Rationalize Regulations

Government regulations burden our economy by shifting costs to (or creating costs for) the private sector.  Proponents of the regulations seldom have much to say about such costs, but the rest of us should keep our guard up lest we be sold a bill of goods.

This is not to say the Government should not regulate anything. The point is that regulations should be based on facts (vs. emotion), with full recognition of the implications.  Here are some examples of misguided regulations.

# By mandating higher mileage per gallon for passenger vehicles while exempting light trucks, the Government created a hot market for gas guzzling minivans and SUVs.  Talk about the law of unintended consequences!

# Campaign finance “reform” has not eliminated the importance of money in political campaigns, but it has spawned entities that are less readily held accountable for how contributions are spent than the candidates or political parties would be.

# The Sarbanes-Oxley law (enacted after the Enron collapse) has dramatically increased the cost of preparing and auditing financial statements for all publicly held companies in the U.S.  Although it is crucial to maintain the faith of investors in reports of public companies, there are less intrusive ways (e.g., prosecuting offenders) to do so.

#Continuing hand wringing that global warming (which does seem to be occurring) is due to human activity (this may or may not be true), which is used to justify calls for huge tax increases on gasoline and stringent new restrictions on the emission of carbon dioxide (a natural ingredient of the atmosphere).  What to worry about today?

On the other side of the regulatory coin, essential projects are often blocked because opponents are allowed to demand “proof” that there is no conceivable problem in going ahead.  (By this standard, it might not be possible for people to get out of bed in the morning.)  Here are some of the results:

#Failure to maintain U.S. production of oil and gas due to unreasoning opposition to new development projects in offshore waters and Alaska, leading to ever increasing dependency on imports,

# Permitting requirements for new U.S. oil refineries so onerous that none have been constructed here in the past 30 years.  Look for continuing process mishaps at the aging refineries that remain in operation, plus growing imports of refined gasoline that will increase our vulnerability to supply interruptions and lead to the loss of U.S. manufacturing jobs. 

#Dithering for decades over a proposal for the deep burial of nuclear wastes in an isolated area of Nevada vs. continuing to hold such wastes indefinitely at sites around the country. Note: for people truly worried about global warming, the expansion of nuclear energy would seem to be an eminently logical response.

Gridlock like this need not be tolerated.  As a reminder of the progress that can be made when people of vision and talent are allowed to follow their dreams, see Tuxedo Park.

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