| Comment Number: | 522418-05448 |
| Received: | 7/1/2006 10:51:28 AM |
| Organization: | |
| Commenter: | Susan Donahue |
| State: | GA |
| Subject: | Business Opportunity Rule |
| Title: | Notice of Proposed Rulemaking |
| CFR Citation: | 16 CFR Part 437 |
| No Attachments |
Comments:
To whom it may concern; Thank you for your concern for the general welfare of consumers who participate in direct marketing sales. I’m certain that there must be many scams that have cost unfortunate individuals heartbreak and a tremendous amount of money. Unfortunately, this is true in any enterprise; while most men have integrity and honorable intentions, there are always the few who seek only to serve themselves, totally disregarding the good of others. It is a good and right action to penalize the corrupt, but to place excessive restrictions that will put unnecessary hardships on honest, hardworking men and women, who have a dream to soar above their financial problems, is to undermine the free enterprise system that has made this nation great. In particular, I am addressing three of the rules. The seven day waiting rule hinders the drive that moves men to greatness. A child is not given a bike at Christmas and told not to ride it for seven days until he analyzes all children who have fallen and hurt themselves in the process. It is the initial excitement that drives the child to be daring and do something new, to become more independent than he was before. Our country was founded on the independence of human kind, not the restraint of those who dare to be greater and rise above their problems. It is the fervor of dreams, not the exacerbation of fears (resulting from excessive restraints) that boosts our economy. Most of the conveniences we enjoy and take for granted came from an eagerness to share inventions, goods, and services. Would we dare restrain the impetus of their success? Second, in regards to the seven day rule, it is hard enough to stay on top of the duties for each day, meeting people’s needs in a sincere and immediate fashion. Who can successfully work with the countless details and nuances of conversations that took place seven days before? There are enough people who procrastinate without having it forced on all of the others. For example, what sensible man would opt to wait seven days to give his family proper nutrition once he learned about it and how much more would he resent the government dictating this? The rule concerning references is like playing roulette in that it opens the door to all sorts of sour grape stories, told by those who cannot stand to take responsibility for their own failures and instead blame innocent companies and individuals. It may or may not be an actual representation of the truth. To test the success of this theory, one might look only as far as one’s family members, whereby we would randomly get some to vouch for your character. Don’t worry; we’ll only pick those who live closest to you. And last, the earnings claim is a burden, the burden of truth lying on the truthful. An analogy might be offered that those who pay income taxes will honestly provide proof that they did, and those who did not pay their fair share will dishonestly provide proof that they did. Here, the honest are penalized in time and paperwork. The small businessman does not have sundry people to record all of the details for him; instead, he does it himself, leaving less time to provide his services to the market place. While the FTC’s admirable motives are to help the citizens of the United States, I believe that they will inadvertently do more harm by enforcing these rules. Personally, I started a small business with dreams of making it a big enterprise to help my family and others. I see the new rules as stumbling blocks to success. Please entertain all sides and weigh the consequences before acting rashly and undermining honest, hardworking men, thereby, hurting the economy that you sincerely seek to protect. Susan Donahue