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Show Page The National Enterprise, August 24, 1977 twenty-si- x Guest Column Free the steel market President Carter understands that the prices of steel products, up 12.5 percent since last September as compared with 7 percent for industrial commodities, generally arouse inflation, which he would like to anesthetize. Accordingly, Mr. Carter has announced that the government now will buy the lowest cost steel possible. If Mr. Carter expects steel producers to gag on this news, however, he must have his mind on next week's softball game. Government purchases of steel products are so minimal as to have no effect on the steel market; the military, for example, buys only 0.2 percent of all American steel products produced. Mr. Carter is on more promising ground in his directive to the Wage and Price Council that it study the steel industry. Mr. Carter has asked details on the industry's increased costs and the impact of federal policies. Too. he wants suggestions on ways Washington can "moderate cost and price increases." The council has 60 days to prepare its study. And at the least it should point out one of the problems plaguing the industry is that the steelmakers want it both ways: they want government help that would protect them from foreign steel imports, yet they want independence in their own wage and price decisions. It is difficult to imagine a more inflationary combination. And the situation is more vexed still. Environmental regulations are placing a tremendous capital burden on the diverting funds that could be used to modernize plants. President Carter has asked why Japanese steel is cheaper than American steel; surely, here is at least partly the reason: the antiquity of American steel plants. If it does its homework well, the Wage and Price Council will recommend an end to all present import quotas on steel and an easing of the environmental regulations that use up producers profits. The steel industry thus could dwell in a more genuine free market. In such a market, the signals sent by buyers, whether domestic or foreign, are likely to make an effective impact on producers certainly a more effective impact than the meager signals Mr. Carter has asked the government to send out. steel-maker- s, THE NATIONAL by Congressman Dan Marriott What about small business? Does anyone remember the days of the small grocery store on the comer that Uncle Joe owned? Or the soda shop that the Hansons managed for years? Or what about the shoe repairman who performed his craft and ran his shoe store These elements of American life are all but gone, not only is it difficult to build a thriving business from its foundation, but its doubly difficult to stay in operation. The first obstacle the businesses confront is excessive taxes, which soak up any surplus money they might have to hire more employees. Many of those people who are denied employment are forced to seek welfare or unemployment benefits. It seems that the govenment would rather pay people for not working, than to take the handcuffs off the very source that would give them jobs and decrease the public payroll. So the first major reform we need to seek is additional tax breaks for the small businessman. single-handedl- y? We need to persuade people that small business is profitable, and that our free enterprise system will help them get started. If the government keeps overlapping our private pursuits and interests with excessive rules and regulations, they will do more to drive people out of business than encourage people to stay in business. And Im not referring to big business or the big labor unions. Im talking about the hundreds of small independent free enterprisers and their employees who represent the lifeblood of America. 1 CN ', Coplay Na M Sarvlc fxi i: TTf I -- ' T nrn : V If our government needs to be involved at all in the free enterprise system, one thing they can do is help American citizens better understand the system and how they can survive in it. But most importantly, they must do away with all unnecessary regulations brought about by such agencies as ASHA, SEC, and EPA. These organizations heap abuse after abuse on the heads of the small businessmen, crushing them and preventing a fair start on a private investment. There are a lot of little incentives we can offer to encourage the free enterprise system. We can do away with the double tax of dividends. There should be more tax equity in lowrer maximum tax brackets for businesses. We can improve the depreciation schedule. Business should be allowed to accumulate money free of income tax to become independent along with their employees. Small businesses and farms should be exempt from state taxes so they can pass them on to their families without being taxed to death. Im introducing a bill into Congress that would do just that. Many people pose the argument that the reason we have so much government interference is because the small businesses grow into large corporations. Thats a falsehood. There are many ma and pa businesses who will never enlarge their firms. Out of 10,000 small businesses in this country, there is probably only one that will grow into a large business. r . And these protections the government agencies claim they offer arent even helpful to the large firms. They have attorneys and dollars available to do for themselves things the small businessman cant do. They can afford to fight ail those regulations. They can avoid the fines the small businessman pays because no one defends their right to enjoy the free enterprise system. We all need to wake up to the serious trend of government interference that occurs increasingly in almost every aspect of our lives. Our free enterprise system is what prompted our grandfathers and grandmothers to leave their homelands and comforts to settle in an unknown country, hoping for the chance to save enough capital for that one little shop they could call theirs. Lets not now destroy that privilege for our children. Free enterprise is the lifeblood of America-no- w we need to see that it doesnt choke among the weeds of the government jungle. |