Are regulations truly a hindrance to businesses?
Not according to 200 members of the National Association for Business Economics.
Eighty percent of survey respondents felt that the current regulatory environment was good for American businesses and the overall economy, concluded NABE, in its August 2011 Economic Policy Survey.
NABE is the largest international association of applied economists, strategists, academics and policy makers committed to the application of economics, was founded in 1959 and is one of the member organizations of the Allied Social Sciences Association.
Its a good regulatory environment, but most economists want to see a great regulatory environment, said NABE President Rich Wobbekind on NPR on Aug. 23. Regulate the things that encourage transparency, but dont regulate the things that slow job growth or just add costs to small business.
Last week, the Obama Administration unveiled nearly 500 changes aimed at saving businesses money in a number of different ways such as consolidating their IRS paperwork, simplifying hazard warnings they must post for workers and expediting payment to government contractors.
The changes are meant to save more than $10 billion over the next five years and bolster job and economic growth, or so the White House hopes.
But according to Speaker of the House John Boehner and Sen. John Barrasso (both Republicans), the administration has proposed more than 340 regulations at a cost of more than $65 billion to businesses.
After much research and several Google searches, we have been unable to come up with any actual factual basis for the claim.
Diane Katz, a regulatory policy research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, told the Los Angeles Times that when all the regulations imposed in the first two years of Obamas term are fully implemented, they will cost businesses roughly two-thirds the total expense from the rules generated in Bushs eight years in office.
But, added Katz, the savings Obama has proposed in this slate of regulatory changes, are not significant compared to the torrent of new regulations.
Obama has been under attack by the business community since Day One, which has accused his administration of placing an excessive regulatory burden on the shoulders of job creators.
Regulations under attack are not just those pushed on to Wall Street, but also the Consumer Protection Act, increased mileage for trucks and cars, OSHA rules and conflicting water quality regulations from different federal agencies.
What totally stuns us is the contention that Wall Street needs less regulation, not more.
We, like most Americans, think Obama hasnt instituted enough new regulations on the institutions that caused the recession we are currently suffering through.
We would agree that many regulations on the books today are excessive, in need of revision, sometimes unnecessary and often times absolutely ridiculous.
But regulations are needed nonetheless, to protect our environment, our job safety and our health and to protect us from the rapacious money hoarders who have led us down this leaden path (a golden path for them) to recession.
We hope the Obama administration continues to look at the current regulatory environment and changes those regulations that need to be changed, eliminate those no longer needed and institute those that are absolutely required.
