If you ask the American people if they’re worried there is too much regulation, taxes, and spending - they’re likely to say yes. If you ask an American small business owner what his or her biggest problem is, the most likely answer will be complying with government regulations. It’s estimated that the cost of regulations on the American economy is $1.75trillion – double what the government took in in individual income taxes last year. And since the beginning of the Obama Administration, there has been over $40 billion in new annual regulatory burdens, not to mention the regulations now in the works (almost 3,000). 

What does that all mean? It means that the American economy is drowning in regulation, with no end in sight. The truth is that the easiest way to help jump start the economy today would be to roll back the regulatory burden that is crushing small businesses. 

None of this is to say that no regulation is necessary –some is, for sure. What we need however is smart regulation that ensures that rules are not abused without extinguishing small businesses. It’s extremely hard to build businesses as is (it took over a decade to build Best Buy into a profitable business), and added layers of regulation and complexity make it exponentially harder to succeed – particularly for small businesses that want to become big ones (and create jobs in the process). 

If policymakers are serious about unleashing the entrepreneurial energy that has been the foundation of the American Dream and has made America the most prosperous nation in the history of the world, one great place to start would be to get the regulatory beast off business’ back.