If you wonder why many business people are walking away from business today, look no further than the case in which a trucking company has been told it must employ alcoholics to drive its trucks, but the company is also responsible if one of them gets drunk and has an accident.
This is the Catch-22 that the federal government has thrust upon Old Dominion Freight Line. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says Old Dominion violated the Americans with Disabilities Act when it removed a trucker from a driving position after management found out he had a drinking problem, so the EEOC has sued the company. Why would anyone stay in the trucking business with that sort of liability?
You might remember the story I had not long ago about Ronnie Bryant, the coal mine operator who announced at a public environmental meeting that he was backing out of plans to open a coal mine. In the comments underneath that story, there were multiple other people who said they had either gotten out of business for similar reasons or who were in the process of getting out. Business people are tired of being handed impossible regulations and contradictory rules. They’re tired of being treated like borderline criminals or suspect at best.
Letting go of dead dreams can lead to path you need to follow
Reading through hundreds of my old articles has been unsettling
Faith and fear collide where dreams and reality come together
The egalitarian lie: Every group has leaders, even Occupy Wall Street
Miss. church turns back clock by refusing to marry black couple
Hospital’s five-year fight to move shows health care isn’t free market
Continued collapse of competence points toward decline of a culture
EU says it might block people from getting their own money from banks
In winner-take-all systems, swing voters matter only at election time