-
Conscripts in a Ponzi Scheme
June 13, 2011 | 127 comments
-
Social Security and the Ghost of Ephram Nestor
April 6, 2011 | 21 comments
-
Dracon for President?
February 22, 2011 | 48 comments
-
Mitch Daniels and the CPAC Moment
February 14, 2011 | 78 comments
-
The New America Firsters
February 7, 2011 | 43 comments
The Public Policy
All That Gold
Mountains and mountains of federal regulations wait to be attacked by Republican politicians as they move to save American from financial ruin.
As Republican politicians look frantically for ways to solve the country’s financial problems, they should not overlook the mountain of gold towering before them. That mountain is the accumulation of federal regulations that now occupies more than 82,000 pages in the Federal Register.
No one knows for sure what the cost of all those regulations is, but it is probably at least $1.75 trillion, or 14 percent of U.S. national income. By comparison, the income-tax burden is about $2.3 trillion.
The current Congress is not likely to be successful in repealing much of anything, given the veto power of the liberal progressive in the White House. But the House of Representatives could at least set the stage for massive repealing in preparation for the Republicans’ taking control of the government in 2012.
High on the list of regulations that should be repealed is the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), enacted in 1970 with, alas, President Richard Nixon’s enthusiastic support. OSHA was just one reason, and a good one, why conservatives suspended their support of Nixon — until Watergate.
The mandate of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration created by that act is to protect workers from job-related injuries and illnesses. Its regulating is fanatically intrusive, and is estimated to cost around $65 billion a year. Its existence is justified in the literature with phrases like, “Since the 1970 enactment of OSHA, workplace injuries are sharply down…” Yes, and since the 1970 enactment the tides have been going in and out too.
In fact, despite all that oppressive regulating, the record indicates, remarkably, that OSHA has had no effect at all. A graph published by the CATO Institute shows that the decline in workplace fatalities was steady over a sixty-year period that began long before OSHA was created. Looking at the graph, it is impossible to point to the moment when OSHA commenced its massive meddling. The graph of non-fatal workplace injuries, on the other hand, is almost flat, also indicating that OSHA has made no difference.
What the science shows, therefore, is that OSHA has been completely ineffective. But who cares about science?
In theory, this administration cares about science. On March 9, 2009, President Obama signed an executive order that said, “Science and the scientific process must inform and guide decisions of my Administration on a wide range of issues, including improvement of public health…”
But in practice, this administration has already indicated it doesn’t care the square root of π about science — which is certainly taking a back seat when it comes to regulations put out by the Department of Transportation.
As reported by Holman W. Jenkins Jr. in the Wall Street Journal, Ray LaHood, the secretary of transportation, is on a campaign against “distracted driving” caused by cell-phone use, which he labels an “epidemic.”
But there are problems with Secretary LaHood’s campaign, especially in an administration that says it wants to restore scientific integrity to government decision-making.
What does science tell us about using cell phones while driving? The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reported that a study by researchers at its affiliate, the Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI), found no reductions in crashes after laws that ban texting by drivers took effect. A previous HLDI study had found no reductions in crashes after bans on hand-held phones had taken effect. In fact, crashes increased in three states after texting bans were imposed. No one knows why yet, but one theory is that drivers’ attempts to be clandestine in using their phones may cause accidents.
Secretary LaHood, a man undistracted by science, should be exquisitely tortured in the appropriate congressional hearing. But his campaign is a mere Pinto, or Lada, compared to the war waged on business by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Is there any indication that bureaucrats are capable of learning from science? Very little. In 2009, the District of Columbia cancelled safety inspections of automobiles, having discovered that states that did not require inspections did not have higher accident rates than states that did. A 2005 report by the District’s Department of Motor Vehicles “clearly showed there was not a positive effect of safety inspections on traffic safety” in the city.
Lest you start having fuzzywarm thoughts about D.C. bureaucrats and think they were concerned about the inconvenience that inspections caused the citizens of the city, you should know that the District discovered it could save $400,000 a year by cancelling the inspections — raising the question: If the city fathers knew in 2005 that there was no benefit from the inspection program, why did they wait until 2009 to cancel it? But we digress.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (53) | Leave a comment
More Articles by Daniel Oliver
More Articles From The Public Policy
http://spectator.org/archives/2011/01/24/all-that-gold
Follow us:
ADVERTISEMENT
The Spectacle Blog
Democrat Dan Maffei Blames Budget Cuts for Girl’s Rape, Mother’s Murder
Robert Stacy McCain | 6.18.13
SPONSORED LINKS
FLASHBACK TO: 1995
-
Pope Culture
A man of faith in a godless age is hitting Americans where it hurts.
-
Why the GOP Does Not, Like, Totally Suck
Mr. and Mrs. American Spectator Reader, let P.J. O’Rourke talk sense to your kids.
-
Dames at Sea
-
In the Absence of Guns
In Britain, defending your property can get you life.
-
The Metaphysical Martini
-
Counting the Costs of Clintonism
The debacle of this president’s administration is both a cause and a symptom of the decline of American values. Unless Congress impeaches him, that decline will go on unchecked. An eminent jurist surveys the damage and assesses the chances for the recovery of our culture.
-
Chuck McHagel
It won’t take long for conservatives to scratch this presidential wannabe off their 2008 scorecard.
-
The Legacy of Old John and Mother Fresh-Roasted
-
It’s the Best Time of the Year
The American Christmas, like the songs that celebrate it, makes room for everybody under the rainbow. Is that why so many people seem to be hostile to it?
-
The Bush Crack-Up
Was the President done in by the economy, or by the politics of the economy?
Clip of the Day
ADVERTISEMENT
Deborah D | 1.24.11 @ 6:25AM
I'm all for cutting most of the out of control federal bureaucracy. OSHA, FEC, EPA, FCC -- for starters. Moving on to the Energy Department (which only thwarts finding new energy sources), the Department of Education (which only makes our children dumber at a higher cost), and a total revamping of such departments as Interior...totally out of control. I'm sure there is much more. We need a clean sweep.
Alan Brooks| 1.24.11 @ 8:39PM
Liar, you want to create more regulations against abortion and anything you don't like you want laws against; Doesn't matter WHAT it is- you want to replace arbitrary leftist regulations with rightwing regulations..
"DOWN WITH BIG GUVMINT (dat I don't like)"
You are a Congenital Liar.
MikeD| 1.25.11 @ 8:22PM
Thought I smelled wood burning...you were trying to think. OSHA is just one of the many useless albatrosses we're struggling against thanks to the federal government. My first choice is the dept. of energy. Jimma Cahta started it to reduce our dependence on foreign oil in 1977; and our rate of imported oil has gone from 30% to 70% while spending billions of dollars. Close it down tomorrow. Just think of the money we'd save in salaries and pensions.
Next is the dept. of education, a joke if there ever was one. Close 'em down now. OSHA, HUD, and all the rest of the alphabet agencies have no use. Bawney Fwank and his buddy Fwankwin Waines stole us blind and caused more damage to more Americans in a shorter time than even Adolph Hitler! They just weren't as deadly.
If the republicans have any chance to save what's left of our country and economy they have to take a knife to the budget and bask in the glow of hatred from the left-media and libs like you.
See how you inspire us!
John Daniel| 1.24.11 @ 6:53AM
Won't happen. It's like assulting a mountain of jello...can't grab it, can't get on top of it, and the more you fight the more it'll suck you in....
Deborah D | 1.24.11 @ 9:28AM
"Won't" "can't" -- so we might as well throw in the towel, right? BS. We can and we will because we must. Wrap your head around that. We'll remove from office those who "can't" or "won't" and we'll keep doing it until they can and will. Go back to sleep.
MoeBlotz| 1.24.11 @ 7:21AM
Who would try and calculate the square root of a ratio between the circumference of a circle and its diameter? 3.14159265
donserge| 1.24.11 @ 8:24AM
Being a retired small contractor I know firsthand the stupidity of much of OSHA. The article is correct, however facts, statistics and even logic do NOT matter to liberals...good luck with regulation repeal.
John II| 1.24.11 @ 10:58AM
Even apart from the Left's general hostility to argument, the greatest obstacle to reform will be entrenched interest. Once you put a metastasizing monster like OSHA in place, it becomes all the more impossible to dislodge even as it becomes all the more obvious that the monster serves no purpose but destruction.
We have to remember that the kinds of people who make up such bureaucracies are basically unproductive bums snorting at the public trough. They have one formidable talent: keeping their jobs. Deborah's right, but we DO need to go into this knowing what we're up against.
InLineFour| 1.24.11 @ 7:58PM
Don't know who said this, but it's very apt here:
"The closest thing to immortality in this world is a government bureau."
Still, it shouldn't prevent us from at least carving some fat out of these monsters.
John II| 1.25.11 @ 11:17AM
The quote is from Hugh S. Johnson, a retired Army general who was appointed in 1933 by FDR to oversee the National Recovery Administration. In the late years of his Army career, during World War I, he had acquired some fame for organizing the Selective Service System. He was featured as Time magazine's Man of the Year in 1934, but resigned from his position as head of the NRA in the same year.
In other words, it is one of the more charming ironies of American history that the man who was perhaps America's last honest bureaucrat was a supporter of FDR and a functionary of the early Roosevelt Administration.
MikeD| 1.25.11 @ 8:28PM
As furious as I get with the dems, I can never forget that Bush 1 was the guy who gave us the ADA. We owned a health club with an indoor soccer field and tennis courts, as well as handball, raquetball, etc... We were forced to spend more than $100,000 to make our indoor soccer field handicapped accessible! This is a game where nobody but the goal keeper can touch the ball and every player must run their legs off! But, that hundred thousand tipped us over the edge, and then, of course, some local thug lawyer extorted more out of us with a threat to sue us if we didn't make our handball courts and raquetball courts accessible for wheelchairs. Rather than lose any more of our savings trying to keep the business going, we closed it and laid off all eight full time employees. Yup, the government certainly was there to help!
WillyP | 1.27.11 @ 1:12PM
I hear you! Having worked in and owned OSHA regulated shops I will say most of the regulations have us scratching our heads wondering WTF were they thinking. Aside of the cost of the dept itself, there is a huge cost to every business forced to comply. And most safety improvements in the workplace are simply good business practice anyway. And those shops where the owner doesn't care about safety, the insurance companies and lawyers will take care of.
Redstateboy| 1.24.11 @ 8:40AM
I watched a documentary of the drilling at Spindle Top which began America's run as the largest producer of Petroleum in the World and sadly reflected that that could not happen in Today's America with OSHA, EPA, Unemployment Ins., Workmens comp.. etc. "We have met the enemy and it is us."
MikeD| 1.25.11 @ 8:35PM
We are in a situation where the president of the United States is acting more like our worst enemy than our supposed leader. We allow our own dept of energy to restrict the amount of fuels we can extract; and then stare in disbelief when our own moronic EPA tells us that carbon, the basis of all life on earth is a pollutant. Then, barry the muslim stops us from drilling on our own lands and off our shores, and is stopped from destroying what's left of the energy section of our economy only by congress finally getting the idea that he's scamming us with his 'carbon exchange board'. But, trust barry, and most dems, to ignore the law and actual science by releasing another "Emperor's Proclaimation" to institute his carbon trading scheme illegally by fiat and regulation. It's a wonder we're doing anything at all and unemployment hasn't reached his 50% target.
Obama doesn't deserve re-election; he deserves impeachment and then conviction for treason! Just think of what the lefties and their moronic allies in the media would be doing if a republican ever did anything like this! The mind boggles.
Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 1.24.11 @ 10:02AM
When I read articles like this I actually start to believe it can get done.
mike| 1.24.11 @ 10:17AM
The hurdle: all the libs / media sreaming like stuck pigs about how uncaring we are about the little guy.
MikeD| 1.25.11 @ 8:38PM
The success of the republicans' efforts will be indicated by the level of screaming and moaning from the libmedia. Boehner had better keep them shrieking in fury for at least the next two years; and, hopefully, beyond. We're out of runway.
Too Many Tims| 1.24.11 @ 10:18AM
"What the science shows, therefore, is that OSHA has been completely ineffective. But who cares about science?"
Is there a link, other than CATO, to back that up? There are certainly lots of safety regs that make no sense, just as there are many, like hard hats and steel toed boots, that do.
John Navratil| 1.24.11 @ 5:52PM
Too Many Tims,
Indeed they do. They existed before OSHA and will continue to exist along with no rules promulgated by the actuaries at the companies asked to insure these businesses.
JimH| 1.24.11 @ 10:29AM
The government should not be entirely to blame for the regulatory nightmare. Often these rules are created at the behest or with the connivance of large corporations as a we of suppressing competition coming from smaller companies less able to deal with expense of compliance.
335blues| 1.24.11 @ 10:33AM
Imagine how great America could be if all of the money wasting, controlling organs of the state were jettisoned: irs, dept of education, osha, epa, fda, batf, post office, etc. I could go on for quite a while. Take the irs, for example. Everybody knows the irs exists for only one reason: for the elites in the federal government to reward 'friends' and to punish 'enemies' with unequal taxation. Everyone also knows that a system exists that is far more fair and would save hundreds of billions of dollars- the flat tax system. Eliminating the irs would also restore lost liberty by removing an unaccountable organization that siezes wealth without the due process guaranteed by the Constitution.
Nunya| 1.24.11 @ 6:13PM
Blues, think about this: If we had a national sales tax, the IRS could be eliminated almost entirely. Let's say (for the sake of discussion), there was a 5% federal sales tax on everything but food. The money is accounted for by the retailer, and sent in to the gubmint on a weekly, monthly, or quarterly basis, whatever. Simple, effective, and nobody needs to audit anyone's pay because one wouldn't pay the tax if they didn't buy anything. To me, that's even better than a flat tax, but the arguments from the leftists will all be the same--it "hurts the little guy"--because it's easier now to dip into someone else's pocket to give "the little guy" someone else's piece of the pie.
Hillel| 1.24.11 @ 10:42AM
G-d gave 10 commandments at Mt. Sinai.This took 40 days? No the rest Moses was receiving the Oral Law. The Oral Law +Commentaries constitute the Talmud. Congress passes a vague law and the agencies write "regulations" these regulations constitute the Talmud of Federal Regulations. However what we now see is the "laws are not laws rather they are wishes.Therefore we get a Thicker Talmud. Indeed we should call this plethora of regulations "THE TALMUD ON STEROIDS!"
LiveFreeOrDie| 1.24.11 @ 11:40AM
It's pointless to send anything over to the senate now. It could be a good idea for the house to prepare legislation for spending cuts and sit on them until the next election. They could offer real legislation, ready to be signed into law instead of promises.
VBMax| 1.24.11 @ 12:25PM
No, I think they should send everything to the senate so we can keep a running record of who votes for and against. Then use it to support our 2012 campaigns.
John Navratil| 1.24.11 @ 5:52PM
Agreed! Build the record they will have to run on.
Oldefarte| 1.24.11 @ 11:47AM
Not only are governmental regulations a waste, but also, GOVERNMENT PER SE IS A TOTAL WASTE OF TAXPAYERS' MONEY!!!!!!!!
George S| 1.24.11 @ 12:38PM
Science? Waste of money? When the federal government through OSHA gets the power to tell a local contractor (who doesn't work outside his city, let alone the state border) that he has to comply with FEDERAL regulations, we are looking way past efficacy and into unconstitutional coercion. Once you give the government the power to do something it never had any business doing in the first place, arguing about whether it is cost effective is falling into a trap -- we accept the premise that the government can regulate anything, provided it is effective. Wrong. Get rid of it because it is unconstitutional; never accept a false premise.
Deborah D | 1.24.11 @ 1:25PM
Amen, George S!
Drew| 1.24.11 @ 1:04PM
Strange.
Just this weekend I was watching "Gold Rush" on Discovery Channel. The sotry of six individuals who were - quite literally -mining for gold in Alaska.
At some point a Fish & Game inspector appears on their claim, and points out tht the holding pond and water pump they have installed will likely kill spawning salmon in the creek. They are forced to use a water intake with a screen over it.
If it WERE NOT for that "burdensome" Government regulation, and inspector, what would happen to those OTHER Alaskan entrepeneurs who make their living from Alaska's fisheries?
Undoubtedly Government regulation costs money, and imposes "barriers to entry" in many industries. But without them, we would live in a world that was vastly more polluted, and whose natural resources - of every description - were decimated by thoughtless business.
VBMax| 1.24.11 @ 1:21PM
No one is making an argument for abolishing all regulation. Some regulation is obviously necessary. That doesn't excuse all the unnecessary crap that has been created over the years. It is totally out of control.
Redstateboy| 1.24.11 @ 1:27PM
May be it's just me.. but over the years I've noticed bulletin boards posting Gov. required Regs. in the work place having, by necessity, becoming larger and larger to accomodate the ever increasing documents req. to be posted, this as unemployment has grown more and more prevelent. Coincidence? I don't think so.
Jacob Morgan| 1.24.11 @ 1:34PM
I used to be a safety coordinator at a prior place of work and studied industrial safety in college.
The article is correct that accidents had been going down for years before OSHA. The safety revolution started in the pre-war period with the work of H.W. Heinrich. Used to insurance companies worked with companies to improve safety, and they had an interest in what really worked, not in chasing after obscure rules that had little to do with accidents.
In today's age with workers comp requirements and with skilled workers there is considerable financial interest for companies to prevent accidents. As well, a good safety record is viewed as a proxy for how well ran a company is, and is important for evaluating which companies and plants to keep or sell or buy. Insurance companies could take the lead to help create programs and inspections and such. Consensus standards could continue to be used to set standards.
The OSHA standards are a bit difficult to read and really do not offer a comprehensive way to keep people safe. Some issues are not really addressed, other times the standards go off at wild tangents. Some times things are sort of contradictory (e.g., fall protection required in a man lift but not in a scissors lift). Some regulation is laughable, like the questionnaire for respiratory safety that asks "can you read?" One can ask for letters of interpretation, but that can take half a year or more.
Inspections are no better, with inspectors sometimes going on bizarre tangents that have little to do with safety while ignoring genuine problems. I read through past inspections at my last place of work and was shocked that the OSHA inspectors never even mentioned a lack of guarding and safety blocks on some stamping presses, but cited the company for some fire extinguishers sitting on the floor (unsecured compressed gas cylinder--yeah right). Fines for a bull crap rule but not for a problem where a person could lose a hand? The plant manager then thought that the lack of guarding was hunky-dory (because OSHA did not say anything), and it took a lot of explaining to get the money to have the presses fixed up right. There was one inspector who's claim to fame was to go around with a polarity tester--OK, having the right polarity in outlets in nice, but that was a facility that used cyanide, phosphoric acid, etc., were electrical outlets really the lurking issue? It was not, how can the people there be safe, it was a given inspector playing gotcha with whatever technicalities they could come up with.
There is also a lot of game-playing with the OSHA-300 logs and such to look good--having injured people come to work and sit around to keep accidents from being "lost time". Just playing the system. From an economic point of view, an insurer would not care if an injury resulted in someone staying at home or sitting idly behind a desk--the point would be how to prevent them to begin with.
SeattleBred| 1.24.11 @ 2:56PM
If any of these agencies are really effective in helping and protecting the citizenry, there is nothing stopping individual States from building similar structures within their boundaries. (With the possible exception of funding...) The point is that they simply don't wash at the federal level with the Constitution and require disbanding.
Oldefarte| 1.24.11 @ 3:17PM
Speaking of asinine governmental regulations, has anyone connected the government's response to the BP oil spill to the current climbing price of gasoline/fuel? This administration of environmental wackos' initial Gulf oil drilling moratorium was rescinded, but replaced by their regulatory foot-dragging on issuing drilling permits [their left-hand, right-hand shell game] has caused oil companies to begin their process of packing up and moving their drilling platforms/rigs to Africa, Brazil, etc. The average price of gasoline is now above $3/gallon and rising. Some economists are predicting the price/barrel of oil could double/triple in the near future. How about that for a Harvard Law degreed community organizer with no practical business or managerial experience????????????
The Big E| 1.24.11 @ 3:25PM
To what extent is the decrease in workplace injuries over the last 40 years or so associated with the decrease in manufacturing jobs?
Purple Lips| 1.24.11 @ 3:33PM
The most effective way to dismantle the machinery of the Czars is to starve the beast. But, to do that the GOP will need to capture the Senate, hold the House, and win the Oval Office. We shall see.
c. j. acworth| 1.24.11 @ 6:35PM
The only regulation regarding workplace safety should be the requirement to insure your workers via Workers Comp. The insurance companies will set your rates, and if you run a safe shop, you get low premiums. If you care nothing for your worker's safety, you will soon find yourself out of business.
C S Lewis| 1.24.11 @ 7:04PM
and....get rid of ethanol. Give us back our lightbulbs, real toliets, and remove the ban on Phosphorus in dishwasher detergents.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/.....36862.html
That's just a start.
I'm going to contact every Repub Congress Critter and give them my list.
keith| 1.24.11 @ 8:34PM
Being in the construction industry my entire career, I can emphatically state that all companies develop rigorous safety programs, and follow same with goal of "zero accidents" and lowest possible insurance rates. OSHA has been only a minimum standard for years. Successful business practice yields to insurers driving the bus. Time to cancel the free ride of OSHA bureaucracy.
shipley130| 1.29.11 @ 3:52PM
I have been thinking the same thing for at least a year. Wholesale repeal of agencies that has done nothing to change the statistics. Billions will be saved. With those billions saved, build more prisons and put people in jail for a time instead of giving them some community service. Rapists and killers should never see the light of freedom. The federal government is supposed to be about national security, not making regulations about light bulb energy saving.
Adidas | 8.11.11 @ 4:51AM
is good
العاب | 4.11.12 @ 3:45PM
They are forced to use a water intake with a screen over it