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Start businesses? Probably not. That's something a minority will ever do. But -join- small businesses? Yes. Labor will become far more mobile and small busi

by roc 17y ago

Start businesses? Probably not. That's something a minority will ever do. But -join- small businesses? Yes. Labor will become far more mobile and small business will be on more-equal footing if they aren't forced to pay more for competitive benefits packages. That's A Good Thing(tm).

profquail 17y ago
I think more people would start their own businesses (not many, but more than now), simply because they could continue to work part-time somewhere to bring in money while growing their business. Part-time jobs usually don't offer health care benefits, so as of now it's either: (a) stay at current job full time for health benefits, and work on the business after hours, or (b) quit, have no health benefits, and work full time on the business in order to get up and running as quickly as possible (potentially at the cost of skipping important parts of the development process, marketing, etc.)
dan_the_welder 17y ago
Labor mobility is broken and it is a huge problem with American capitalism. Working for a small business is great, I have enjoyed and learned at everyone that I have worked for. Now that I am the small business owner, my employees are my family. If I were to behave like a corporate employer I would be a lonely man.
- jobu 17y ago
  Until recently, Labor Mobility was helped greatly by the housing boom - anyone could sell their house with little economic impact and move to a better job in a different area. Now we have the double-whammy of a housing bust and astronomical health care costs. Cobra helps, but it only lasts 18 months, and that's definitely not long enough to build a successful business.
tptacek 17y ago
The argument isn't that a majority of people would start small businesses with health insurance. It's simply that more people, in absolute terms, would. Again, I don't see how this could not be the case. The same dynamic that keeps the head of a family of 4 from joining a startup keeps that same person from starting a startup. There are fewer start-ers than join-ers, but they face the same obstacle.

by roc 17y ago

profquail 17y ago

I think more people would start their own businesses (not many, but more than now), simply because they could continue to work part-time somewhere to bring in money while growing their business. Part-time jobs usually don't offer health care benefits, so as of now it's either: (a) stay at current job full time for health benefits, and work on the business after hours, or (b) quit, have no health benefits, and work full time on the business in order to get up and running as quickly as possible (potentially at the cost of skipping important parts of the development process, marketing, etc.)

dan_the_welder 17y ago

Labor mobility is broken and it is a huge problem with American capitalism. Working for a small business is great, I have enjoyed and learned at everyone that I have worked for. Now that I am the small business owner, my employees are my family. If I were to behave like a corporate employer I would be a lonely man.

jobu 17y ago
Until recently, Labor Mobility was helped greatly by the housing boom - anyone could sell their house with little economic impact and move to a better job in a different area. Now we have the double-whammy of a housing bust and astronomical health care costs. Cobra helps, but it only lasts 18 months, and that's definitely not long enough to build a successful business.

tptacek 17y ago

The argument isn't that a majority of people would start small businesses with health insurance. It's simply that more people, in absolute terms, would. Again, I don't see how this could not be the case. The same dynamic that keeps the head of a family of 4 from joining a startup keeps that same person from starting a startup. There are fewer start-ers than join-ers, but they face the same obstacle.