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Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Obama's regulation review

Sometimes I wonder if I am too suspicious. For example, the news is out this morning that President Obama has ordered a government-wide review of regulations in order to remove those which are hampering economic growth but which are not necessary for health or safety issues. The effort is a good one if it is for real. Unfortunately, I sincerely doubt if the true purpose is anything other than to have Obama look like he wants to help business while actually doing nothing that has any effect. Just think about it! The standard Washington way of looking like one is doing something about an issue is to appoint a commission to study the problem. We all recall the deficit reduction commission who labored over the last year and then issued a report that was labelled dead on arrival. The net effect was no reduction whatsoever in the deficit, but it gave obama something to talk about during the 2010 election campaign.

A government-wide regulation review is something very much akin to a presidential commission. The review makes no changes in the regulations. they stay in place while the bureaucracy "considers" the efficacy of the various regulations. Meanwhile, the main stream media gets to trumpet Obama's commitment to promoting economic growth and job creation. Can you say 2012 election with the main Republican issue pre-empted?

It would have been quite simple for the president to order each department to come to him with ten proposed regulatory changes that would promote economic growth. He could then have announced not a do nothing "review", but the implementation of hundreds of rule changes that will promote growth. Sure, the procedures for changing the regulations would need to be followed, but the time line would have been moved forward by at least a year. Remember, the economy needs help NOW, not in 2012. Wait! Maybe the goal is to have something done in 2012 when it looks like Obama is doing something but there is not enough time to see if the changes made actually have a positive effect. But that's just me being suspicious again. I just have to keep telling myself "Obama really does want to help business, Obama really does want to help business."

Sorry, no matter how many times I say it, I just do not believe it. If Obama really wants to help business, he should endorse the repeal of Obamacare or order the EPA to stop consideration of carbon dioxide as a pollutant. Now that would be a boon to the economy!

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