Costs of over regulation and over disclosure end up hurting the very consumer that the regulatory bodies are trying to protect. Over disclosure and over regulation is in itself the worst evil of civilization, as it stifles free enterprise, innovation and free markets. In franchising the disclosure documents have in fact grown to over 200 plus pages in length on average. You should be happy you are not a tree in the forest right now.

If franchise buyers (consumers) are damaged in the market place due to burdensome over disclosure and costs being passed onto them at the time of sale or thru less assistance down the road during the franchise relationship, then no one is well served and the increased rules have hurt the consumer. The new name for the Federal Trade Commissions franchise rule department will be Forget the Consumer or MUD. MUD might be more apropos as there is a perfect acronym Much Unnecessary Disclosure, which would be quite fitting for their most recent rule making exercise.

The MUD along with the lack of real tort reform is killing this country and destroying all we are and all we have built like the debris left on flooded lands by Hurricanes Charley or Muddy banks of the Chesapeake and Potomac overflowing from Hurricane Isabel in DC. It often takes years for franchisors to get all full power back up to speed to the clean-up after an action by the Federal Trade Commission, whether against their company or a simple opinion effecting the franchising industry.

The regulatory bodies in their haste to enforce disclosure laws have hurt the very consumer they purport to be protecting; they just dont get it; do you? Think about it.