Progressive Regulation Purgatory

The Wall Street Journal had a poignant piece out today entitled:


"Regulation for Dummies"


"The White House says its rule-making isn't costly or unusual. The evidence shows otherwise."


I have always contented that Cass Sunstein, director of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, is the most dangerous man in America second only to Barry the Usurper why even his title and czar status are reminiscent of a department found in the Kremlin at the height of Polit Bureau.


The fact that these fools are trying to rationalize their regulatory death grip on the economy and minimize it's effects is mind blowing right up there with exploding heads and bleeding eyes.




Excerpt: 


"Jan Eberly, an Assistant Treasury Secretary, kicked off the Administration campaign with a white paper in October that purported to debunk the "misconceptions" that "uncertainty is holding back business investment and hiring and that the overall burden of existing regulations is so high that firms have reduced their hiring."






Typical progressives trying to use a "white paper" to spread propaganda and convince us that their academic superiority is the truth.


The attempted social engineering perpetrated by progressives with little or no basis in reality is astounding and knows no bounds and the unintended consequences even more astounding.

The graph speaks for itself as regulations started to spike under Pelosi's speakership but have skyrocketed since the Obama regime has gotten power.


This by no means excuses Bush for his role in the quick regulatory rise.


Cass Sustein has been trying to convince anyone who will listen that the numbers are lower but it is hard to argue with the facts.


No amount of progressive word or number trickery will work.


His numbers are especially contorted because besides trying a "Bush" comparison his only include the rules that his office reviewed while excluding the tsunami coming from "independent" agencies such as the Federal Communications Commission or the 259 new rules mandated by the Dodd-Frank financial re-regulation law along with it's further 188 other rule suggestions.


He also negates the administrations role in the National Labor Board through appointees and forgets the onslaught coming down the pike should Obamacare gain traction or the EPA's attempts to regulate carbon.


The current number of major new rules is 149, which is an historic high.


Yet the rule making rate and the number continue to surge under the Regime.




Excerpt:


"As for costs, Mr. Sustein estimates that the total costs of the first two years of this administration's executive branch regulation range between $8 billion and $16.5 billion. The Heritage Foundation puts the total, including agencies at $40 billion, compared to $60 billion over the life of the Bush administration."


"One problem with all such estimates is that they are based on self-reporting by government. Some agencies like the EPA have a habit of exaggerating benefits and hiding costs, but more importantly its analysis is done before the rules take effect in the real world. Often the true cost of regulation isn't merely compliance but slower growth that diminishes consumer welfare by allocating capital and labor to less valuable or productive uses."


Every survey or CEO I have read or seen on TV has said forthright that they are holding back on HIRING and INVESTING because this administration has created a regulatory hell and as it continues to unfold they are lying low.


Excerpt:


"The evidence is overwhelming that the Obama regulatory surge is one reason the current economic recovery has been so lackluster by historic standards. Rather than nurture an economy trying to rebuild confidence after a financial heart attack, the administration pushed through its now-famous blitz of liberal policies on health care, financial services, energy, housing, education and student loans, telecom, labor relations, transportation and probably some other industries we've forgotten. Anyone who thinks this has only minimal impact on business has never been in business."




The bloated federal government is out of control and has been for some time intruding in our lives, in our businesses with their knee jerk reactions to every thing they think they can control of course for our own good, of course to protect us from bad people,  bad corporations, and of course from ourselves.


From 1996 - 1999 there were 15,286 more federal regulations  that went into effect with who knows what unintended consequences not to mention the cost.


The federal government has spawned entire legions and industries of accountants, lawyers, and consultants who's existence feeds off the knowledge of these regulations and their interpretation.


Imagine how much money businesses and industry spends every year on all this insanity?


One current small example from Obamacare is that just 6 pages of the 2500 plus page behemoth has produced 429 pages of new regulations.


God help us if the entire lousy bill in put into effect.


Folks it is time to drastically drastically REDUCE the SIZE and SCOPE of the federal government and return it to a more humane vision that our founders intended before we slip into serfdom.


VOTE OBAMA and his MINIONS OUT in 2012.