The National Federation of Independent Business announced on Wednesday that it’s launching “a nine-state education campaign” called “Stop Obama’s Regulatory Tidal Wave.” The purpose is to highlight the impact of hyper-regulation upon small business growth. The nine key states included in the campaign are Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Missouri, North Carolina, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, but the information presented at StopTheTidalWave.org should be of interest to people in every state.
The size of that tidal wave is daunting, when a million regulations large and small combine to tower over the fragile economy. The NFIB estimates that Obama has already dropped more than $138 billion in regulatory costs on American business… and if he gets re-elected, another $515 billion is heading our way.
Susan Eckerly, Vice President of Public Policy for the NFIB, warns: “With small business confidence at an all-time low, this tidal wave of impending federal regulations is coming at the worst time imaginable, creating more uncertainty for small business owners and further stalling their economic recovery.”
Among the foamy white regulations boiling atop that tidal wave are new EPA standards for ozone emissions, which could cost up to $90 billion all by themselves. The Utility MACT regulation, currently hung up in court, which could force utility companies to spend another $90 billion over the next 10 years installing new pollution control technology at power plants.
Needless to say, consumers will end up paying for all of this – utility companies and other enterprises aren’t going to just “eat” $515 billion in compliance costs. In an important sense, we’re already paying for the regulatory tidal wave, because businesses routinely cite current and anticipated regulatory burdens as a major reason they’re not hiring.
The NFIB and its Small Businesses for Sensible Regulations project have suggested five principles for regulatory reform: “giving small businesses a greater voice in the federal regulatory process; providing assistance to small businesses before assessing penalties; requiring major federal rules to undergo rigorous cost-benefit analysis; basing regulatory decisions only on objective, validated science; and requiring more transparency and accountability in the regulatory process.”
They haven’t gotten very far with the Obama Administration. Voters should understand what’s about to hit them, if the federal government continues its regulatory binge next year.
