Several news stories around the web today discuss the United States Supreme Court's Ruling on the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and what it could mean for franchised businesses.  As I said yesterday, I sincerely hope these gloomy predictions are not accurate.  Franchising has started to rebound as an industry, and I would hate to see that growth stymied.  After all, franchises account for a very large percentage of all small businesses around the country, and small business is the engine on which this country's economy runs. 

• From the Los Angeles Times: Retailers, Factories, Main Street React to Supreme Court Ruling.  Quotes International Franchise Association President Steve Caldeira as saying that the ruling puts 3.2 million franchised businesses at risk, and that it is "unworkable, unaffordable and wrong for our country's small business owners who continue to struggle in a still sluggish economic climate."

• From CNBC: Small Business On Obamacare: No Reason To Hire Or Invest.  Quotes Jim Amos, President and CEO of Tasti D-Lite, as saying that the ruling will "force franchisees to shift workers to part-time to avoid the 50-employee threshold[, and] keep new owners and new openings on the sideline.”

• From Nasdaq / Dow Jones: Restaurants, Retailers Disappointed With Health-Care Mandate. Quotes National Retail Federation's Chief Executive, Matthew Shay, as saying "as it stands, the law wrongly focuses more on penalizing employers and the private sector than reducing health costs. Although the Court upheld the law's constitutionality, many problems remain: It penalizes employers too much; it doesn't do enough to reduce the cost of health care; and it is unreasonably complicated and difficult to implement and administer."

• From the Washington Post, an op-ed piece by Fastsigns CEO Catherine Monson: Why the health-care ruling may stop franchises from opening new stores, creating new jobs.  According to Ms. Monson, "the law will deter growth by unintentionally discouraging franchisees from owning and operating multiple locations, creating a competitive disadvantage for our franchisees who do own more than one or two locations (and who may want to open additional stores), and barriers to entrepreneurs who are looking to capitalize on the franchise business model to grow their business and hire more workers."