George McGovern
A Politician's Dream Is a Businessman's Nightmare
Wisdom too often never comes, and so one ought not to reject it merely because it comes late.
-- Justice Felix Frankfurter
In 1988, I invested most of the earnings from this lecture circuit acquiring the leasehold on Connecticut's Stratford Inn... The Stratford Inn promised the realization of a longtime dream to own a combination hotel, restaurant and public conference facility -- complete with an experienced manager and staff.
In retrospect, I wish I had known more about the hazards and difficulties of such a business, especially during a recession of the kind that hit New England just as I was acquiring the inn's 43-year leasehold. I also wish that during the years I was in public office, I had had this firsthand experience about the difficulties business people face every day.
We intuitively know that to create job opportunities we need entrepreneurs who will risk their capital against an expected payoff.
Too often, however, public policy does not consider whether we are choking off those opportunities.
In services, however, consumers do have a choice when faced with higher prices. You may have to stay in a hotel while on vacation, but you can stay fewer days. You can eat in restaurants fewer times per month, or forgo a number of services from car washes to shoeshines. Every such decision eventually results in job losses for someone. And often these are the people without the skills to help themselves -- the people I've spent a lifetime trying to help.
In short, "one-size-fits-all" rules for business ignore the reality of the marketplace.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203406404578070543545022704.html