Feed: Strangulation by Regulation - AggScore: 12.9

Strangulation by Regulation

---

img classalignright styleborder 0pt none srchttp1.bp.blogspot.comMpd1ozuoa64TTirUfmQg0IAAAAAAAAC9YTYPi370a5Is200RedTape.bmp border0 alt width200 height142 On Tuesday, January 18, I had the opportunity to participate in a conference call initiated by the Office of Management and Budget to roll out President Obamas executive order regarding the revision of the federal governments massive regulatory morass.On the same day, the Wall Street Journal had published President Obamas commentary Toward a 21stCentury Regulatory System in which, at one point, noting that the FDA had found saccharin to be safe, he lauded the Environmental Protection Agency for eliminating its ruling that saccharin was a dangerous chemical.Steven Milloy of Junk Science.com noted that, while the Food and Drug Administration considers carbon dioxide to be safe for human consumption in soft drinks, yet the EPA is regulating it as a threat to the public welfare under the Clean Air Act. How about rollin that one back The EPA has, in its short history, generated more regulations than any other comparable government agency. The EPA is not about science. Its about power over every aspect of our lives.EPA regulations regarding carbon dioxide will impose crushing financial burdens on any and all use of electricity and is utterly devoid of any scientific justification. The EPAs justification is that CO2 causes global warmingwhich it does notbecause there is NO global warming.The conference call featured OMB Director Jack Lew and the presidents regulatory czar Cass Sunstein who has been described as a liberal activist judge who believes free speech needs to be limited for the common good and has ruled against personal freedoms including private gun ownership.Both kept repeating the talking points for the executive order, emphasizing opportunities for public participation and public comment and to make sure that regulations are driven by real science.This latter attribute has been sorely missing among the many Obama appointees such as his science czar John Holdren, his environmental czar Carol Browner, and his choice to head the Energy Department, is a true believer in global warming. Some of the opinions expressed by these appointees have bordered on lunacy.The other meme repeated throughout the conference call was that of jobs. In the runup to the 2012 elections, Obama will say jobs a million times despite or because of the obvious fact that the nation is at Depressionlevel rates for unemployment.The a hrefhttpcei.orgnewsreleasesobamaexecutiveorderregreformfartoolittlefartoolateCompetitive Enterprise Institutea that closely tracks the impact of federal regulations on business and industry in America was not taken in by the executive order or the rhetoric surrounding it. This executive order is hardly a war on red tape, and no affected businesses or consumers are going to be able to sue anybody to force complianceits just an order to agencies to behave.The CEI noted that Both balancing safety against economic growth and requiring a review of existing rules are features of President Clintons EO 12866, which Obama reaffirmed while repealing Bushs EOs 13258 and 13422.CEI noted that The number of rules in the pipeline at agencies has surged in the past year, from 4,041 at the end of 2009 to 4,225 now, as will be detailed in CEIs upcoming Ten Thousand Commandments report. Major rules, those expected to cost over 100 million annually, have experienced an even greater surge.When one considers that Obamacare constituted a massive expansion of regulation and that the House has just voted to repeal it, Obamas executive order looks like windowdressing to hide the fact that this administration, thus far, has engaged in piling on regulations that the public has, in poll after poll, rejected.This executive order is as empty as all of Obamas other many promises. Alan Caruba, 20011