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Small businesses agree: Regulations are needed

You probably think that the debate over regulation pits business against citizen groups like ours, right? Think again.

It’s not that simple. In fact, there are plenty of small businesses whose owners believe safeguards designed to make our air, water and food clean, our prescription medicines safe and our financial system sound are crucial.

Just read what Jeffrey Hollender, co-founder of Seventh Generation and the American Sustainable Business Council, has to say. He participated in a press conference call on Thursday with Public Citizen, OMB Watch and the American Lung Association.

I’ve started three companies, generated thousands of jobs, created hundreds of millions of dollars of shareholder value as an entrepreneur since I was 19, and I’ve never felt restrained by government regulation!

Hollender also explained that regulation in fact creates jobs, and noted that while big business groups are screaming about government rules killing jobs, these corporations are shipping jobs overseas, enjoying record-high profits in the meantime.

Meanwhile, while 106 lobbying organizations responded to U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa’s (R-Calif.) call for regulations that big industries want to see revoked, the number of America’s top 10 employers that responded to that call was exactly zero. Similarly, the number of America’s top 30 job creators who responded to the call were, again, zero.