Ortiz: Congressional Democrats Are Out of Touch with America’s Small Businesses

Alfredo Ortiz of Job Creators Network writes in TheHill that inflated wholesale costs have produced a crisis among small businesses, but Democrats in Congress are totally out of touch with their pressing concerns:

Dina Rubio, the owner of Don Ramon restaurant in West Palm Beach, Fla., testified before the House Committee on the Economy about the inflation hurdles her small business is facing. She explained how, in her restaurant’s experience, prices are rising even faster than government reports suggest. For example, a box of limes that she used to buy for $30 now costs $90. Wholesale steak prices have risen from around $7 to $12 per pound.

. . .

Rubio told the committee that policymakers deserve some blame for this painful inflation because of the trillions of dollars in government spending, their opposition to domestic energy production, and social welfare policies that have paid people to stay out of the workforce. She asked the government to do less — not more — to free American small businesses to increase the supply of goods and services and bring inflation under control.

Unfortunately, the committee chair, Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.), didn’t appear receptive to this message. He indicated that he was “disappointed” that Rubio brought up this real-world problem, noting that he’d prefer to stick to supposed “structural” racial equity barriers facing entrepreneurs. Despite inflation being by far the biggest problem facing American small businesses, committee member Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) made no mention of it in her remarks.

Read the rest of the article here.