Wall Street has been brimming with optimism since President Donald Trump’s election, but Main Street’s optimism soared as well. Some say the new GOP health insurance bill may keep that going.
CNBC reporter Kate Rogers said that “Main Street’s outlook post-election is still holding at historically high levels according to the National Federation of Independent Business.”
“While this month’s reading dropped 0.6 points to 105.3, it remains well above the group’s historical average of 98,” she added on CNBC’s Squawk Box March 14.
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She told viewers small business owners are happy that the “employer mandate is not a part of that new GOP healthcare plan,” and that could “definitely help keep optimism a little higher.”
Rogers listed other reasons for optimism including reports of job openings near a 17-year high and higher capital spending among small businesses.
In response to this report, co-anchor Andrew Ross Sorkin complained that “if we're not going to offer” health insurance through the government, the private sector should, but they won’t “pick up the slack” either.
He claimed that “all over the country” in many different ways companies are keeping employees “temporary all year.”
But co-anchor Becky Quick jumped in and explained that Obamacare actually exacerbated the problem Sorkin was talking about.
“This was my concern with the Affordable Care Act [Obamacare] from the beginning,” Quick said. “For 50 years or 60 years, we've been a nation where employers really did provide health care. This [Obamacare] gave them a reason not to.”
She said that her “concern” about Obamacare was that “we’re going to destroy health care for people doing really well.”
