Nationwide, government at every level is requiring more and more of the workforce to get its permission just to earn a living.
In the 1950s, only about 5 percent of the workforce needed a government license to do their job. Today, that number is over 30 percent. And governments impose all kinds of other requirements that make it hard for would-be entrepreneurs to start and grow small businesses.
Entrepreneurs like Chuck, here:
Unemployment in the United States has now topped 9.5 percent for 14 straight months–the longest stretch since the Great Depression. Nearly 14.8 million people were unemployed last month.
Consider the nation’s capital.
Year after year, Washington, D.C., is ranked the worst place in the United States to start a small business. How can the District change its ways to allow entrepreneurs to create more jobs and opportunity?
That is the question answered by a new Institute for Justice study launched this week, Washington, D.C. vs. Entrepreneurs: DC’s Monumental Regulations Stifle Small Businesses. The report shows that our nation’s capital is languishing, yet can unleash economic growth and the creative energies of thousands of would-be entrepreneurs simply by removing needless red tape.
The report is part of a nationwide “city studies” investigation that examines barriers to entrepreneurship in eight cities across the nation. In addition to Capital City, we studied Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Milwaukee, Newark, and Philadelphia. You can watch the press conferences for DC, Houston and Milwaukee on our You Tube channel.
According to the Wall Street Journal editorial board:
Politicians of all stripes like to celebrate ‘small business’ while running for office, but the reality is that they often strangle entrepreneurs once they get in power. Read the Institute for Justice study and you’ll better understand why the business of America is no longer business. It’s bureaucracy.
Want to help people like Chuck? Want to fight bureaucracy and restore the American Dream for countless people nationwide?
Visit the Institute for Justice to learn more about our nationwide economic liberty campaign. And please get involved. Join our conversation on facebook, You Tube and in the twittersphere.
As IJ’s President Chip Mellor puts it:
If the nation is looking to the federal government to create jobs in America, it is looking in the wrong place. If we want to grow our economy, we must remove government-imposed barriers to honest enterprise at the city and state levels. Remove those barriers, and you will see a return to the optimism and opportunity that are hallmarks of the American Dream.
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