jobs he created to look better on paper actually cost the people / country money.
Obamacare we'll see how it works out but right now there are as many valid arguements against as there are for.
You try to assert that Obama was directly resonsible for taking down Bin Laden but the fact is he simply gave the OK and took credit for the work of others. Personally I would rather have seen Osama taken into custody. The world a safer place? Obama and Hilly supported Arab Spring. He ordered air strike against Libya. Benghazi shows how well that worked out. Lets face it there are, allways have been and allways will be people out there who hate this country. I would rather have those who hate us be affraid of us. Green industry is great , I'm all for it but niether Obama's policy or investment in green industry have proven effective.

[Parallax]

I would pay $400 to the insurance company, and they would take home more than I would.

That's why I quit doing bicycle rentals. The insurance rider premium for the last year that I did rentals was $15.00 more than the total revenue from the rentals.
Fortunately I have an option available to me that there's nothing comparable to in your situation. If someone wants a bike for several days or more, I sell them the bike with a 30 day buyback agreement for a specified price. The funny thing is that it was my insurance agent that told to do it that way.

[normhead]

I do blame Obama for the financial woes of many small businesses and the country in general.

So Obama is supposed to spend money to benefit your business? The job of the government is to inspire investor confidence? I always thought that was the job of the person seeking the investment. You make it sound like his job is to be a snake oil salesman. ( So now I see why you might prefer someone like baby Bush.)

Just the thought that the government would spend money to benefit my business is repugnant to me. I don't need them. All I want is a regulated playing field that allows me to compete on equal footing with the big boys. If the government spent money to inspire confidence in my business, personally I'd find that embarrassing.

[Parallax]

If the government spent money to inspire confidence in my business, personally I'd find that embarrassing.

I would too. I'd take the money, but I'd feel really bad about it.

[GeneV]

You learn so much cool stuff on this forum.

Since I've been retired, Tess and I have been running an outfitting-guiding business in the summer. Our problem is insurance. It's hard to keep up with the qualifications they want, and they have completely unreasonable rate structures. It would cost us $2000 a year for insurance and we'd do approximately 6 trips. Our bigger competitors pay the same rate and they do 70-80 trips a summer. Obviously we have to charge a lot more to cover insurance costs. The insurance industry has become a form of government.

I couldn't agree more. I've said before that insurance is socialism for profit. It results in all sorts of inequities.

Health insurance is a huge problem. Right now, my group insurance has me paying premiums for myself that are close to a minimum wage salary. What would someone making minimum wage do? On the other hand, to add me to my wife's employer's group costs a fraction of that amount. My former clients had, in some cases, 5 support staff for each physician, and much of that was the result of insurance payments. This private government is not working out well for either the providers or the patients.

[normhead]

That's why I quit doing bicycle rentals. The insurance rider premium for the last year that I did rentals was $15.00 more than the total revenue from the rentals.
Fortunately I have an option available to me that there's nothing comparable to in your situation. If someone wants a bike for several days or more, I sell them the bike with a 30 day buyback agreement for a specified price. The funny thing is that it was my insurance agent that told to do it that way.

I need a better insurance agent. Mine just shrugged and said $2000 a season is the best I can do. I even asked about a company tailored package like the travel insurance you buy at the airport. " No can do."

[GeneV]

That's why I quit doing bicycle rentals. The insurance rider premium for the last year that I did rentals was $15.00 more than the total revenue from the rentals.
Fortunately I have an option available to me that there's nothing comparable to in your situation. If someone wants a bike for several days or more, I sell them the bike with a 30 day buyback agreement for a specified price. The funny thing is that it was my insurance agent that told to do it that way.

Yeah, I can see how one numbskull like me having an accident could ruin a rental business.

[GeneV]

I need a better insurance agent. Mine just shrugged and said $2000 a season is the best I can do.

In a similar vein, one of my clients hired an uninsured small contractor and found it was cheaper for all involved for them to buy the policy.

[Parallax]

Yeah, I can see how one numbskull like me having an accident could ruin a rental business.

What I don't understand is why it should require additional premiums to do rentals. Same bike, assembled, maintained, and adjusted by the same person (me), but there's additional insurance premiums involved if I rent it someone versus selling it to that same person.

[GeneV]

What I don't understand is why it should require additional premiums to do rentals. Same bike, assembled, maintained, and adjusted by the same person (me), but there's additional insurance premiums involved if I rent it someone versus selling it to that same person.

Not ridden by the owner, though.

It reminds me of how carpets are treated in our courts for rentals. A carpet may have a 20 year warranty, and mine are still in good shape after 17 years. That is typical for an owner-occupied home. However, in a rental, a 5-7 year lifespan is assumed. People don't act the same when they are using something they rented.