The Brass Ring

For some of my readers that term has no significance but you will understand it's context shortly. Many years ago the merry-go-rounds, or carousels at amusement parks had a brass ring that was stationary while the carousel revolved. The idea is that was you came around riding the horse you would try to grab the brass ring . If you were successful you won a prize. It was risky because you had to lean way out to grab it with the distinct possibility of "Old Paint" throwing you off. It became a euphemism for entrepreneurship in this country. So when someone "grabbed the brass ring" they had made a significant risk and was successful.

The brass ring has lost much of its luster nowadays. Can you imagine an amusement ride operator having that kind of setup where he would entice small children to risk falling off the horse trying to grab this ring? Can you imagine parents letting their small children ride said horses without being secured to it with a seat belt or harness that prevented them from any movement? The kids probably have to wear shin guards! No, teaching children the concept of risk/reward and competition have been replaced with a communal spirit of everyone gets a trophy and we are all winners. Sigh.........

I was thinking about this today when considering a new business opening in our small town. For as long as I can remember it has been the dream of many Americans to be their own boss. To start a business and be successful. It's kind of in our DNA like nowhere else in the world. To take an idea and become insanely wealthy or at the least make a comfortable living for them and their family. We have  many companies that started in someone's garage or dorm room and grew into billion dollar corporations. That is grabbing the brass ring in a big way! These people generally invested everything they had, especially their creativity and sweat equity, and succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. I have not had an in depth talk with the owner of this new business but I'm sure he has big dreams as well.

Here comes the cold water, folks. Apparently your government has no desire for him to be successful. In fact, your government will put as many road blocks in his way as it can to keep him from earning a profit. I am talking all levels of government, from your local city council all the way to the federal government, have heaped restrictions, regulations, fees and taxes on the small businesses of this country to the point that 1) he must have an attorney, CPA, and psychic on retainer to keep him in compliance with said restrictions and regulations, and a significantly higher level of capitalization available to pay the taxes and fees required to start and operate a business. (the psychic helps him anticipate the next step of the fickle bureaucrats). Think I am exaggerating? Ask anyone that has started a business in the past five years. Here is a short list of compliance issues a small business in this city, state and country encounters:

City Issues:

Zoning
Business Permits
Health Inspections
Special Utilities Assessments (demand meters)
Historical Commission Restrictions
Property Taxes

State Issues:

Sales Taxes - Collecting , Reporting, and Remitting
Licensing (when required)
Franchise Taxes
Environmental Regulations (In some cases)

Federal Issues:

Payroll Taxes - Withholding, Matching, Reporting & Remitting
Income Taxes - Reporting and Remitting
Environmental Regulations (In some cases)
Information Reporting to IRS
Information Reporting to EEOC

These are just off the top of my head. I know a business that does business with a foreign national company and that adds another layer of reporting and regulation from the federal government.

The point of this exercise is that each of the above items carries with it a cost to the business owner in either real dollars or his time to comply with the requirements. Ever look at the estimated time to complete a 1040? Most small business owners do not have the expertise to deal with the federal issues and the penalties associated with a screw-up are significant. So they need that lawyer and or CPA to keep them out of trouble. Of course lawyers and CPA's are not working for free so that is another depletion of his resources. Some of my new clients arrive at my office with a nice love letter from IRS in hand with some real issues. When do these entrepreneurs find time to run their businesses?

The Nanny State that our generation has created and that the government willingly supports has created an anti-business environment that is putting the future of entrepreneurship in jeopardy. Sure we can justify every restriction we put in as "for the good of the community". We can legislate ever increasing taxes and regulations on the small businesses to "protect the worker". The reality is that, unless you have the deep pockets of a Walmart or HEB with your battery of lawyers and accountants on hand you have less than a 20% chance of still being in business after 3 years. Some businesses are less than that!

We are the government and we have the ability to change some of this crap, especially on a local level. Start with your city council. Elect people that understand that the majority of new jobs in this country are created by small businesses and that we need to make it easier for them to do just that. A thorough review of zoning restrictions needs needs to be performed so that a guy with a business idea doesn't have to spend six months to a year working through the bureaucracy that is zoning regulations. User fees charged to new businesses need to be reevaluated regularly.

Changes on the state and federal level are going to be slow to come. A paradigm shift is necessary and I see nobody on either level with the political will to try it. As long as these maggot politicians can stand up and boast about the number of jobs they created and get away with it I will not be optimistic of those changes coming. Here is a news flash:

GOVERNMENT (AND POLITICIANS) DO NOT CREATE JOBS. IF ANYTHING GOVERNMENT JOBS ARE AN IMPEDIMENT TO JOB CREATION. THEY USE RESOURCES THAT COULD OTHERWISE BE UTILIZED FOR BUSINESS EXPANSION.

I feel much better getting that off my chest. So as we trudge forward to November please remember that all politics are local and if we ever hope to change things on the national level we need to start changing the attitude locally. Maybe, just maybe, grabbing the brass ring will become a reality for some small business.