Yesterday’s New York Times had a story about how some members of Congress, on both sides of the aisle, are trying to “fix” a provision of the health care bill that requires businesses to report purchases from vendors that exceed $600. The article said the provision “imposes a huge information-reporting burden on small business.”
This is hogwash. Twenty years ago, there might be something to support using the word “burden.” Twenty years ago, many small businesses might now have used computers to conduct their inventories, place their orders and cut their checks to vendors. In 2010, virtually every small business uses computer programs to manage these tasks. What is needed is not a “legislative fix.” What is needed is a simple computer application. Call Steve Jobs, not Congress, on this one. Why does the Times employ reporters that simply parrot what biased, pro-business groups are saying?
