Small firms say regulation is fastest-growing concern
It’s been exactly three and a half years since Barack Obama was inaugurated, and here are two things that folks on the left have been saying about the economy every day since then: It’s Bush’s fault, and the problem is a lack of aggregate demand.
Here’s what small businesses have to say about the situation:
Chart by Dan Clifton at Strategas Research, via the AEIdeas blog
Keeping in mind that these are what small firms are “most concerned” about, meaning many likely have concerns to varying degrees about all three, a few things jump out at me:
1. In 2005, these three concerns accounted for a little more than one-third of small firms’ biggest worries. Today, they combine for about 60 percent. That suggests to me that these firms have less time and energy to devote to specific concerns about growing their business.
2. After shooting to the top in the second half of 2008, concerns about sales plateaued for about two years. Those concerns have been falling pretty steadily for the past year and a half.
3. Concerns about regulation, which more or less mirrored those about sales from 2005 to the start of 2008, began a steady ascent in 2009 and have almost doubled since then.
4. Concerns about taxes have remained fairly steady over these years.
5. At the beginning of 2009, the sum of concerns about regulation and those about sales was in the neighborhood of 40 percent — pretty much the same as today. But the division between them is starkly different: Whereas there were three small firms concerned about sales for every one worried about regulation then, now the two are dead even. In other words, worries about sales have been gradually replaced by worries about regulation.
6. If current trend lines continue, both taxes and regulation will soon rank higher among small firms’ concerns than sales.
Even if one wants to credit Obama’s “stimulus” package with the decrease in worries about sales — totally ignoring the effects of the Federal Reserve’s ultra-loose monetary policy — this graph clearly shows why improved demand hasn’t shifted the economy out of neutral: Increased regulation has stifled the recovery we might have had.
Small firms are generally credited with the bulk of job creation in this country. So the question this information puts to voters is: Which candidate do you expect to do more about the most pressing problems faced by small firms — Barack Obama or Mitt Romney?
– By Kyle Wingfield
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575 comments Add your comment
Dirty Dawg
July 21st, 2012
12:43 pm
Hey tiberius…somehow I can’t imagine ‘you people’ (to borrow an expression) just ’suffering through’ the next Obama administration. My bet is that they’ll (aka you) resolve to engage in as much obstructionism as you have over the last three-plus. You’ve heard the old story of four guys that played golf religiously every Saturday, until one day one of the members dropped dead on the fourth hole. Later the survivors were responding to words of sympathy from others with, ‘Yes it was terrible about ‘Ol Charlie’. I mean it took us six hours to finish’ cause after the fourth hole it was hit the ball and drag Charlie.’. Not that Republicans actually died, although for practical purposes they might as well have, but for these three and a half years it’s been ‘Hit the ball and drag the Republicans.’. Its a wonder there’s been any progress at all.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
July 21st, 2012
12:44 pm
Sorry, here’s the link:
http://web.sba.gov/faqs/faqIndexAll.cfm?areaid=24
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
July 21st, 2012
12:46 pm
” My bet is that they’ll (aka you) resolve to engage in as much obstructionism as you have over the last three-plus.”
Your point, Dirty Dawg?
Why wouldn’t the Republicans try to obstruct that which is destroying us and has proven to be ineffective? That is the epitome of the role of the opposition – don’t allow the other guy to make things worse.
md
July 21st, 2012
12:58 pm
“Not that Republicans actually died, although for practical purposes they might as well have, but for these three and a half years it’s been ‘Hit the ball and drag the Republicans.’. Its a wonder there’s been any progress at all.”
A bit like Bush trying to reform Fannie and Freddie huh?
Amazing how that info is also on google, but those on the left refuse to acknowledge the fact and it very well may have help avoid the collapse in 2008 altogether……..
Funny how things work huh?
j nes
July 21st, 2012
1:09 pm
Tiberius,
I was almost proud of you. But you forgot the link. You are so close to supporting a claim with evidence. Don’t quit now!
Jim H
July 21st, 2012
1:14 pm
Kyle has simply thrown up graph he likes with no supporting data to back up what he then claims. Tiberius I am now 68 and ran small business for many years. Interesting article about student loans in AJC. Despite Barclays, student loans, JP Morgan, housing collapse, two unjustified wars, and Bain many just cannot wait for another dose. What is it Tiberius that you specifically object to. Please give specifics not unsupported conclusions and rhetoric like Kyle. Look forward to civil exchange on issues. Jim
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
July 21st, 2012
1:24 pm
“What is it Tiberius that you specifically object to.”
Jim, if you actually READ my post, it is entirely clear what I object to. For anyone to state as you did shows incredible ignorance. Not only that, naivete. What do you think you’re paying for, Jim? More importantly, what do you think you’re NOT paying for?
Again, instead of running up deficits each year, let’s just adjust the taxes on EVERYBODY so that all that clean air and water, safe food, security and entitlements actually get paid for? And since it’s roughly double what we’re paying today, instead of just taking 1/3rd of your paycheck, let’s make sure we take 2/3rds of it.
Maybe if you everybody actually stated contributing their fair share of what all this costs, you might not keep whining for more of it.
md
July 21st, 2012
1:53 pm
For those that doubt Bush tried to stop the housing meltdown only to be denied by the democrats, I had to look around a bit for some info that those on the left wouldn’t automatically poo poo the source.
This link to the NY Times (that bastion of conservative thought) spells it out:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/11/business/11LEND.html?ei=5070&en=f31e9de1e37a3180&ex=1221969600&pagewanted=all&position=
But we all know what happened……obstructionism at it’s finest……….
Mr_B
July 21st, 2012
1:54 pm
The real problem with Kyle’s analysis is that the three “problems” that he cites are not independent variables. Let’s assume that the study cited was in fact a legitimate exercise and not merely a sort of sophisticated push poll along the lines of “Do you think that Obamacare is A) threat B) menace C) unconstitutional power grab; the answer that any respondent gives will alter his perceptions of the other two. For instance, if the respondent chooses “regulations,” his response to low sales is necessarily less, and vice versa. A more valuable way of looking at the question would be to ask small business owners to rate each segment individually, without regard to the other two. Maybe set the questions with a sliding 1-10 scale.
Also, if small business is less worried about sales (revenue); isn’t that a good thing
md
July 21st, 2012
1:58 pm
And folks can poo poo this source all day long if they wish, but it won’t change the underlying numbers one iota:
“Rove said Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac “accelerated their imprudent behavior after we attempted to regulate them. They bought almost as much mortgage debt from 2005 through 2008” as they bought in their first 30 years of their existence.”
Could we have stopped the meltdown? You decide………
Michael H. Smith
July 21st, 2012
2:15 pm
Reining in the Obama Administration’s Regulatory Agenda
The bureaucracy should serve, not rule the people. As Ranking Member of the EPW Committee, Senator Inhofe oversees activities at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other energy and environmental agencies under the Obama Administration. While regulations are needed to protect the environment and ensure clean air and water, Senator Inhofe has fought against regulations that destroy jobs, raise energy costs for consumers, and provide no meaningful environmental benefits. The following is a list of the regulations Senator Inhofe challenged, several of the initiatives he led to beat them back, and efforts to highlight the Obama Administration’s overreaching bureaucracy:
http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Issues.View&Issue_id=87c1303a-7e9c-9af9-7d81-37771c380b87
I’m quite sure the resident Marxist Fascist BIG GUB’MENT Socialist who never fail to disagree completely with anything Kyle has to say would find every obumer regulation Senator Inhofe fought against as totally unjust and costly to small business.
Michael H. Smith
July 21st, 2012
2:34 pm
Regulatory Tidal Wave
The next four years could bring a tidal wave of more than 4,100 regulations for the American economy. Regulations in the pipeline are estimated to cost the economy more than half a trillion dollars.
http://www.sensibleregulations.org/resources/stop-the-tidal-wave-regulations/
Michael H. Smith
July 21st, 2012
2:39 pm
NFIB Small Business Coalition Launches Nine-State Effort to Stop President Obama’s Regulatory Tidal Wave
Concerns Mount over 4,100 Regulations Pending in Washington That Could Cost More than Half a Trillion Dollars
WASHINGTON, July 18, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The next four years could bring a tidal wave of costly federal regulations impacting U.S. businesses and consumers, according to new analysis by the National Federation of Independent Business’ coalition, Small Businesses for Sensible Regulations. There are currently 4,128 federal regulations in the pipeline which, if implemented, will impose costs of more than $515 billion on the U.S. economy.
“With small business confidence at an all-time low, this tidal wave of impending federal regulations is coming at the worst time imaginable, creating more uncertainty for small business owners and further stalling their economic recovery,” said Susan Eckerly, Vice President of Public Policy for the NFIB.
Over the past four years, regulations have cost American businesses and taxpayers more than $138 billion, according to NFIB’s analysis of the Office of Management and Budget’s semi-annual regulatory agenda and a recent report by the Heritage Foundation. NFIB estimates that regulations under consideration in Washington could cost more than a half trillion dollars when implemented, quadrupling the cost of regulations finalized during the previous four years…
…Poll after poll demonstrates that regulatory burdens are a top reason why small businesses are not hiring at pace with previous years. In fact, a Gallup poll earlier this year found 85 percent of small businesses surveyed weren’t hiring, and about half cited government regulations as the reason.
Last year, Small Businesses for Sensible Regulations along with the National Federation of Independent Businesses sent an open letter to President Obama proposing five commonsense principles to help reform the regulatory system. They include: giving small businesses a greater voice in the federal regulatory process; providing assistance to small businesses before assessing penalties; requiring major federal rules to undergo rigorous cost-benefit analysis; basing regulatory decisions only on objective, validated science; and requiring more transparency and accountability in the regulatory process.
http://uspolitics.einnews.com/pr_news/105928672/nfib-small-business-coalition-launches-nine-state-effort-to-stop-president-obama-s-regulatory-tidal-wave
Bye for now.
JDW
July 21st, 2012
2:45 pm
@Tiberius…”FACT that small businesses are responsible for creating the majority of new jobs is the point made by BOTH political parties. They both agree, and both cite the data to back up their common views.”
Of course they, like you usually, are wrong. It’s not small it’s NEW businesses that create the jobs.
http://econweb.umd.edu/~haltiwan/size_age_paper_R%26R_Aug_16_2011.pdf
JDW
July 21st, 2012
2:54 pm
@Tiberius…”JDW, in the history of this nation, the ratio of regulations that have had a negative financial effect on business vs. a positive financial effect on business is something on the order of 20:1.”
So speketh Tiberius
of course the rest of us know you just pulled that out of your….oppps forgot that’s where you keep your brain.
ncgreybr
July 21st, 2012
3:27 pm
I run a small retail store. Have run it for the past 12 years. What new “regulations” are there that haven’t been here in the past 12 years? I can’t think of any off hand! Where are all these neew taxes that I’m drowning under?
The only thing that keep me down is people coming in and whining about Obama and then not spending money. I’ve actually had people say “Don’t bother waiting on me. I’m not planning on spending a cent until Obama is out of office. I don’t plan on doing anything to help the economy! When I said “That’s certainly not a very patriotic attitude!” I was told “Tough Sh%t!”
The attitude I see from the Republican customers and my Republican friends (and especailly Congress) is that they wiill do ANYTHING to bring Obama down, including distroy the economy and ultimately America in the process (and blame it on Obama).
JDW
July 21st, 2012
3:34 pm
@ncgreybr…”The only thing that keep me down is people coming in and whining about Obama and then not spending money”
AMEN…the Party of No PR machine is the biggest drag going.
Lil' Barry Bailout - Vote American
July 21st, 2012
3:45 pm
How Inciteful Is That!: I paid $2727 for ex-employer subsidized health insurance in 2010 and now I am paying $3490, for less.
—————————–
Why didn’t you keep your health care plan? Obozo said you could. Either you messed up badly, or Obozo lied.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
July 21st, 2012
4:13 pm
JDW conveniently leaves out the link the the SBA I provided. The SBA, of course, is also known as the Small Business Administration, an arm of the U.S. Government, and one that would, you know, actually KNOW about the number of new jobs small businesses create.
Ooops!
Facts are such troublesome things, even when they have to be handed to liberals.
JDW
July 21st, 2012
4:42 pm
@Tiberius…”Facts are such troublesome things, even when they have to be handed to liberals.”
Especially “facts” that have been debunked by actual research…say just the kind of stuff in my 2:54 link.
dabir dalton
July 21st, 2012
4:44 pm
If that is the case Kyle then conservative pundits like yourself and small business owners need to be honest and forthright enough to point out which regulations are causing the problems and why so that they can be fixed or discarded. Otherwise all you and the small business owners are doing by whining about regulations is making yourself look like your above the rules the rest of us must play by – that you don’t care if people die from eating tainted food like peanut butter simply because the regulations put into place to prevent tainted food from reaching the average persons table is an impediment to getting making money.
ncgreybr
July 21st, 2012
4:45 pm
Tiberius…one of the flaws of the system is that my store is considered a “small business” but so is Dekalb General Hospital (or whatever it’s called nowadays) with it’s hundreds of employees is also a “small business”.
JDW
July 21st, 2012
4:49 pm
See Tiberius your problem is you don’t think…the sba says “small business generated 65 percent of net new jobs over the past 17 years.”. That leads to folks like you waving the banner for local small business, which is important but does not drive job growth.
As the research shows what drives job growth is NEW businesses which are by definition s
“small” for a time then GROW into large companies…think Google and Facebook.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
July 21st, 2012
4:50 pm
“It’s not small it’s NEW businesses that create the jobs.”
JDW, it is really embarrassing debating you when you come up with nonsense like this.
Of course, every NEW business is a BIG business, right?
No, JDW, every new business is a SMALL business. Ergo, small businesses create the majority of new jobs.
And of course, the SMALL BUSINESS Administration (you know, the people who actually know small businesses) are really considered the experts to consult on these figures.
Not some obscure white paper by some liberal hacks.
“It’s not small it’s NEW businesses that create the jobs.”
What a maroon!
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
July 21st, 2012
4:51 pm
“that you don’t care if people die from eating tainted food like peanut butter simply because the regulations put into place to prevent tainted food from reaching the average persons table is an impediment to getting making money.”
Oh, holy crap! Not this nonsense again. . .
JDW
July 21st, 2012
4:52 pm
so one of the issues with focusing on “small business” regulations is that they really don’t Impact job growth. You want to drive grow…focus on funding…think 1990’s.
JDW
July 21st, 2012
4:56 pm
@Tiberius, as I have noted before, a large part of our problem is people like you that can’t process information that challenges your closely held opinions.
ncgreybr
July 21st, 2012
4:59 pm
It was just pointed out to me by an employee that, here I am, living in ignorant bliss, while everyone else is getting hit but unbearable regulations, I am not!
Someone! Please tell me!
Kyle! Please! What are these unbearable regulations that the Obama administration has put into effect that is going to kill my retail business? I feel them pressing on my shoulders but can’t see them!
Wait! That was just gas…..
JDW
July 21st, 2012
5:05 pm
O’ BTW tibeius…i wouldn’t exactly call work by The University of Maryland and The Bureau Economic Research
An” obscure white paper by some liberal hacks.”
/www.nber.org/
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
July 21st, 2012
5:11 pm
“people like you that can’t process information that challenges your closely held opinions.”
Really, JDW? You’re going to put up a liberal white paper against the Small Business Administration?
Who can’t process information, son? You’re an embarrassment to liberal across America.
But entirely typical.
JDW
July 21st, 2012
5:17 pm
@tiberius…you must be too dumb to find the link. Psssst…the sba gets a lot of its research from the nber and dumbs it down into sound bytes that folks like you inverably misinterpret.
How Inciteful Is That!
July 21st, 2012
5:22 pm
Why didn’t you keep your health care plan? Obozo said you could. Either you messed up badly, or Obozo lied.
I did keep the same healthcare plan. They just continue to charge more while delivering less and President Obama is not the problem. So your “either or” construct is woefully inadequate.
JDW
July 21st, 2012
5:30 pm
@Tiberius…since you can only process sound bytes I dumbed down for you…
“Haltiwanger and two other economists showed, in a study of 32,000 companies over 30 years, that small businesses no more than 5 years old — that’s about 40% of them — are the only ones that create more jobs each year than they cut.
In 2005, for instance, more than 99% of the 2.5 million net new private-sector jobs in the United States came from these start ups”
It’s not your local dry cleaner, Restaurant or retailer that creates the jobs. Wasting time in that segment is the problem…you want to foster growth…it’s the funding stupid.
Bruno
July 21st, 2012
5:36 pm
Because he has no plan to continue this weak recovery that is any different than his first, failed plan, and he has nobody around him capable of convincing him he has to work with a divided Congress, rather than campaign against them, which hasn’t worked, either.
Just a gambler’s hunch, Ti, but I believe the average American has grown tired of Obama’s Villains and Victims finger-pointing shtick. At some point, results matter. There’s no doubt that Obama inherited a difficult situation, yet even less doubt that all of the deficit spending has made the hole far deeper.
Bruno
July 21st, 2012
5:39 pm
Everyone once believed in a geocentric universe too.
Obviously j nes doesn’t know much about Astronomy or Einsteinian Relativity either……
Bruno
July 21st, 2012
5:47 pm
“Don’t bother waiting on me. I’m not planning on spending a cent until Obama is out of office. I don’t plan on doing anything to help the economy!
Is it just me, or does ncgreybr sound like he’s full of crap?? I’ve never heard anyone of either political stripe mention politics while deciding whether to spend money in a small retail store. Sounds like projection to me…..
kelly
July 21st, 2012
5:57 pm
I don’t know who this survey actually surveyed, but ALL my friends in business cite the same concern – and it isn’t regulations. It’s lack of customers. But regulations are a concern; mostly state and local that take the biggest toll, and the most unreasonable to resolve.
ncgreybr
July 21st, 2012
6:27 pm
Sorry, Bruno! People look at me and think because I’m a business owner, I’m a Republican and think the way they do and begin spouting off against Obama. If they’re spending money. I just let them run their mouths. If they’re not spending money, I put them in their place. I’ve had more than one guy come in with the “How are you even staying in business with Obama trying to close all the small businesses around the USA right now?” They hear this crap on the radio and don’t think to question any of it, they just repeat it.
When they ask that, I give them the “Yeah! That’s why he’s funneling billions into the Small Business Administration, to put them out of business.” I usually get a “Duh…Huh?”
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
July 21st, 2012
6:47 pm
The Small Business Administration doesn’t fund anything. All they do is assume the debt when the loan fails.
Kinda like the Housing Bubble the libs created that wiped out the economy.
Nice try, however.
Bruno
July 21st, 2012
6:51 pm
ncgreybr–From one businessman to another, I hope things improve for you. We’re all in this thing together.
I can’t doubt your experiences, but I’ve yet to meet anyone who is rooting against the country doing well based on who the leader is, however. I’d rather do well under a leader I couldn’t stand then poorly under a leader I liked. I have to believe that I’m not unique in that sentiment.
Bruno
July 21st, 2012
6:52 pm
For my sweetie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14nD-QMjFvI
Bruno
July 21st, 2012
6:55 pm
Kinda like the Housing Bubble the libs created that wiped out the economy.
Reporter–Everyone from the top to the bottom, both Democrat and Republican was responsible for the mortgage meltdown. Everyone from greedy, dishonest bankers to greedy, dishonest consumers. We’re all to blame.
Bruno
July 21st, 2012
6:56 pm
I dedicate the next one to Obama’s re-election campaign:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3p_xAToFzck&feature=related
Dusty
July 21st, 2012
7:05 pm
JDW
Where did you get your degree in Pomposity? Did they take you as seriously as you take yourself?
I suggest you get a billboard so the world can know of your great glory. Shakespeare put it so nicely:
Glory is like a circle in the water,
Which never ceasth to enlarge itself,
‘Till, by broad spreading, it disperse to nought.
.
Bruno
July 21st, 2012
7:08 pm
“Yellow Brick Road” was an awesome album, all except for the title track. “Grey Seal” kicks some major butt:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsozyGR6Eo4
MarkV
July 21st, 2012
7:10 pm
Dusty,
I can see that you have a problem with somebody citing facts. Not that it would surprise me.
Bruno
July 21st, 2012
7:12 pm
Dusty–How’s this for some poetry??
Tune me in to the wild side of life
I’m an innocent young child sharp as a knife
Take me to the garretts where the artists have died
Show me the courtrooms where the judges have lied
.
If I was an artist who paints with his eyes
I’d study my subject and silently cry
Cry for the darkness to come down on me
For confusion to carry on turning the wheel
.
And each day I learn just a little bit more
I don’t know why but I do know what for
If we’re all going somewhere let’s get there soon
Oh this song’s got no title just words and a tune
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRw2EROYGNM&feature=related
Bruno
July 21st, 2012
7:15 pm
I’m too smart to dedicate this one to Dusty
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eyjBBcUO9k&feature=related
Bruno
July 21st, 2012
7:21 pm
Last one from GYBR:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MOJlNQMzVM&feature=related
Bruno
July 21st, 2012
7:24 pm
Ok, found one for Dusty:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZO3gWIGzH3A