Alfredo Ortiz, President and CEO of Job Creators Network, is on a mission to not just inform and advocate for small business owners but to counter government policies that work to erode the industries that support two-thirds of the economy. 

The last time RedState spoke with Ortiz was Labor Day 2022, and there was optimism and hope that the purported "Red Wave," would bring a change to the Biden agenda and some relief for small businesses. Sadly, that wave did not occur. Instead, what occurred was more stagnation in the job market, inflation increasing to record-high levels, and private-sector layoffs. In my interview with Ortiz just before Christmas, he did not report on any Christmas miracles for small business owners or the American consumer. 

But Ortiz did shed light on the smoke and mirrors approach that the Biden Administration has used to trumpet job creation, when what concerns the American worker is the cost of living outpacing their salaries, resulting in less spending and increased credit card use.

In an effort to reverse these falling poll numbers and duck the cost-of-living crisis facing many Americans, Biden has shifted his economic remarks of late from “Bidenomics” to job creation. “President Biden likes to talk about ‘jobs, jobs, jobs’ when touting his economic record,” reported the Wall Street Journal this month. “The problem is that voters are far more worried about prices, prices, prices.”

Essentially, thanks to Bidenomics, American's Christmas stockings are full of lumps of coal. The reality, as Ortiz succinctly put it, is that "Our small business owners are really struggling, not to mention the American consumer and the American worker."

"It's harder and harder to make ends meet, especially for women who generally manage household finances. President Biden and the liberal media continue to claim the economy is great, but real Americans, as this poll reiterates, know otherwise" - Alfredo Ortiz https://t.co/JyMtuvJtB4

— Job Creators Network (@JobCreatorsUSA) December 21, 2023

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California Governor Gavin Newsom crowed and strutted like a rooster over his signing into law a fast-food worker minimum wage increase to $20.00 an hour starting April 1, 2024. As if on cue, McDonald's and Chipotle announced in November that they would be increasing their menu prices. My colleague Matt Funicello reported at the time:

Furthermore, anyone with a brain knows that elevating the minimum wages for these employees would set the stage for out-of-this-world prices for fast food. It's simple math really; when you have to pay your employees a lot more, you offset that cost by raising prices. This is not hard to understand for those who pay attention to these things. The worst part about all this was that Newsom and his Democratic allies could care less about this. I mean, if they really cared, they wouldn't have passed this law in the first place. 

McDonalds and Chipotle raising prices was just the beginning of the end for fast-food workers. On Tuesday, Pizza Hut franchises in California announced they are laying off staff delivery drivers. Why give an employee an hourly wage when you can offset the cost to the consumer via DoorDash? You hate to see it, but it's the inevitability of the demands for minimum wage hikes. Just because workers demand more doesn't mean corporations will have more to spread to their entire staff.

NEW: Pizza Hut franchises in California are laying off their staff delivery drivers in anticipation of a new state law raising the minimum wage to $20 per hour in 2024. The move will result in over 1,200 job cuts. https://t.co/Eg5IMHOtZE

— San Francisco Chronicle (@sfchronicle) December 27, 2023

Ortiz discussed the fallacy of politicians who claim that raising the minimum wage will create more jobs, as well as technology, like AI, effectively eliminating jobs.

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Ultimately, it is going to be up to the voters to remove the politicians who make these lofty promises that have no foundation. Ortiz discussed his hope that the American people are waking up to the reality that no one is going to come and save them, and that voting for economically sound policies and against the pipe dreams fostered by the Biden Administration is the only way for the country to turn the tide on job creation and the survival of small business.

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