Friday afternoon the day following SCOTUS' ruling on ObamaCare, I spoke with a friend whose business is high end construction work for smaller projects. After the usual "Hey How Are You," he tells me of the five projects he had on his planner; four called that morning and cancelled. 

1. We don't know if we'll be in business after the first of the year. If ObamaCare goes into effect with or without a new President we don't see any way we can go on. The taxes, fees and regulations will destroy us.

2. I'm sorry, man. We've got to put this renovation on hold. ObamaCare will ruin us if it's not overturned. Any dollars we sink into this project might just be totally wasted. We've got to wait and see what happens. If to stands, we're shutting the doors. 

3. I'm sorry, amigo. But with this bombshell from the Supremes, I'm gonna have to close the doors and lay off my people if it sticks on the books. No way I can afford to meet the dollar obligations the Feds are gonna lay on me if this turns out to be real. All my people will lose their jobs and I don't know what I'm going to do.

4. It's off. No point in pouring money down a hole if Obama and the IRS are going to nail me to the floor with all these new regs. I'm going to need the money we would have spent on repairs and renovations if suddenly I don't have a business. Good luck, brother. I'll call you if this gets overturned.

Then there's the dear friend with a highly successful business already suffering terribly at the hands of an economy where durable goods just aren't being ordered any more. He's one inch from closing what was a multi-decade success story with high wages and great benefits for his people, but this change will be the final nail driven in. 

That's four out of five would-have-been turnovers in business and profit gone, like snapping your fingers from the uncertainty and one great business hanging on by fingernails after decades of great business and happy customers. 

I can't begin to guess what this brief glimpse locally might translate to nationally.