-By Warner Todd Huston
Four restaurants, three of which are McDonald’s, have closed down on several military bases and a host of other outlets, like Pizza Huts, are also saying they will soon be closing their shops. These closures will seriously damage the quality of life for our soldiers on our military bases and it is all thanks to Barack Obama.
The shocking report from the Military Times has several Republican lawmakers alarmed that the quality of life on our military bases will be diminished thanks to Obama’s meddling.
According the MT, several other contractors who operate restaurants and other small businesses on military bases “have asked to be released from their Army and Air Force Exchange Service contracts to operate fast food restaurants at two other installations.”
So, what is going on, here? Why are all these small outlets closing? Well, it is thanks to Obama’s Executive Order that all minimum wage workers be given a raise to $10.10 per hour (up from $7.25). That on top of Obama’s decree that such businesses pay more for healthcare and that they pay a $3.81 per hour “health and welfare” benefit is also making these businesses close their doors.
“At the end of the day, there will be fewer jobs,” an industry source told Military Times. “And for [the contractors] who stick it out, there will be higher costs and the customers will pay more.”
The fact is, Obama has just made sure these companies cannot afford to operate on military bases. This foreshadows what would happen in the greater society, too.
The situation is getting so bad that the military is pleading with Washington to carve out some exceptions for our soldiers.
In a letter to the Department of Labor, deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for military manpower and personnel Russell Beland, asked for relief for these businesses.
“Given the business model typical in the fast food industry, this increase in the cost of labor dramatically disrupts the profitability and viability of food service operators” on military bases, Beland wrote. “The increased labor burden resulting from the new [wage structure] eliminates any profit the operator might otherwise realize and puts him in an impossible business dilemma.”
Beland warned that nearly 400 small businesses will close their doors on military bases because of Obama’s meddling.
40 Republican members of the House Armed Services and Education and Workforce committees also wrote a letter to the Dept. of Labor demanding that these hikes in costs be mitigated.
It isn’t likely that Obama will do anything about this, though. Obama could not care less if our soldiers find a lower quality of life.
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“The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”
–Samuel Johnson
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Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and before that he wrote articles on U.S. history for several small American magazines. His political columns are featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, BigHollywood.com, and BigJournalism.com, as well as RightWingNews.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, Wizbang.com, among many, many others. Huston has also appeared on Fox News, Fox Business Network, CNN, and many local TV shows as well as numerous talk radio shows throughout the country.
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