Meltdown on Main Street: Why Small Business is Leading the Revolution Against Big Government [Hardcover]

Richard Lesher (Author), Newt Gingrich (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1996

Providing an indictment of government policy-making and calling for a return to traditional values of self-reliance, personal initiative, and individual responsibility, a study reveals how government programs have failed and explains why small business is leading a revolution against big government.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This smoothly written book by the president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce outlines the case against big government that helped put Republicans in control of Congress in 1994. Comparing the surge of antigovernment sentiment to a political earthquake, Lesher argues that the mobilization of small businesses struggling to survive was the driving force in the shift to the right. Describing laws and regulations aimed at consumer and worker safety, environmental protection and amelioration of poverty as excessive, Lesher says they burden and overtax entrepreneurs and foster a culture of dependency and lawlessness among intended beneficiaries. Lesher concludes by calling for representatives of small businesses to help streamline government programs. Citing the collapse of the U.S.S.R., he believes that the free market has proven its supremacy. Would that he had paid more attention to America's increasing gap between rich and poor.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Lesher, the longtime president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, writes passionately about the widening gulf between the federal government and the small-business community. He believes the gulf yawned widest with the Clinton administration's proposal for health care reform and the perceived implications this would have for the private sector. What resulted was political activism on the part of many small businesspersons, which accounts, Lesher believes, for the election of a conservative, pro-business Congress in 1994. These newly elected officials have been seeking to right many of the "wrongs" enacted by previous Congresses. Lesher cites numerous examples of government inefficiency and meddling to support his argument. While his book will not be to everyone's taste, it does present an articulate apologetic for the conservative point of view. Recommended for larger public libraries.?Robert L. Logsdon, Indiana State Univ. Lib., Indianapolis
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Dutton Adult; First edition (May 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0525941940
• ISBN-13: 978-0525941941
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,382,914 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.