Gee. A central theme of Republican economics is bogus? Whodda thunk?
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Want to help the economy and create jobs? Well, roll back those government regulations! It's a talking point trumpeted by nearly every Republican politician. But would less regulation really spur hiring?
The story goes like this: Thanks to the Obama administration, a wave of new government regulations are strangling business to the detriment of hiring and economic growth.
But in an economy with serious structural problems, a crippled housing marketand slack demand, is government regulation really holding back the labor market?
Not so much, according to government data and surveys of business owners and economists.
Only a small percentage of employers report regulation as a reason for laying off workers.
Not that this is earthshakingly new: businesses have been saying it for a while now. To be sure, not all of them. But it's sort of self-evident that ground rules provide stability. For example, knowing your food, your consumer products, are likely to be safe means people buy without fear. That's good for business. Same with not being, oh, dead, from, oh, arsenic.
Having worked as a health-care "provider" (love that term) I can say without doubt that there are rules that are non-productive; and presidents in modern times have all attempted to weed them out. Not entirely successfully.
But teabaggRs, as usual, have simple answers for complex problems: eliminate all rules; especially those created in the Obama administration. Get rid of the EPA, the consumer protection agencies. Why? Surely not because it's good for actual people. Who then, one asks.
Sid, I wasn't as manly as you, working summers as a Longshoreman to give your Hah-vuhd ed-ja-ma-cated White Matter a break...
ReplyDeleteI washed dishes,in Alabama, at a chain steakhouse that doesn't even exist anymore...
also had to bus tables, which wasn't so bad, cause you could snag some of the waitresses tips, you know, cause tips are "Fungible"...
And at least once a month I'd bang my head on this stupid fire extinguisher that OSHA said had to be nest to the dishwashing machine, cause you know how those dishwashing machines are constantly catching on fire...
well one day, we actually HAD a fire, in the kitchen, you know, where they had hot grease, and the damn thang didn't work, had to pour a pitcher of sweet tea on the "Conflagration" which just suceeded in turning a minor grease fire into a steaming mess of french fries and sweet tea...
anyway, is there a bigger joke than the "CME" requirement to keep your Medical License in good standing...
OK, I know theres thousands of hospitality employees who depend on "Current Advances in Malignant Hyperthermia" to pay the bills, and its a great tax break...
But then I found I can do 40 hrs of online CME in like 20 minutes, cause if you don't pass the 5 question test on the first try, you can take it again, and even a third, fourth, or fith time, ad nauseum...
but I'm still going to "the Tuohey: Can't we do better?" in January...
Frank