“Papa” John Schnatter pointed out a very uncomfortable reality during a conference call last week. What was so uncomfortable?Obamacare is going to raise the cost of his pizza. It will make it more expensive for him to run his business which will in turn force him to raise the price of each pie he sells.
He is predicting a modest increase of 11-20 cents per pizza which doesn’t sound like much on face value right? That is what the Progressives I have seen ranting about focusing on which is a wonderful illustration of just how little the left understands about this type of issue. Evidently, in the world of some, Papa Johns lives in a bubble and are the only ones who will have to increase their prices to remain in business. This unfortunately is not the case, all businesses will be forced to raise their prices.
For ease of math lets say that this is a 10% increase on all goods and services as the Papa Johns example roughly appears to be. Starting with the one item which effects the cost of everything… fuel. If this increases the cost of labor for the oil companies they raise their fuel costs. The increased fuel costs negatively impact every business in this nation who has to ship, use electricity, heat and etc. using fuel. This raises their expenses which requires them to also raise their prices in addition to their own increased healthcare costs. Every business which relies upon the products from that company must then raise their prices to accommodate the increase in their own shipping, electricity, heating, and vendor costs. This snow balls into a rapid inflation of all goods and services throughout the country reducing our ability to export goods, increasing the costs of everything that you and I buy for our homes and families. Now add to that the fact that you healthcare costs are going to go up as well.
The reality of this situation certainly makes that 10-20% a pie look a lot less attractive. Now consider that Mr. Schnatter said that “If Obamacare is not repealed, we will find tactics t shallow out any Obamacare costs and core strategies to pass that cost onto consumers in order to protect our shareholders best interests.” Will this require a reduction in their workforce? Will this require the closing of less productive restaurants? Well Herman Cain explained quite bluntly when he said “For many businesses like mine, the cost of your plan is simply a cost that will cause us to eliminate jobs.” How else can an employer who is already running at a tight profit margin remain profitable and thereby remain in business?
These are realities that Progressives do not understand. For some reason they believe that profit is evil, corporations are evil and therefore anything that harms them is good without looking at the consequences to the rest of the nation including themselves. Harming these businesses harms us all. It impacts our ability to live our lives, it impacts our retirement and it impacts our own incomes. All of this while reducing our healthcare options and increasing our own healthcare costs.
Being John Adams 