The Root Of Economic Malaise

No wonder the recipients outnumber the producers. The producers are swamped by regulations.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles...0001424052702304311204579505953682216682.html

quote;
“Anyone wondering why the U.S. economy can't seem to grow at its usual pace should examine one product category where production is booming: federal regulation.”

“Washington set a new record in 2013 by issuing final rules consuming 26,417 pages in the Federal Register.”

“…leadership matters…by this measure President Obama has never been surpassed in the Oval Office.”

“In 2013 the Federal Register contained 3,659 "final" rules, which means they now must be obeyed, and 2,594 proposed rules on their way to becoming orders from political headquarters.”

“…there are another 3,305 regulations moving through the pipeline on their way to being imposed. One hundred and ninety-one of those are "economically significant" rules, which are defined as having costs of at least $100 million a year.”

“…the overall cost of regulatory compliance and its economic impact is about $1.9 trillion annually.”

“…the burden of complying with federal rules costs roughly the annual GDP of Australia, Canada or Italy.”

“This regulatory tax makes U.S. businesses less competitive, but it also burdens every American because it is embedded in the prices of all goods and services. Mr. Crews estimates that "U.S. households 'pay' $14,974 annually in regulatory hidden tax," or 23% of the average income of $65,596.”



Taxcutter says:
No wonder we have stagflation. How did the Republic get by for all those years without the Hussein Obama regulations? Quite nicely - and certain better than it will with all Hussein Obama’s regulations in force.

 

Taxcutter says;
Agreed. But the regulations are the major component of that War.

Taxcutter says:
Only the shale oil sector stands as an exception.

Taxcutter says:
Only moochers and his cronies trust him.

Taxcutter says:
One might debate the business climate of 1946. For the US businessman it was wonderful because literally all his foreign competition was bombed flat, there were relatively few regulations, and there was a tremendous pent-up domestic demand. But the balance between labor and management was grossly tilted in favor of labor, planting the seed of future non-competitiveness. Also the tax load was horrendous. But 1946 had a far better business climate than 2014.

Taxcutter says:
Thank you.

 

At one time I owned a small logging company. The paper work involved with The state and or the forest service along with the paper work with employees, kept my wife busy full time. I only had 12 employees but it just got to the point where it was too much and is one of the main reasons I decided to pull the plug and just work by myself.

 

At first I thought it was just a political party squeezing in some regulations they thought were necessary, but after the years have gone by and the flood of regulation continues, while coupled with the worst economic conditions in many of our lifetimes, I can't help but believe it's an intentional burden placed on the economy to hold it down, but to what end? All of the regulation only serves to escalate prices at a time when food and energy costs are already consuming more and more of our incomes. They can't be so stupid as to think squeezing the people's ability to consume during an economic downturn is a time to enact costly regulation, especially to this degree.

 

Always wonder why so many people continue to ignore the obvious; Nothing is free!

A major food producer a couple of cities from me recently wanted to expand current operations by building something like 50,000 square feet of manufacturing space. When they submitted their plans, the County/City told them it would cost $30 million...yes $30 million...to study and approve and permit the property. So they just moved their operations to another area where ridiculous government policy and regulations did not make it impossible to do business. I can imagine that this same scenario applies up through State and Federal government and not only costs business and society billion$ but also government to the tune of billion$...which ultimately costs every American!

The stupidity in all of this is we believe we are protecting ourselves from some evil but in reality we are trying to protect ourselves from ourselves...

 

It's extortion on two fronts; governments, which have only to gain from those types of ridiculous barriers of entry, and cronys, that use the governments to stifle competition.

Cleverly cloaked in a pseudo blanket of "safety" that the ignorant masses keep screaming for like so many baby robins with their mouths agape.

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This is a real problem that I deal with on clients' behalf daily. We had a literal explosion of executive branch power grab in the 20th century that has led to a hyperregulatory state. Politicians sell graft to their true constituency via competition-stifling regulations while at the same time floating the false propaganda narrative that more and more regulations are necessary as if the billions and trillions of regulatory costs have ever prevented abuses in any way remotely related to their hideous costs.

Then you have the bureaucrats themselves seeking advancement, paygrade and expansion in their bureau, feeding at the trough and claiming that anyone who complains about hyperregulation is an anarchist who wants no regulation whatsoever. The low info public is fooled into believing that regulators have their best interest at heart where the only real interests at play are the interests of government's true graft-buying constituency and the interests of bureaucrats.

 

THERE we go. The reason why the stock market has DOUBLED under Obama. Lack of trust. hehehe

 

30 large crony-tending, graft-buying companies in the DJIA does not an entire "stock market" make, and your claim above evidences that government's true constituency is doing just fine at the expense of competition and the larger business community. Those companies have the wherewithal to shoulder the immense regulatory burden, and offset those costs with the benefits of the regulatory graft benefit they buy from government. The rest of us suffer.

 

I don't think it's 'extortion' or even planned...it's just the nature of politics and society and laws which are required because we're too stupid to perform on our own.

In my household my 'other' does not need to create regulations and policy regarding all the chores and emergencies needed to deal with our property nor do I need to with her. We do what must be done, in a timely matter, within our budget, always trying to move forward and/or improve. In a government, however, in which we have few willing to take responsibility, in which we have revolving doors of candidates, in which we are always in debt or pinching pennies, in which most of us don't care about stuff outside of our self-serving zone, government creates policies and regulations and laws and punishment in order to rule the roost. An example might be, for the millions of Americans who litter, why don't they litter on their own property...why do they litter off their property? They are seldom caught because we don't have the resources to enforce our myriad laws and regulations.

So...business and people are over-regulated because we are too self-serving and entitled...so create millions of laws and regulations because the human species cannot conform on their own fruition...it's a damned if we do damned if we don't situation...

 

The stock market's performance has nothing to do with the president and it's not an indicator of economic health. It's actually a bubble due to the billions that have been pumped into the banks via QE that has made its way into investments, thereby driving up prices. We're now seeing what happens when they pull back out as prices continue to fall. The person you quoted was spot on, and the nature and breadth of continuing, and growing, regulation will only dampen business growth further.

 

Whether it's the $10 trillion in debt money spent over the last few years or the QE policy, I'd say both the economy and the stock market do not resemble reality...both have been on government steroids while the root economy IMO is unknown. However, as long as the federal government can continue to use debt money to fund the federal government, and many local and State governments, thereby maintaining the false economy, they can get away with it. But as QE is decreased and there is more pressure to reduce deficit spending, the true root economy will come into better perspective...

 

Yet you damn near defined extortion.

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The regulatory burden on businesses, particularly small businesses, is by some estimates in excess of $2 trillion a year. That's a lot of overhead costs to bear, and if you throw in the higher tax burden and labor issues with the minimum wage and health insurance, it's just damn hard to start or grow a business. And on top of that you never know where energy and other costs are going to go, what with Obama and his pen or the gov't agencies like the EPA writing regs, bypassing Congress. Every other president in history has found ways to work with the opposition except the current one. Yeah, I get that the repubs aren't cooperative, but the opposition never is. And it's not like Obama is really trying, his idea of compromise is do it my way. How do you work with somebody who is badmouthing you every day since he got into office?

 

Extortion; obtaining something by illegal threats: the crime of obtaining something such as money or information from somebody by using force, threats, or other unacceptable methods.

These government policies, laws and regulations are in place because the voters approve of Congressional mandates. As long as we voters keep them in office, no matter how many regulations they create, we've got to accept this is the will of the people. Now I could talk all day about the ignorance and bias of voters but this also cannot easily be changed. Today it seems nearly impossible to approach the masses with facts and data in order to provide an understanding of the pros and cons of over-regulation. So we are left with the system in which politics, religion, and personal bias trump facts and data...

 

EXTORTION


Merriam Webster:



1: the act or practice of extorting especially money or other property; especially : the offense committed by an official engaging in such practice
2: something extorted; especially : a gross overcharge

Dictionary.com:

ex·tor·tion

noun
1. an act or instance of extorting.
2. Law. the crime of obtaining money or some other thing of value by the abuse of one's office or authority.
3. oppressive or illegal exaction, as of excessive price or interest: the extortions of usurers.
4. anything extorted.

 

Regulations don't have a damn bit to do with anything.

Obama has kept wall street happy. Economic drag is caused by the following:

1) Republican obstructionism (debt ceiling fights, mostly)
2) Private Debt (mostly student loans and underwater mortgages)
3) Austerity
4) Concentration of Wealth at the top

If you want to economy to improve, try fixing those.

 

Hmm, interesting argument, will definitely take that into consideration going forward.

 

Economies flourish when gov'ts get the hell out of the way. Cut taxes, cut spending, reduce regulations, try fixing those. Make it easier to make money, simple as that.

 

I've wondered in the past about in the USA creating some manufacturing/business zones in which we throw out the government. For example, in the wastelands of Nevada, why not allow every chemical company known to mankind to set up shop? Logic says if we can test nuclear weapons why not a chemical plant? Perhaps in an economically depressed State, why not allow clean manufacturing in which there are no minimum wages, no demands for medical insurance, just an hourly wage based on supply and demand?

 

OK, lets just get rid of all business regulations.
Then we can just expect to get poisoned and killed and maimed and lied to and cheated by businesspeople in the normal course of our everyday lives like before there was any regulations.

The simple fact of the matter is if businesses had not acted so horribly to the public on a regular basis for so many years the public would not have clamoured for them to be regulated and the legislatures would not have passed laws to regulate them, but they did so they are.

This whole argument that businesses are burdened and impeded by unnecessary government regulation is a disingenuous lie. The only reason there are business regulations is because business has a long established history that they cannot be trusted to do the right thing when dealing with the public. The only reason there are regulations on business is because people complained about them so much that the authorities had to do something about it.

Blah blah blah, if you business people would behave for a little while maybe the regulations could be relaxed but sadly that is not the case because you always seem to be inventing novel ways to screw people.

 

Cloward-Piven by subtle means...

Obama is not stupid, he is an self-described ENEMY of America!

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C'mon now, nobody is saying to get rid of ALL of them. But can't we at least take a hard look at the most onerous and inefficient ones, especially the ones that're costing American businesses too much to be worth it? Can't we find alternative solutions, other ways to keep businesses and corporations honest? Do we really need all those new rules or can we strengthen existing rules and bear down more on the enforcement side if things? And just maybe we oughta be looking at ways to delegate some stuff down to the states and get the federal gov't out of certain functions that could be and should be handled at lower levels of gov't.