New Rules Surged in Obama’s Last Year to 3,853, Most Pages in Federal Register Ever
Posted: June 1, 2017 Filed under: Crime & Corruption, Mediasphere, Politics, White House | Tags: Bank Secrecy Act, Barack Obama, Federal Register, Joe Manchin, Myron Ebell, Pen and Phone, Progressive, Regulations, Rules, U.S. Federal Government, United States, White House Leave a comment
Joseph Lawler reports: President Barack Obama’s last year in office set a high watermark for new federal rules and regulations as the outgoing Democrat sought to leave his mark on the country through a “pen and phone” strategy.
The total number of Federal Register pages in 2016 rose nearly 20 percent to 95,894, the most ever, and the number of final rules, at 3,853, was the most since 2005, according to a new report from the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Read the rest of this entry »
Day One: Erasing Obama
Posted: January 20, 2017 Filed under: History, Mediasphere, Politics, White House | Tags: Barack Obama, Daily Mail, Donald Trump, Drudge Report, Executive order, Obamacare, Oval Office, Regulations, Regulations Freeze Leave a comment
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New EPA Rules Push Regulatory Costs Past $1 Trillion, $3,080 Per Person
Posted: December 1, 2016 Filed under: Crime & Corruption, Economics, Politics, White House | Tags: Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Barack Obama, Democratic Party, Donald Trump, Environment, EPA, Federal Emergency Management Agency, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, Presidency of George W. Bush, Regulations, Republican Party (United States) Leave a comment
The Regulatory Gray Goo Nightmare
Paul Bedard reports: The new implementation of EPA rules on heavy trucks has boosted the 10-year regulatory burden on America past $1 trillion, 75 percent of which have been imposed by the Obama administration.
That amounts to a one-time charge of $3,080 per person, or an annual cost of $540, according to a new analysis from American Action Forum.
“In other words, each year every person, regardless of age, in the nation is responsible for paying roughly $540 in regulatory costs. These burdens might take the form of higher prices, fewer jobs, or reduced wages,” said AAF’s Sam Batkins, director of regulatory policy at the watchdog group.
The staggering amount is likely to surge even higher as President Obama scrambles to lock in several environmental regulations before leaving office. He has already broken records for new regulations and added red tape this year and still has 50 days in office.
Incoming President-elect Trump has promised to kill two current regulations for every new one he adds.
[Read the full story here, at Washington Examiner]
The new high in regulatory costs, said Batkins, came after new fuel standards for trucks were implemented. Read the rest of this entry »
[VIDEO] Freedom in the 50 States 2015-2016
Posted: August 15, 2016 Filed under: Education, Law & Justice, Politics, Think Tank | Tags: Appalachia, Cato Institute, Economic freedom, Eminent domain, Freedom, Patrick Michaels, property rights, Public policy, Reform, Regulations, Taxation, United States Leave a comment
How free is your state? Find out! The Freedom in the 50 States 2015-2016 index from the Cato Institute measures freedom across a range of over 200 policies and across personal, regulatory and fiscal dimensions.
Source: Cato Institute
OH YES THEY DID: 20,642 New Regulations Added in the Obama Presidency
Posted: May 23, 2016 Filed under: Economics, Politics, Think Tank, White House | Tags: American Enterprise Institute, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, Federal Communications Commission, Federal Trade Commission, George W. Bush, Red Tape, Regulations, Republican Party (United States), The New York Times, White House Leave a comment
The unparalleled increase in regulatory burdens spells a decline in economic freedom and individual liberty, with a concomitant increase in political gamesmanship and cronyism—all of which inhibits innovation, investment and job creation, increases prices, and curtails consumer choice.
James Gattuso and Diane Katz report: The tide of red tape that threatens to drown U.S. consumers and businesses surged yet again in 2015, according to a Heritage Foundation study we released on Monday.
More than $22 billion per year in new regulatory costs were imposed on Americans last year, pushing the total burden for the Obama years to exceed $100 billion annually.
That’s a dollar for every star in the galaxy, or one for every second in 32 years.
The consequences of this rampant rulemaking are widespread:
- Restricted access to credit under the hundreds of rules unleashed by the Dodd–Frank financial regulation statute
- Fewer health care choices and higher medical costs from the Affordable Care Act
- Reduced Internet investment and innovation under the network neutrality rules dictated by the Federal Communications Commission
These are just a few of the 2,353 regulations of 2015—and there have been 20,642 since Obama took office in 2009.
The worst of last year’s wave—in terms of cost, at least—was the Environmental Protection Agency’s “Clean Power Plan.”
[read the full story here, at DailySignal.com]
The rule represents the first direct regulation of so-called greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, at a cost of $7.2 billion a year (and far more according to critics). Despite the huge costs, the plan will do nothing to mitigate global warming.
America’s problem with excessive regulation did not start with the Obama administration, of course. Read the rest of this entry »
Reminder: The Federal Tax Code & Regulations are Now Over 10 Million Words in Length
Posted: October 30, 2015 Filed under: Crime & Corruption, Economics, Law & Justice, Politics, Think Tank | Tags: Congress, Federal Government, IRS, Regulations, tax code, The U.S. Senate, White House 2 Comments
Senate Democrats Scheme How to Spectacularly Fail At Gun Control
Posted: October 12, 2015 Filed under: Politics, Self Defense, White House | Tags: 2nd amendment, Chuck Schumer, Civil Rights, Democrats, failure, Government Overreach, Gun control, Gun rights, media, Mental health, news, Opportunism, propaganda, Regulations, Ron Wyden, Self-defense, Tyranny Leave a comment
Rallying around three theatrical ‘principles of action,’ the group proposed laws to close imaginary ‘loopholes’, try to expand invasive background databases to create additional burdens for understaffed law enforcement agencies, ignore meaningful mental health legislation reform, and try to think up new ways to harass law-abiding citizens with pointless regulatory efforts that they admit has no hope of saving lives, or surviving challenges in the courts, but is aimed at pacifying their base of control-craving, gun-hating, feeble-minded, anti-democratic, highly-emotional low-information voters.
Philip Wegmann reports: In the week after the mass shooting in Roseburg, Ore., Senate Democrats gathered on the steps of the U.S. Capitol to demand stricter gun control and unveil their comprehensive policy package to achieve it.
“If Obama and gun control advocates were serious, they would address the underlying issue of America’s broken mental health system,” Cox said in a statement. “Instead, they push gun control initiatives that would not have prevented any of the tragedies they seek to exploit.”
Frustrated by the inaction of Republicans and hamstrung by a lack of votes, the group of more than two dozen Senate Democrats sought to spark debate by appealing directly to the public.
“The roll call of American gun tragedies is already far too long,” said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. “The victims and their families deserve better than a Congress that shrugs its shoulder and waits for the next tragedy.”
Rallying around three “principles of action,” the group proposed laws to close background check loopholes, expand background databases, and crack down on illegal gun sales.
Numerically virtually impossible to pass in the Republican-controlled House, gun control legislation also faces an uphill battle in the Senate. Read the rest of this entry »
Chicago to Apply 9% ‘Amusement Tax’ for ‘the Privilege of Witnessing, Viewing or Participating in the Chewing of Gum’
Posted: July 12, 2015 Filed under: Crime & Corruption, Entertainment, Food & Drink, Humor, Law & Justice, Politics | Tags: Amusement Tax, Arrest, black market, Blue State Model, Chicago, Democratic Party, Gum Tax, Illinois, Law, Netflix, Netflix Tax, Regulations, Tax law, Taxation, Taxes 1 Comment
[See also – Chicago to Apply 9% ‘Netflix Tax’]
Market innovation, not government regulations, are the key to keeping college costs down
Posted: August 26, 2013 Filed under: Economics, Mediasphere | Tags: Arizona State, Complete College America, Conn Carroll, Education, George Mason University, Higher Education, Innovation, Ivy Bridge, Obama, Reform, Regulations, Student Loans, Tiffin University, Universities, Washington Examiner Leave a comment
Higher-education reformers shouldn’t have to rely on the government to experiment with new methods. (Thinkstock)
BY CONN CARROLL
“Over the last month,” President Obama said in Buffalo, N.Y., on Thursday, “I’ve been out there talking about what we need to do as a country to make sure that we’ve to a better bargain for the middle class and everybody who’s working hard to get into the middle class.”
Stella, the second youngest of five brothers, was raised in a single parent home in Roanoke, Alabama. He was the only one of his siblings to finish high school, although he has since encouraged all of his siblings to go back and get their G.E.D.s.
Now living in Warren, Ohio, with a son of his own, Stella wanted to improve his own life and his son’s opportunities. But as a single parent with a full-time job, his options were limited.
