Inflation is crushing California’s small business owners
The news is in, and it confirms what we already knew: California’s small businesses are getting crushed by inflation.
These are our local coffee shops, convenience stores, restaurants – cornerstones of our community that we rely on for everyday necessities.
But unfortunately, the supply chain crisis at our ports and in our stores exacerbated by a shortage of workers – and tolerated by the Biden administration – is making it more expensive to purchase inventory, forcing business owners to balance increasing costs for supplies and products while keeping prices competitive to incentivize customers to return.
In a recent LA Times article, a California car repair shop owner shared his struggle, stating “Either you keep the customer happy or you lose the customer.” And in a roundtable discussing the plight of small business in Congress last month, Jeff Salters, founder of Salty’s BBQ and Catering in Bakersfield, offered a similar sentiment, affirming: “As those costs continue to rise, we only have one option. That’s either to go up on our prices or take things off our menu.”
This is not how we empower our American entrepreneurs.
With California’s small businesses employing nearly 50 percent of California’s workforce, this is an issue that affects every corner of the state. And sadly, Americans living in states with Democrat governors are faring worse: there are 4 million “missing” jobs in Democrat states compared to 1.3 million in Republican states.
Though these numbers are alarming, there is an opportunity to change course on the horizon. Republicans across the country are continuing to put pressure on the Biden administration to hold them accountable for this skyrocketing inflation – the highest in over three decades. In the House, Republicans have led the fight against Biden’s massive tax-and-spend agenda that will continue to add inflationary pressure to consumer costs. We have also held roundtables, listened directly to the stories of American small business owners, and consistently supported proposals to grow the economy, get Americans back to work, and curb rampant inflation.
And we will continue to push for solutions to be enacted into law so that our small businesses and their workers can grow and compete, providing the goods and services we need throughout our community.
