On Comprehending and Managing Excessive Governmental Regulation of Small Business

Abstract

This article focuses on the adverse impact of excessive regulation of small business in the U.S. in the 1980s. The concept that government should regulate business existed during the time when abuse was rampant and reform warranted. In this time, government regulation could be compared to one conservative humorist's definition of progress that it was a good idea once, it's a shame we allowed it to go on too long. The current economy reflects the impact of unchecked regulatory zeal. Two years ago, Barry Bosworth, Director of the Council on Wage and Price Stability, estimated that the cost of compliance with government regulations is set at $100 billion added about 0.75 percent to the annual inflation rate and reduced the real buying power of the average family by $2,000 annually. For small businesses, which cumulatively spend nearly $3 billion annually to complete some 850 million pages of government forms, the situation is impossible. Small business has always been presumed the nucleus of our economic energy. There are several legislations which the U.S. Congress passed to reduce small business and the lessons included the need to change our mind-set on economic growth.