Why is it getting harder to do business in America? Part of the answer is excessively complex legislation. A prime example is the 848-page Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of July 2010 (otherwise known as the Dodd-Frank Act), which, among other things, required that regulators create 243 rules, conduct 67 studies and issue 22 periodic reports. Comparable in its complexity is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (906 pages), which is also in the process of spawning thousands of pages of regulation. You don't have to be opposed to tighter financial regulation or universal health care to recognize that something is wrong with laws so elaborate that almost no one affected has the time or the will to read them.So where is the risk taking spirit in America? Are American's concerned that in order to go the entrepreneurship route that they'd have to cover their behinds to make it work?
Who benefits from the growth of complex and cumbersome regulation? The answer is: lawyers, not forgetting lobbyists and compliance departments. For complexity is not the friend of the little man. It is the friend of the deep pocket. It is the friend of cronyism.
We used to have the rule of law. Now it is tempting to say we have the rule of lawyers, which is something different. For the lawyers can also make money even in the absence of complex legislation.
Either "Obamacare" or raising the minimum wage could be said to be screwing American workers. They're both well meaning, but could both measures truly affect those who are affected. It could affect those businesses who may want to hire more people or those who are currently working, however, they may not be able to work as much time as they would like.
If only there was a will to truly hash these issues out.
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