back to article Opinion poll: Anti-regulatory 'hype' unwarranted

One advocacy group has published a survey it says proves that US small-business owners aren't unduly concerned with government regulations. Another group says that the first group's opinion poll is tainted by bogosity. "The rhetoric out there blaming government for the lack of small-business growth has reached a fever pitch," …

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  1. Graham Marsden

    "really weak demand and a lack of customers...

    "... is the biggest problem facing small businesses right now"

    Speaking as a small business owner myself, I agree.

    But that doesn't mean that I wouldn't consider excessive government regulation to be next in the line of problems, nor that I would say I wasn't "unduly concerned" about it.

    It all depends on how you ask the question and who you ask it of (and how you interpret the results)

    1. Charles Manning

      Exactly

      I'm also a small business owner.

      Lack of demand and customers is the biggest concern, but government regulation is the next biggest.

      Concern over regulation is a significant reason why many small businesses never start. Many people consider all the red tape to be just too much work and just can't be bothered starting a biz.

    2. Colin Millar
      Big Brother

      Couldn't agree more

      Arensmeyer makes a massive leap in faulty logic to come to his conslusion.

      Most small businesses recognise that regs are just there and get on with it. They see poor demand as something that can change so they list that as their priority.

      It's a bit of a reach for any political party in any country to claim that they are the friend of small business. It's not the consumer protection regs that are such a burden - in fact consumer protection regulation in the UK is piss-poor because of the need to allow the big boys to run scams at their customers as it is the basis of our whole eceonomy - PPI, inertia selling, automatic renewals, unfair contract terms etc - it's the Kafkaesque nightmare of dealing with HMRC that is the single biggest headache for anyone.

  2. Naughtyhorse

    regulatory matters as a whole stifle growth.

    considering that govt regulation is an attempt to curb the worst excesses of the free market then that means the regulation is working!

    just 'caus it's profitable dosent make 'sending kids up chimneys' right.

    dons asbestos suit to protect from flames... damn it's regulated against! curse you! interfering washington blowhards :-)

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      The same tired old story...

      1) "It will cost too much to do things properly. We will lose business to our competitors".

      2) They lose business to companies from countries which *already* have stricter standards.

      3) "We need help to compete internationally."

  3. futahorse
    Gimp

    My friend's father owns an insurance brokering business. The new healthcare laws have hurt him financially. We're not allowed to mention it to him.

    Part of the problem seems to be attitude of the consumers. They like to have as little choice a possible and feel it bothersome to go to a smaller store or to buy from a third-party seller on Amazon. It is hypocritical to complain about big businesses when you refuse to do business with smaller businesses. Apple fanboys protesting against big businesses is a shining example of weak-willed people.

  4. DanceMan

    Healthcare costs

    "The new healthcare laws have hurt him financially."

    Won't comment on the US system, either before or after the Obama changes other than noting that the US spends about 15%, Canada about 10% of GDP (the figures vary a little depending on the site), and Canada covers everybody. But God forbid the US adopts a single payer system, because "you can't afford it."

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Regulation of Banks was at the core of the U.S. Financial Failure

    Barack Obama made his money on the blackmailing of banks, using the legal system to force them to make Sub-Prime Mortgage Loans. This has been well known for decades, but common Americans don't really understand the regulations that they are under.

    http://michellemalkin.com/2008/06/25/the-acorn-obama-knows/

    Of course, community organizing groups, which propelled Barack Obama into Presidency, used their numbers to cast countless fake votes, defrauding the electoral system, and build a framework to cause the eventual destruction of private health care in America through over-regulation (in the form of the 2008 Obamacare.) ACORN was there, too.

    http://rottenacorn.com/downloads/060728_badSeed.pdf

    Regulations from the 30 year old Community Reinvestment Act with community organizers like Barack Obama and wide-spread Red Communist groups like ACORN were at the core of the financial failure in the United States.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dz5G_E9Hj54

    Regulation is the key, in destroying a free nation, through bankrupting the treasury.

    Posting Anonymously because of "The Brown Shirts" who approve of the bankruptcy of a Republic through regulation.

    1. kissingthecarpet
      Black Helicopters

      Ha Ha

      "Posting Anonymously because of "The Brown Shirts" - What - you think they're going to come and get you for posting on the Reg? Anyway, either they're "Red Communists" or "Brown Shirts" you know like "Hitler" or "Stalin" . Oh yeah I forgot, Hitler was a socialist wasn't he? or at least he was as far as you're concerned wasn't he? That's why he hated the Jews so much, because he was a follower of Marx & Engels - er,hang on....no, he was....er

      Great post - really funny.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Persecution complex

      A world without regulation would be absolutely marvellous, provided it was also a world in which some unscrupulous businesses and individuals didn't use cheating lying and thieving at just about everyone's expense as primary strategies to gain advantage. And if humans in general didn't so reliably behave like shits at the drop of a hat we could probably dispense with laws as well and rely on common custom. However societies that have neither law nor regulation tend to dissolve rather quickly into civil war and/or dictatorships that then bolster themselves and their advantages with ... laws and regulations. You should perhaps ask yourself whether it was the commie brown shirts that brought regulation down on America's banks and healthcare "providers", or perhaps their own track record of really fucking poor greed driven behaviour.

      Presumably those (9 an counting) downvotes will only firm up the belief that the "brown shirts" are not only out to get America as a whole, but you personally. We had a prime minister like that over here quite recently; the more we all told him he was a munter spouting complete rubbish, the more he waved that opposition as a badge of honour that proved absolutely he was right.

      Then again, those downvotes are in red, so maybe it really is a consipiracy.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      please

      Seek some professional help. You will be much happier if you accept the world as it is. Distorting reality to match your prejudices can be deeply damaging.

    4. Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge

      Re: Regulation of banks...

      Really amusing. Brilliant touches of surrealism. Hysterically funny, and sad at the same time. A sort of accidental literary genius.

  6. Billl
    IT Angle

    Over regulation stifles

    No poll can tell how many small businesses were not created simply because of over-regulation and outrageous "fees". If you're in business already, regulation can actually protect you from new competition as it makes it nearly impossible to break into an existing market.

  7. Tom 13

    Small Business Majority?

    Sounds like your bog standard Leftist astroturf organization to me.

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