Over-regulation of our free markets is stifling our growth in America and killing the next superstar entrepreneurs. Let’s discuss how bad it really is. Let’s talk about Ray Kroc, founder of McDonalds and father of franchises. In this philosophical discussion, let’s take a look at history for a moment, shall we? If Ray Kroc had to pay $45,000 to create disclosure documents for the franchise early on, could he have had the capital to do it? Would he have wanted too? What if he had to pay an extra $15,000 per year to stay registered in every state; another $10,000 to $20,000 to keep up with changes in the law and case law? Could he really have stayed in the business?
If Ray Kroc in those early days had to pay $25,000 for financial audits, could he have survived? If the number of accountants willing to perform audits were cut in half due to current errors and omissions, peer review and insurance costs, would Ray Kroc have been able to juggle that during his first five years traveling the country and sleeping in hotel rooms, while building the business? Remember that Ray Kroc wasn’t married to wealth like the late Sam Walton, who crisscrossed the country in an RV looking at sites and studying the competition. Both Ray Kroc and Sam Walton had to do it the hard way, but Ray Kroc was doing it for cash flow. With the current problems in complying with all accounting audit issues in franchises after the most recent Sarbaines Oxley Act, which caused delays in necessary audits in a timely manner due to fears of violations in the accounting industry, the demand for more audits in all sectors causes serious supply. and demand issues. Is it difficult to audit on time for franchise registration renewals?
Could Ray Kroc have pulled this off too, along with the added costs and state registration deadlines? Wait, we’re not done yet. If Ray Kroc had to comply with all of these proposed rule changes and existing rules and review his disclosure documents every time a lawyer created case law that could be detrimental to the entire system, could he have survived the first five years? ? Yes or no? If Ray Kroc had to deal with all the different state laws and contradictions in Federal Trade Commission rules, could he have done it? Remember that his first stores were in “Cal-if-Forn-ia” (Arnold Humor) and Illinois. I assure you that Ray Kroc could not have done what he did and that McDonalds would never have come into existence. I’m also telling you that NPR would be closing its doors and going off the air this year if it weren’t for his wife’s donations. The Ronald McDonald House would also not be available. Millions of Americans would not have learned customer service or had that first job to teach them such important aspects of business. The State of Idaho, where Simplot Potatoes grows its crop, would not have made the profits and paid the tax revenues that allowed that great state to prosper. The beef industry would also have been badly affected, how would that industry have fared in the heated media hysteria of mad cow disease or droughts that caused cattle to be taken to slaughter early? Would those frivolous fat lawsuits in Canada leave our Canadian neighbors with nothing to complain about and wouldn’t we want that? Also the reality of the need for a wrong reform example of spilled coffee would never have existed? Do you doubt what I’m saying? Well then Ray Kroc’s book “Grinding It Out” can still be found and should be required reading for every Federal Trade Commission employee who has never had to do payroll and any lawyer who has never earned the life legitimately in a business you own. own before commenting on this proposed rule set. It seems that the word smiths is in full force and we are having an ongoing dialogue from a topic proposed in 1995, with comments in 1997 and 1999 at a time when many of those comments are in fact irrelevant here in 2004. One more discussion A relevant issue would be how best to separate the business opportunity rules from the franchise rule and then shut down the FTC’s franchise division entirely, as there are currently no known or perceived problems. Does anyone doubt this truth?
Perhaps another example, forget about Ray Kroc, the father of franchises for a moment, let’s just say for argument’s sake that this current state of affairs in the industry existed back then and Ray Kroc grew up a bitter old man and a retired salesman. Forget that the McDonalds Big Mac is used by the International Monetary Fund as a guide to the international cost of living standards in modern and developing nations. Think of the story “death of a salesman” and leave it at that. Put Ray Kroc in the same place as any of today’s current and emerging entrepreneurial superstars, suffocated by a tsunami of tort law and a hurricane of excessive regulation. Why can’t we end this storm, why aren’t we willing to see the truth at the Federal Trade Commission? And that’s just one of many agencies Ray Kroc would have to deal with today, think about it.