A few years ago

 there was a fairly small grocery store I used to buy a few odds and ends from when I was in the area.

Seamen are generally pretty hard up for places to purchase grub as we don't have an amphibious vehicle to run us in and out of places to get grub. This place was located just outside of an oil refinery we pulled into to load or discharge.

I remember that the women that worked there were actually working there as a second family income and they told me thay were getting their health insurance from their husbands.

They also said that they were most likely going to lose their jobs when the state mandated that employers provide health insurance. 

Truth is the place looked like it was on their last legs and were staggering around like a boxer trying to avoid the inevitible knockout that was coming.

Part of this was competition from a chain and part of this was the neighborhood slowly declining.

The owner was well past retirement age and more or less kept the place open as a courtesy to the employees that had served him well through the heyday. The women that worked there knew this and were not bashful in mentioning this.

I believe the final nail in the coffin was the health insurance requirement that was enacted in that particular state. Another four or five jobs lost and another vacant storefront in a declining neighborhood.

I suppose that if they had not had health insurance thrust upon them they would have gone belly up when the minimum wage was raised.

Still, the point is that there are a lot of little guys out there struggling to make some semblence of a living with a small business and they don't need government intervention to make things harder on them.

The truth of the matter as I see it is this little market was on the ropes when government came in and delivered the knockout. I suppose it may have well gone under eventually but it sure didn't need government help to fail.

It's hard enough to run a small business and little guys don't need any more help from Uncle Sam.



To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY