Election Aftermath … What Does It Mean for the Electrical Industry?

With a Neo-Marxist in the White House, it is pretty hard to imagine the next four years will be good overall for American businesses (who he clearly dislikes). There will likely be more extreme spending and favor shown to certain segments (eg. “green”)and continued Chicago style political patronage to friends of those in power.

It is likely, with the level of economic illiteracy in Washington today, that we will see continued growth in deficit spending, a period of higher inflation (including “tax inflation”) and low real growth in the economy.

The “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” (PPACA) aka “Obamacare” has begun, and will continue, creating a number of new forms of taxation and costs that will have to be borne by the producers (a growing minority) so real incomes will likely continue to fall, and there will likely be upward pressure on wages to offset more stealth taxes that will almost certainly be imposed to pay for increased social programs and spending. This, coupled with an out of control NLRB, will likely drive up the costs of employing anyone in the US to the point that there will be little job growth or opportunity for advancement.

I think many of us will simply hunker down a bit further, hope to survive the next four years and figure out how to preserve, to the greatest extent possible, what has taken many years of very hard work to build – keeping as many of our loyal employees on board as possible and waiting for the political winds to change.

I don’t believe the election will have much impact on my business one way or the other. We’re a 5 employee electrical contractor in the Seattle area. I believe either candidate would maintain the same tax structure for a small company like ours. Will some of our high-end clients spend less if the rich are taxed more? I suppose it’s possible.

As far as the Affordable Healthcare Act goes it’s not at all clear what the impact to companies like mine will be. It might prove to be beneficial to my employees in the long run – only time will tell.

I am hopeful that the slow growing economy will continue to grow and that things will keep improving.