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Policy Matters: Real People from the Real World
a weekly column
by Dawn Rivers Baker
Large organizations, large companies, large numbers of people.
Generally speaking, lawmakers tend to seek information on the issues from outfits that often have little in common with each other except their size: BIG. They do that because these sorts of outfits speak for or deal with large numbers of people.
Volume. That's what they care about on Capitol Hill.
There's a reason for that. In the absence of relevant research, representatives of Americans in bulk can presumably offer information about how most of the group is doing, whereas an individual can only tell you about themselves and, perhaps, the folks in their personal networks.
But, as you have probably guessed by now, there are a couple of problems with this modus operandi.
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This week's news briefs
Scammers Prey on Would-Be Self-Employed
Those of us who arrived online in the mid to late 1990s with the first major wave of Internet-based microbusinesses sometimes forget that there will always be newbies. And, for as long as there are newbies, there will be scammers. Earlier this month, the Federal Trade Commission announced that it had secured a contempt order and collected a $100,000 performance bond against once such scammer, Richard Nieswonger, along with his company and his business partner, William Reed. Nieswonger's three run-ins with the FTC, in addition to previous convictions for wire fraud and money laundering, suggest that we may hear about this incorrigible fellow again. More to the point, given the trends, the Richard Neiswongers of the world demonstrate that there may be forms of support for self-created jobs in America that have not yet been developed or even considered, but that are sorely needed.
Microbusiness Owners Clue In Congress
This is a story that started with a House Small Business Committee hearing a couple of months ago. Members were interested in learning more about online small businesses but they didn't learn much because they directed their questions to executives from Google and Amazon.com — who might know some things about what online microbusinesses do but very little about how we do it. Upon hearing a suggestion that curious Congresspersons would do better to ask directly, Congressman Charles Gonzalez (D-TX) convened a subcommittee hearing last week that featured a panel of microbusiness witnesses prepared to give panel members a quick course in Online Advertising 101. The lawmakers in the room probably learned more than they have been able to from years of hearings on related issues. More importantly, the hearing set a congressional precedent for seeking input from real world microbusinesses, a most heartening development.
Kerry, Snowe Sound Heating Oil Alarm
A thoroughly alarmed set of top lawmakers on the Senate Small Business Committee heard testimony last week about the home heating oil market, the small businesses that operate there, and looming winter crisis spawned by outrageous oil prices. In New England, where most homes still use oil furnaces to heat their homes, production is down, the Home Heating Oil Reserve is low, prices are already up to $4.50 a gallon (in low-demand June, too), and small heating fuel retailers are going out of businesses because their customers still can't pay last winter's bills. It's a situation that could readily degenerate into "a snowy Katrina," said Chairman John Kerry (D-MA). He and an equally worried Ranking Member Olympia Snowe (R-ME) have been frustrated by the Bush Administration's reluctance to intervene and the lack of interest among their Senate colleagues. However, Kerry closed the hearing with a vow "to get this on the front burner."
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