The opinion page of the August 29th edition of the Wall Street Journal struck a nerve with me. CEO’s Edward Muller and Larry Zimpleman penned a terrific article on “An Entrepreneurial Fix for the U.S. Economy“. In the article, they quote a Kaufman Foundation recommendation for Congress to do a few simple, and apolitical acts that would have a big impact on business creation, innovation and perhaps job growth. The Kaufman plan calls for:
- Letting in immigrant entrepreneurs who hire American workers.
- Reducing the cost of capital through capital gains tax relief for early stage investments.
- Reducing barriers to IPOs by allowing shareholders to opt out of Sarbanes-Oxley.
- Charging higher fees for patent applicants who want quick decisions to remove the backlog of applications at the Patent Office.
- Giving licensing freedom to academic entrepreneurs at universities to accelerate the commercialization of their ideas.
- Having the government provide data to permit rankings of startup friendliness of states and localities.
- Regular sunsets for regulations and a consistent policy of putting new ones in place only if their benefits exceed their costs.
There really is very little that would cause the left or right to groan. Perhaps you can forward the WSJ opinion to your Congressman with a note attached … “lead, follow, or get out of the way.”