Juli Niemann: How Obama’s regulation reform will affect businesses

TEXT OF STORY

JEREMY HOBSON: Now let’s get to President Obama’s call today for less regulation.

Juli Niemann is an analyst at Smith Moore and Company and she joins us now live from St. Louis. Good morning.

JULI NIEMANN: Morning Jeremy.

HOBSON: So first of all — why is the president doing this?

NIEMANN: Well, he’s becoming very Clintonesque, business-friendly. But the reality, though, is the economy is expanding but employment is not. Regulation is necessary because crimes have been committed, but it always is a cost to business and the question is: is it effective? So the big problem here is business is delaying expansion — large business — trying to figure out what the cost is going to be and will it be effective.

HOBSON: Would fewer federal regulations lead businesses to add more jobs?

NIEMANN: It’ll help unemployment, probably as much as lowering the corporate tax rate will too. Government jobs are going up in the regulatory areas. But for small businesses it’s not going to help. Small businesses are the ones who lead you out of a recession. Competitors dry during the recession. Companies have an opportunity to expand if they get the lines of credit, then they basically want to start expanding at the local level. The real problem though — state and local regulation, not the federal regulation. St. Louis has 94 suburbs surrounding this city. We have business per pension departments in the form of city and county licensing and inspection. This is what’s squashes small businesses is state and local rather than federal regulation.

HOBSON: Juli Niemann, analyst at Smith Moore and Company in St. Louis.Thanks so much.

NIEMANN: You bet.