Re: Sen. McGovern on income distribution

[Doug Henwood <dhenwood@xxxxxxxxx>]

Eugene Coyle wrote:

> Is this piece (I'm wondering how much, in one way or another, he got
> paid for this) the demarcation of an epoch?

<http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?r103:E01FE4-429:>


NIBBLED TO DEATH -- (BY GEORGE MCGOVERN, FORMER U.S. SENATOR FROM
NORTH DAKOTA) (Extension of Remarks - February 01, 1994)

[Page: E60]

---

HON. JIM KOLBE
in the House of Representatives

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1994

Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Speaker, I would like to share with my colleagues a
recent article appearing in the December 1993 issue of INC. magazine.
The article, written by former Senator George McGovern, illustrates
being out in the real world, away from Washington fantasyland, often
provides a big dose of reality. McGovern states `I do know that if I
were back in the U.S. Senate or in the White House, I would ask a lot
of questions before I voted for any more burdens on the thousands of
struggling businesses across the Nation.' While it may be too late
for Senator McGovern, it's not too late for this Congress to heed
those words.

[FROM INC., DECEMBER 1993]

(BY GEORGE MCGOVERN, FORMER U.S. SENATOR FROM NORTH DAKOTA)

After a run for the presidency and a quarter century on Capitol Hill,
George McGovern left public service and became the owner of a
business--a punishing revelatory experience. If only, he says now,
his career sequence had been the other way around * * *.

Calvin Coolidge was too simplistic when he observed that `the
business of America is business.' But like most sweeping political
statements, even Coolidge's contains some truth--enough, as I've
learned, to make me wish I had known more firsthand about the
concerns and problems of American business-people while I was a U.S.
senator and later a presidential nominee. That knowledge would have
made me a better legislator and a more worthy aspirant to the White
House.

In 1988 I yielded to a longtime desire to own an inn with conference
facilities, where I could provide good food, comfortable rooms, and
lively public sessions. A friend of mine, who had a lifetime of
hotel- and restaurant-management experience, described the Stratford
Inn, in Connecticut, near the respected Shakespeare Theater, as the
ideal place for such an undertaking. He agreed to manage it for me if
I'd put up the capital.

Without properly analyzing the difficulties of such an endeavor, I
plunged into the hotel industry with a virtually impossible leasehold
agreement, just as the recession hit New England with unusual force.
Given the nature of the lease and the severity of the recession. I
doubt in hindsight that either Hilton or Marriott could have made
this venture profitable. I certainly couldn't.

After two and a half years that mixed pleasure and satisfaction with
the loss of all my earnings from nearly a decade of post-Senate
lecture tours, I gave up on the Stratford Inn. But not before
learning some painful and valuable lessons.

I learned first of all that over the past 20 years America has become
the most litigious society in the world. There was a time not so long
ago when a lawsuit was considered a rare and extreme measure, to be
resorted to only under

the most critical circumstances. But today Americans sue one another
at the drop of a hat--almost on the spur of the moment.

As the owner of the Stratford Inn, I was on the receiving end of a
couple of lawsuits that fit that description. In one case, a man left
our lounge late one night and headed for his car, which was parked in
our parking lot. He got into a fight along the way, and later sued
the hotel for not providing more security in the parking area. We did
have a security guard on duty, but I doubt that many hotels can
afford the kind of extensive security arrangements that could
guarantee there will never be an altercation among patrons once they
leave the comfort of life in the tavern.

On another occasion, a person leaving our restaurant and lounge lost
his footing and fell, allegedly suffering a costly injury. He
promptly sued us for damages. Both of the suits were subsequently
dismissed, but not without a first-rate legal defense that did not
come cheaply.

I am a former history professor, not a lawyer. But it does seem to me
that not every accident or fall or misfortune is the fault of the
business at which it occurs. Yet lawsuits prompted by such events
have spawned a multibillion-dollar industry--one that drives up the
costs of doing business and rendering medical care. Not to mention
how it wars against a congenial and humane way of life. We begin to
see one another not as compatriots, neighbors, and fellow citizens
but as potential plaintiffs, and defendants. If we don't stop suing
one another for every possible misfortunate or alleged negligence, we
are going to undermine both the health of our economy and the quality
of our society.

The second lesson I learned by owning the Stratford Inn is that
legislators and government regulators must more carefully consider
the economic and management burdens we have been imposing on U.S.
business. As an innkeeper, I wanted excellent safeguards against a
fire. But I was startled to be told that our two-story structure,
which had large sliding doors opening from every guest room to
all-concrete decks, required us to meet fire regulations more
appropriate to the Waldorf-Astoria. A costly automatic sprinkler
system and new exit doors were items that helped sink the Stratford
Inn--items I was convinced added little to the safety of our guests
and employees. And a critical promotional campaign never got off the
ground, partly because my manager was forced to concentrate for days
at a time on needlessly complicated tax forms for both the IRS and
the state of Connecticut.

I'm for protecting the health and well-being of both workers and
consumers. I'm for a clean environment and economic justice. But I'm
convinced we can pursue those worthy goals and still cut down vastly
on the incredible paperwork, the complicated tax forms, the number of
minute regulations, and the seemingly endless reporting requirements
that afflict American business. Many businesses, especially small
independents such as the Stratford Inn, simply can't pass such costs
on to their customers and remain competitive or profitable.

I'm not expert enough after only two and a half years as a business
owner to know the solutions to all those concerns. I do know that if
I were back in the U.S. Senate or in the White House, I would ask a
lot of question before I voted for any more burdens on the thousands
of struggling businesses across the nation.

For example, I would ask whether specific legislation exacts a
managerial price exceeding any overall benefit it might produce. What
are the real economic and social gains of the legislation when
compared with the costs and competitive handicaps it imposes on
businesspeople?

I'm lucky. I can recover eventually from the loss of the Stratford
Inn because I'm still able to generate income from lectures and other
services. But what about the 60 people who worked for me in
Stratford? While running my struggling hotel, I never once missed a
payroll. What happens to the people who counted on that, and to their
families and community, when an owner goes under? Those questions
worry me, and they ought to worry all of us who love this country as
a land of promise and opportunity.