Government is killing free enterprise by wrapping its tentacles around anything it can hold on to, then taxing and regulating it. Bob Funk writing in the WSJ:
For decades, most businesses operated, innovated and expanded despite what was happening in the nation’s capital, or perhaps even oblivious to it. But now the goose that laid the golden egg is on the run. Free enterprise, which made the economy grow and produced rising wages for middle-income Americans, is under assault.
Too many policy makers evaluate new interventions—labor rules, wage laws, environmental regulations—only by what they hope to accomplish. They do not consider the consequences, the unintended effects, and the trouble that their policies will cause for employers and workers, especially when the burdens are placed one on top of another.
For example, the National Labor Relations Board in August issued a sweeping ruling that could fundamentally change millions of workers’ relationship with their employers—and not for the better. The NLRB is taking the position that under the new rule, a franchiser (say, McDonald’s) will be considered the “joint employer” of workers hired by its independent franchisees.
But the issue goes far beyond fast food. My company, Express Employment Professionals, is a franchised staffing company that could be affected as well. Our local offices are owned and run by franchisees, who hire and supervise their own staffs. Now those local workers will be my employees, too. Who is ultimately responsible for their well-being? Good question.
