The Washington Post’s Steve Pearlstein argues that the meme that comes mostly from Repugnicans is patently false.
Suffice it to say that, in terms of new job creation, the data show that most of it happens in a small number of very fast-growing companies that are no longer what most of us would consider small. There are lots of reasons for the success of these fast-growing firms, among them the ingenuity and hard work of their founders, the availability of capital and a culture that celebrates risk-taking.
But the dirty little secret is that a lot of small-business job growth has also been driven by the decision of big businesses to outsource many tasks that they used to do in-house. In an economic sense, jobs haven’t been so much "destroyed" and "created" as they have been shifted from one company to another.
Pearlstein says the healthcare debate is colored by this myth. If we have universal coverage that requires all businesses offer healthcare and all employees must buy it, the impact on small business will be nil. If all must offer it, none would get competitive advantage and thus be put out of business.
Pearlstein goes on to explain that many jobs created by small business is because big business has found that it is cheaper to outsource work to small businesses that are not saddled with healthcare costs.
What Pearlstein leaves out is that small businesses cited by GOPers are defined as companies with less than 500 employees. I doubt most Americans think a business of 499 employees is a small mom-and-pop small business operation.