Our civilization has seen more new laws and legislation in the last five years than at any other time in human history. Had there been this many laws introduced in the past we would not have gotten to where we are today. There would have been no entrepreneurs, no capital investment, and certainly little if any risk-taking in many of the mainstay industries of our civilization.
It seems whenever you turn around, you find more laws, many which contradict each other and we accept this. Yet if we stopped to think about all the forms we must fill out and rules and regulations we must follow it almost does not make sense to run a small business. Of course most people get into business before they realize this. Something terrible has happened to the small businessperson over the years and made the prospects of the American Dream of owning your own company more of an American Nightmare.
As we enter this next downturn in the business cycle, how can we expect the small businesses to hold up our economic engine without a massive slashing of red tape, bureaucracy and regulations? Tax cuts for small businesses are great, however they are not enough with more tort reform, reduced regulations and a “red magic marker committee” to go through ridiculous laws and rules which serve no one. If we do not take care of this problem now, the small business will collapse under the weight of being over lawyered and our downturn in the business cycle will last for a decade not three to five years. Think on this.