Editing 78-02-A7 (section)

= Regulation =

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=== Transcript ===
We have a long way to go in making government responsive and less intrusive
if, as a recent poll says, less than a third of our citizens believe there is
no over-regulation of business and industry in America. Perhaps our problem
is that most people, on hearing the term "business and industry", automatically
think of great corporations with legal departments of their own, auditing
staffs and banks of computers.

But, this ignores reality. Take the letter a relatively small law firm
sent to its Congressman recently. This firm has instituted a retirement plan
involving profit and ownership sharing for its few employees. One line in
the letter informed the Congressman that the ERISA act of 1974, having to do
with pensions, had resulted in making the cost of administering the law firm's
retirement plan greater than the plan's benefits.

Then came these lines, -- "There should be some provision for reducing
the complexities and paper work for small business. We only have eight
employees. A sole proprietor with only a couple of employees can hardly
justify the administration costs if he complies with all of the present 
requirements." Now, remember, this is a law firm which obviously is better
equipped than most to handle technical matters.

The letter gave an example of bureaucratic bungling when it said that
last November 17, the firm had received from the Department of Labor a request
for a nine-page summary of its plan to be filed on November 17. Incidentally,
the Internal Revenue Service already had the information the Department of
Labor was demanding.

Now comes evidence that the concern expressed in the letter for smaller
(non-lawyer) employers is well founded. In Annapolis, Maryland a man who,
repairs sewing machines decided to hire one employee--his first. It seems
this takes more than just running an ad and offering someone a salary. He had
to write for an employer's state and federal tax forms.

From the state he received a stack of forms including two notices he was
required to put on the wall of his shop telling employees how to complain
about unsafe or unsanitary working conditions and how to apply for unemployment
compensation. The federal government sent him a packet containing 44 forms
ranging from one to 30 pages each. He said, "I wouldn't have time to do my
sewing machine work if I had to send all this."

But that isn't the real price we're paying for the blizzard of paper that
government demands. The proprietor explained that he had thought he could
help the unemployment situation a little by teaching some boy or girl a trade.
He added, "But they don't make it easy for you at all."

The I.R.S. concedes his complaint is a familiar one among small businessmen,
but it ho-hummed that most of them eventually get used to it. Maybe, but
just maybe a lot of them such as the sewing machine man change their minds
about hiring anyone.

This is Ronald Reagan.

Thanks for listening.
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=== Details ===
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<TR><TD WIDTH="150">Batch Number</TD><TD WIDTH="150">{{PAGENAME}}</TD></TR>
<TD>Production Date</TD><TD>01/27/[[Radio1978|1978]]</TD></TR>
<TD>Book/Page</TD><TD>[[Radio_Commentary_Books#Reagan.27s_Path_to_Victory|RPtV-259]]</TD></TR>
<TD>Audio</TD><TD></TD></TR>
<TD>Youtube?</TD><TD>No</TD></TR>
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===Added Notes===

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