Democrat Blanche Lincoln Turns on Obama Over Small Business Regs
by Capitol ConfidentialThis week, former Arkansas Senator Blanche Lincoln (D) lead a cadre of small business owners from a number of states to Washington in an attempt to convince Congress that their commitment to over-regulating American entrepreneurs is a surefire way to destroy the American economy.
Former Sen. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Dan Danner, the chief executive of the National Federation of Independent Business, signaled Wednesday that taking some of the regulatory load off smaller companies would help in the current battle against high unemployment.
“The message that we’re trying to leave is that if we want to create more jobs and make the economy better, how do we somehow get this disproportionate burden of ever increasing new regulations off the backs of the people who create the jobs?” Danner said at an event launching his group’s Small Businesses for Sensible Regulations campaign.
According to the Small Business Administration, regulations on American small businesses, which comprise 60 percent of all private-sector jobs and account for about two thirds of jobs created each year, deprive the American economy of $1.75 trillion annually. By reducing – or at least compromising – on current regulations and letting go of the nearly 4,200 regulations on the table right now to be passed this session, Congress could stimulate one of the fastest-growing American industries. Unfortunately for Blanche Lincoln and her team of American business owners, Congress will be hard to convince.
Lincoln is trying at a very unique time, though, when quick action could prevent a lot of further harm to the American economy. As we stated, 4,200 regulations are in the pipeline, just waiting for Congressional approval. Of those, 845 directly affect small businesses. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. There are also 330 new EPA regulations coming down the pipe, all of which are designed to specifically regulate how American small businesses do their job. Without expensive lawyers to fill out regulatory paperwork, and expensive lobbyists to fight the fight on their behalf, small businesses usually just take the regulations sitting down, devoting time and money they could spend growing their businesses and hiring more out of work Americans to doing dirty work provided to them by the US government.
Although not perfectly conservative, Lincoln and her organization are proposing a set of guidelines that would help Congress and the Obama administration curb regulations and more closely analyze the impact of their actions on small business owners.
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57 Comments
But Blanche,that would interfere with Obama and his handlers plan to bring the US to it's knees.
Why is she doing this?
What does she stand to gain?
She's not a "politician" any longer, what possibly could her motives be?
Hmmm…
"…in an attempt to convince Congress that their commitment to over-regulating American entrepreneurs is a surefire way to destroy the American economy."
The heavy, over-reaching hand of Government has in fact destroyed the economy.
Pretty simple.
Let her repeal ObamaCare and more….she is deflecting…..she is hiding…she is a shape shifter who will fall back in line against Freedom at first dictate from DNC…
It is not just the new regulations pending or the next batch big business dreams up to stifle competition. Let's settle the tax code and put a long moratorium on tax increases. Let's get rid of Obamacare, it does nothing to fix healthcare. I challenge anyone right up to Sebellius and Obama, what is healthcare going to cost me a small business owner for any employees I hire? Accuracy counts, will you make a personal guarantee on your answer? I will make you a deal, you tell me the cost over the next ten years, if it is less I'll send you the difference, if it is more you send me a check. Unless you have accurate answers and the personal bank account to cover the differences of your programs, leave $hit alone!
Btw, my business is finally growing again which means hiring is becoming a possibility. Without the answers I am currently looking at outsourcing instead of hiring.
She's a typical Democrat, SAY one thing and then DO another. This is ALL hot air because America has figured out that there are NO conservative Democrats. In fact the Democrats of today are really just communists in disguise! This 100% political theater and I wouldn't doubt if Obama approved of it.
My first thought too. Guess she's running again, I can't remember if she voted for healthcare , but I would find out if I lived in Arkansas.
Do NOT fall for the bait. This two term ex-senator lost her seat by helping to pass ObamaCare despite the pleading and outright begging of a majority of her constituents. Crawl back in your hole, Blanche.
Yep!
and not by accident…
She is giving the go ahead to other Dems that it is now officially OK to come out against Obama. Barry is running against Congress and in doing so throwing every Democrat under the bus.
Barry is about to be shown what it is like to be thrown under the bus.
Watch, media is turning on the Dem Establishment too. It has to try and distance itself from the progressive debacle now playing out. Blanche is doing that very thing.
It ain't gonna work. They thought we were all stupid. They refused to listen when we showed them, with TEA Parties that we are anything but. They continue to act as if we indeed are stupid.
Blanche, it would serve you and yours well to exercise your Fifth Amendment rights to STFU.
I don't know about Blanche Lincoln's hidden agenda, but, as Mr. Spock said, "Only Nixon could go to China." Even Jerry Brown has started making noises about the real reasons we're going broke.
My general contractor husband laid off his workers in 2009 and has been working alone on small projects the way he did when he started his business in '84, subbing-out anything he can't handle. I called our three federal representatives and told them we are not hiring anyone until Obamacare is history. What's interesting is that our income hasn't taken a proportionate hit. We're not rolling in dough, but we're staying afloat.
Now L. A. has "green inspectors" covering every aspect of a construction project, from disposal of demolition debris to you-name-it. The inspectors themselves are candid about the fact that even they are not sure of what they should be looking for; some bureaucrat at a desk somewhere, who never built anything, has created this monstrosity.
God help us all!
Whatever her motives are, and I am always suspicious of Democrats who show any signs of rational thought having an ulterior motive, in this she is right. Get the jackboot of the Imperial Federal Government and their regulatory thugs off the necks of business and our employment and economy problems will be well on the way to recovery. Repeal Obamacare and fire the Occupier-in-Chief and we'll do even better.
I'm not overly familiar with Ms. Lincoln, so I'm curious as to how much she opposed creating more regulations when she was in the Senate? Is there anyone on this thread from her home district who can answer this question? Did she tend to vote for or against imposing unnecessary regulations on business?
"how do we somehow get this disproportionate burden of ever increasing new regulations off the backs of the people who create the jobs?”
Ummm, duh Blanchy-poo, YOU quit, Barry goes to jail, Holder, Bernanke, Clinton, Reid, Pelosi………well they can go to Rikers Island along with Barry. That's how you do it.
She is a Clintonist. While this doesn't entirely answer your questions, I hope this helps.
I am pretty sure she did. She was one of those "bought off" for their vote, similar to the "Louisiana Purchase". And I think her vote for Obamacare is also the reason she was not re-elected.
Wait wait wait wait wait !!
A Tyrantocrat actually LOOKED at the impact of their policies, and was objective about it !??!?!?!?! Furthermore, they came to the proper conclusion ?!!?
Quick someone check the temperature in hell !!
"their commitment to over-regulating American entrepreneurs is a surefire way to destroy the American economy."
Apparently Blanch didn't get the leftwing progressive's goal setting memo. They need to bring her up to speed.
I'm sure she will be paid a visit by the men in purple shirts very soon.
My friend told me about a window washer who poured out his dirty water into the gutter, and was fined by one of these "green" inspectors $20,000. How's a guy who probably puts $250/day in his pocket going to pay a $20,000 fine?
Blanche Lincoln is a traitor to ALL Americans…in working behind closed doors…and taking a bribe from the henchmen of the Democratzi 'loons' in favor for her vote…and she needs to go!
This is just a page from the Obama the Bush book to get re-elected and nothing more!
A leopard cannot change their spots…and a Democratzi 'loon' can't change their dirty ways!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAaQNACwaLw
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/10/willf...
You hit it right on the head CL. I recently closed a business, and spent a week shredding 20 years of business records. It was interesting to examine how my governmental costs increased over that period. It added up to $10,000's/year by the end. Now, Obamacare, will add about $850/year per employee if you decline to offer health insurance. In California, as an employer paying 50% of the health insurance premium, the cost is about $1600/year. So it makes sense to not offer the health insurance and pay the penalty.
She's probably a lobbyist for a small business advocacy group. I think she lost her office because she backed Obama on all his socialist garbage.
Maybe I'm wrong, and Blanche has seen the light. But I'm just too cynical to believe that.
What does she gain? Approval. Looks like a few dems have figured out that these are the goals of the people. Less taxes, less regulations, etc. And she finally realized that the public is not going to change its goals and so she is hopping on that bandwagon. Watch for many more democrats to follow suit. In Wisconsin here we already have democrats attacking other democrats when one of the presented an ammendment to make scholarships not race based. Democrats know how to follow the people they want to gather for their support.
Mayhap she has repented of her evil ways and is seeking redemption? Somehow I doubt it. More likely, she's extorting small businesses to represent them in a national venue. She is obviously all about the Benjamins.
Those were exactly my thoughts, too, leadstate. But I would say "realistic" rather than cynical.
Too little, too late!
Remember Blanche's deal with the devil during the Obamacare cram down? I'm hoping the voters of Nebraska do too. Her "come to Jesus" moment has come too late
You are correct.
Personally, I am glad, and relieved that technically, I am no longer an employer. I have a handful of people who I am responsible to, and who rely on me. They are the cream of the crop, and have been with me for many years. When I sold my business, I offered severance to some key people. They took it, with the stipulation that if they wanted to ranch for me, they had a position for life. It was a win/win deal. It keeps them occupied, and provides me the luxury to travel if i want to, or sit on my arse and yak on the internet.
In years past, when I was really busy, there were times I employed as many as several hundred people. That is a lot of people, for a guy who tended to run a business out of his hatband, and whose corporate office was wherever my pickup truck happened to be parked at any given moment.
I made the statement back when they were passing Obamacare, that should it pass, I would wind my business down and sell out. People laughed at me. Obamacare passed. I shut my business down and sold out. I simplified my life.
Prior to Obamacare passing, for any employee with one year of service, I paid their Healthcare cost 100%. It was not junk insurance. It was the best Blue Cross/Blue Shield money could buy. I gave them one full week paid vacation, and the following days off with pay: New Years Eve day, New Years Day, Presidents Day, Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Memorial Day, The Fourth of July, Labor Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve day and Christmas Day, and three paid sick days, of their choice.
Do the math. That is a full week of vacation, and three full weeks of holiday pay. A full month off, with pay, and benefits. I expected 110% from my people, and worked them hard. But no harder than I worked myself.
The greatest compliment I ever received, was from a man who detested me. He said that I was a Miserable SOB, but that I had a work ethic that was brutal. That, made me proud.
Whenever someone hears that a man is in the oil business, they immediately think Exxon, or Halliburton. I was just a one man band, with a few drilling rigs and a couple hundred wells.
But it was mine.
She currently is not holding any public office or position.
She lost her last election.
A tip of the hat to your personal integrity and honor.
Definitely– her position on Obamacare needs to be revealed– because it is the 800 pound gorilla of federal regulations sitting in the room compared to ALL of the other federal reg's combined– until she addresses that issue, she is "whistling past the graveyard" of the US economy.
Maybe she is having one of those "oh, sh–" moments that the Poles and Czechs of the intellectual elite felt when the Nazis, whom they supported (because of anti-Semitic hatred), lined them up and executed them in their university courtyards. The chickens have come home to roost in their small businesses, and the vultures are circling.
I didn't have an operation nearly as big as yours, but I raised my kids in a good house in a safe town where everyone knows each other.
My business closure was kind of a cluster F, the sharp downturn in the economy hurt. Barely got out, worked my ass off to pay all my commitments off. Now I'm starting up a new business.
I had an issue with the Pollution Control office, they came in one day and said my adhesive was illegal and to stop and desist. I had a permit with the office, and was inspected every year for 20 years, and suddenly I was using an illegal adhesive. At this point I decided to sell out and do something else. If you are an employer in Cal, you have a bullseye on your back.
Wildcatting sound like an exciting business. Work your ass off. My family has a ranch in central Cal, we had some wildcatters put up a test well for Shell Oil. They worked probably 30hrs straight, lights going all night. Very impressive.
It amounted to much more than that.
Without dedicated employees, I would have never amounted to anything.
It was a two way street, based on trust.
They gave their all, and I did as well.
There were many years, back in the beginning, when I existed on pinto beans, cornbread, and rice, sometimes seven days a week, just so I could balance my budget, and make ends meet. I was always frugal, and never bought toys. When I finally hit a lick, the only extravagance I allowed myself, was constantly replacing worn out, junk iron, with new equipment. When I finally started turning a profit, I stared buying land.
A year ago, this past spring, we were working cattle, and my foreman's horse went down on him in the branding corral. It was snowing and icy, and was just one of those things that happened. I got to him and rolled him over, and both bones in his leg were out through the skin, stuck in the mud and the slop, and the shlt. It was a pretty bad deal.
After a couple of operations, thew leg grew back two inches shorter.
He is still a young man, in his early fifties, but his cowboy days are over.
It certainly did nothing to improve on his surly demeanor.
He is still on mu payroll, because it is my obligation.
Now he just rides around in a pickup truck, and normally gets drunk by noon, but he is always entertaining.
Funny you mention the Pollution Control Office.
I was outside, mowing around my house yesterday, with a push mower.
I noticed when I was filling it up with gas, that there was a warning tag on it.
This product not for sale in California as it does not meet California Pollution Standards.
My first thought was, What a joke!
My second thought was What, it can't be sold in California, but it can be sold elsewhere, to pollute US in the hinterlands?
Isn't THAT special!…………
(That's my Church Lady impersonation)
Heh hehe, for a paycheck she can see the light.
Congratulations on running a successful business and building it up!
Yes, I think it is criminal that I am now finding it FAR easier to do business in China than the U.S. since Obama and the democrats took over.
I was thinking that she was one of the ones bought off by that bogus paper O signed saying healthcare wouldn't fund abortions but wasn't sure.
I was going to say the same thing until I saw your post.
Sadly this is a fact. Obama has been placed where he is intentionally to d the job he is dong. Deconstruction of America!
It would have been an honor to have worked for you, sir. Tough, I'm sure, but fair.
Is California ready for the Patriot revolution that I think is gonna take place across America soon? I think we are going to take back our gov't and start doing the hard work of restoring our nation!!
Obama hates the current system,as do all Marxist,it's all about complete control,absolute power.
One day at my factory, I'm up front in my office, and a boring, grey suited looking guy walks into my office, through my factory. I asked him, "who the hell are you?". He says, "I'm from the health dept.". I said, "you walked through a restrictived area right through my factory, when I have a front door to this establishment?". I said "you are very lucky you didn't get the dirt beat out of you."
California has turned into a real piece of crap. Believe it or not, when I was growing up in the late '60's and '70's it was a great place. Mostly a bunch of farmer types. I grew up in a suburb of Los Angeles, you could leave your doors unlocked and ride your horse down the street. We had horse riding clubs, lots of fun. To think we were only 20 minutes from downtown LA.
Have a great weekend.
Politicians who were too stupid or too "loyal" to see the reality need firing and replacing. Blanche, you were in the first wave, now if you want to make a difference, tell it like it is. Having once been blockheaded you will now have to call the devil by his name….O BAMA!
Say it loud. Say it often. OR…..STFU!
C'mon, Blanche, you look too smart to be a Democrat. Join the conservatives and fight for the Right!
4,200 NEW REAGULATIONS??? What are they thinking? How many of these regulations came from the EPA? How many small business owner have time each year to even read 4,200 regulations, much less pay for implementing them? They intend to regulate small business out of existence. Wake up America it's time to clean house in Washington in 2012!
We need to repeal the entire Obama administration.
YGBFK!!!
No, my friend who told me about this was at the jobsite when it happened. I had a business and was threatened with a $25,000/day fine for using an illegal adhesive.
This is Kalifornia.
How did the US ever get to be the worlds leading economic super power without massive, burdensome regulation? Must have been magic.
Be nice if a few other real Democrats would follow her lead. Its long overdue.
They are not all Marxists, so what's holding them back?
Sorry I'm late to this…
Ms Lincoln did vote for ObamaCare, more than once, and after being told by her constituents not to. She defeated a liberal competitor in the primaries (2010), then lost soundly in the election to John Boozman.
And to answer your question, she's in it for the money!
Seems that "Blank-Stare Blanche" has turned into Blank-Brain Blanche. You can't fix stupid.
She is from the farm delta of the state and very supportive of farm supplements and regulations perceived to help farmers. She attempted to play the old democrat, fiscally conservative but socially liberal, but they all bow to party politics because they need the $$$ to get re-elected. I don't think many of her constituents would call her pro-business, except agricultural.
Thanks. The reason I'm asking is, if she voted for excessive regulations while she was a member of the Senate, but now that she's no longer in the Senate she has changed her tune, I wonder what she really believes. Was support for regulations merely partisanship? Or is she playing like she opposes them now to gain favor with voters?
Blanche is complaining now. She could've stopped health care reform in 2009, but decided that was good. Just how did she get this job to begin with?
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
IMHO, its yes… "is she playing like she opposes them now to gain favor with voters?"
I can't imagine she'd think of running again, her defeat was pretty catastrophic, but then I didn't think we'd see Newt again either.
Arkansas is pretty much conservative democrat, with a heavy dose of Christianity.
Mike Ross, you may remember him as a Blue Dog, prior to getting blasted in 2010 for falling for Obamacare and Obama's promises about abortion, was a typical Arkansas Democrat. It seems the only (R)s getting elected before 2010 were of the Huckabee variety.
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