Striving to Shrink the Red Tape for Companies

The Indiana Chamber hosted Congressman Todd Rokita (4th District) on Monday for the one-year anniversary of the Red Tape Rollback program. Rokita and the Chamber teamed together in the spring of 2011 to strive to identify and do something about unnecessary and overly burdensome federal regulations that kill jobs and negatively impact the economy.

In the initial 12 months, 71 Hoosier companies and individuals contacted the congressman’s office about 41 different regulatory issues. The work of Rokita and his staff has yielded 18 Red Tape Rollback victories thus far, with efforts continuing on other issues.

An annual report outlines the concerns and the accomplishments. It’s not too late for you to let us know about federal regulations and their impact on your business.

In case you’re not convinced there is a problem, consider that the most recent edition of the Code of Federal Regulations consists of more than 101 million words. That compares to just over 4,500 words in the U.S. Constitution.

Out of the ‘Slums’: Economic Lessons from an Oscar Winner

Did you watch the Oscars last night? Well, if you haven’t heard, the awards confirmed the fact that "Slumdog Millionaire" is not a bad picture. (It also confirmed that "Wolverine" is surprisingly deft at singing show tunes. Take that, Magneto.)

But according to Reason magazine’s blog, "Slumdog" is much more than an interesting tale of gameshow prowess. It also serves as an illumination on the plight of India, begging discussion about the progress the country has made by freeing up its markets and ultimately its people, and the steps it still needs to take to help its poor rise above poverty:

For decades would-be entrepreneurs staggered under the weight of corruption and bureaucracy. Want to import a computer for your business? You’d have to get permission from a bureaucrat. Want to sell food from a small cart? You’d need all kinds of licenses. 

But in the 1990s, India emerged as a high-tech powerhouse. What changed?

"In the 1990s India started liberalizing its economy," says (Shikha Dalmia, Reason Foundation senior analyst), "and it did three things: cut taxes, liberalized trade, and deregulated business." Although they failed to cut the kind of red tape that entangled Slumdog‘s orphans, the reforms did make it easier for more Indians to start businesses and hire employees.

"One IT company doesn’t just employ computer professionals," says Dalmia. "It also needs landscaping services, cleaning services, and restaurants. There was this tremendous spillover effect that allowed people to lift themselves out of poverty."

Since the early 1990s, India has cut its poverty rate in half. About 300 million Indians—equivalent to the population of the entire United States—escaped the hunger and deprivation of extreme poverty thanks to pro-market reforms that increased economic activity.

Yet here in America we’re turning away from market reform. Says Dalmia, "It’s just this great conundrum that at the same time that deregulation and markets have produced such dramatic results in India, they are falling into suspicion in America." Dalmia’s prescription for India is at odds with what politicians have chosen to "stimulate" the United States. "What India needs to do is continue apace with its liberalization effort, but expand it to include the poor. Release them from the shackles of government corruption and government bureaucracy."