Most people who receive a paycheck, who are not small business owners, simply do not understand the tremendous difficulties companies face with excessive regulation. Yet Americans are now getting a taste of what they have missed and are now learning how bad over-regulation can be. Most of us understand that when a restaurant is limited to a certain number of seats, say 25% of its capacity, they won’t make as much money and may not make a profit. Therefore, they will have to lay off employees or close the business.
Still, how many times have we wondered what regulations we already had in place before the Covid-19 crisis that stifled, stifled, and stifled the profits of our small business community? There are endless regulations that each and every small business in America has to deal with. Then there are class action lawsuits, employment lawsuits, and contract lawsuits. Many of these lawsuits are enabled because of regulations on the books, regulations that the small business person may not even know about.
Since the Covid-19 crisis began, we have noticed that businesses like gyms, hair salons, and restaurants literally go through hell just to stay open, trying to satisfy new regulations from the local county health commissioner. Companies have only had to place take-out orders, requiring all employees to wear a mask and place Plexiglas so that employees don’t breathe tiny airborne droplets of water that may have the Covid-19 virus coming from customers.
Have you ever wondered how much it costs small businesses just to comply with those kinds of regulations, in addition to all the other regulations that were in place before the Covid-19 crisis? Just to provide take-out service to restaurants, they need to put up signs, alert all their customers, advertise their new format, buy more take-out containers, and train other employees on the new way of doing business. All of that costs money, at a time when your sales are less than 50%. How are they supposed to make money? We know that most are not.
And still, do you have any idea how many regulations are already on the books? A typical small business may have 20 different licenses, fees, permits, or certifications on its wall. Each cost money, took time to present, and is generally annually renewable – those are additional costs. Imagine if there weren’t 20 different licenses, fees, permits, or certifications? What if there were only 5 or 10? Businesses would make a lot more money and then if a Covid-like crisis came next time, they could comply with those new regulations without going broke.
We need the government, both local and federal, to move away from small businesses. Small businesses are not the problem of the spread of Covid-19, they did not start the problem, they are victims like all of us. Excessive regulation is like a virus for companies; in essence, it causes the same problem for potential earnings.
Have you ever wondered during this Covid pandemic “why” are we putting all the burden on businesses? If we continually treat our small businesses in this way, we will have no more in the future. Larger corporations have more political power and influence. They can also use the government to make regulations that prevent their smaller competitors from competing.
If we destroy our small businesses now, we will regret it later. More than 75% of all Americans are employed in a small business, with that many unemployed Americans no one will do well, including large corporations. Can you imagine what the impact will be on our economy? Can you imagine the cost of all those unemployment benefits? We will literally ruin our country. And that is more or less what we are doing now with the Covid-19 crisis.
What we have to do is reexamine everything now while we have the opportunity. We can make radical changes that will protect our small business community and keep our economy vibrant for years to come. I hope this challenge of the Covid-19 crisis has awakened everyone, so that they can see how the hand of government and excessive regulation are destroying our freedom, freedom, options, economy and future. Consider all of this and think about it.
