In a Gallup poll released yesterday, 22% of small business owners said their most important problem was “complying with government regulations.” That’s not really surprising. What’s surprising, frankly, is that it’s taken so long for the number to rise even that high. Given the 24/7 blitzkrieg about “job killing regulations” from Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, and Republican politicians of all stripes, I’m surprised the number didn’t pass 50% months ago. If you hear something often enough, it takes on a life of its own.
The truth, of course, is that business regulation hasn’t changed all that much in the Obama era, and that’s especially true for small businesses. There are some regulations in the pipeline for the future, but even there, most of the 
big ones — Obamacare, Dodd-Frank, new EPA regs — hardly affect small businesses at all. And most of the ones that would — dust rules, new licensing rules for farm vehicles — are myths.
You can see this for yourself if you read further in the Gallup poll. When they’re asked about “problems,” many small business owners immediately make an association with “government regulations.” But when Gallup asks “what would you need to see in order to feel that your business will thrive in 2012?” that association goes away and you get a truer picture of what’s really bothering them. This time, only 12% mention government regulations and a full 42% respond with some version of an improved economy. And it’s really more like 59% if you include fundamentally economic complaints like “cash flow” and “availability of credit.”
Everybody hates regulations, and small businesses have some legitimate gripes about overregulation. Right now, though, their real problem is crystal clear: the economy sucks and they need more customers. That’s just a big fat reality, and there’s nothing much that Fox News can do to change that no matter how much they try.
