Category Archives: regulation

On the Radio – Regulation

Posted on March 20, 2012 | Comments Off on On the Radio – Regulation

Tomorrow morning around 8:00, I’ll be on the Rob and Dave show on Atlanta’s WGST 92.3 FM to talk about regulation. Non-Georgians should be able to listen live at this link (look for a listen live button near the top of the page).

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Posted in Media Appearances, regulation

CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation

Posted on March 19, 2012 | Comments Off on CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation


Just another week in the world of regulation:

  •  72 new final rules were published last week, up from 64 the previous week. That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every 2 hours and 20 minutes, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. All in all, 725 final rules have been published in the Federal Register this year. If this keeps up, the total tally for 2012 will be 3,492 new rules.
  •  1,459 new pages were added to the 2012 Federal Register last week, for a total of 15,910 pages. At this pace, the 2012 Federal Register will run 76,492 pages.
  • Rules are called “economically significant” if they have costs of $100 million or more in a given year. The 10 such rules published so far in 2012 cost at least $15.11 billion. Two of the rules do not have cost estimates, and a third cost estimate does not give a total annual cost. We assume that rules lacking this basic transparency measure cost the bare minimum of $100 million per year. The true cost is almost certainly higher.
  •  There were 13 significant actions this week, as defined by Executive Order 12866. One of them is economically significant. So far, 96 significant final rules have been published in 2012.
  •  So far this year, 127 final rules affect small businesses. 22 of them are significant rules.

Highlights from final rules published this week:

  • A rule doesn’t have to be economically significant to be expensive. A DEA rule on “Controlled Substances and List I Chemical Registration and Reregistration Fees” has an astoundingly precise estimated cost of $76,226,568.
  •  The Defense Department is still implementing parts of the Privacy Act of 1974.
  •  The Coast Guard sets the schedules for raising and lowering drawbridges across the country. Now, this isn’t rocket science – bridge up, bridge down. One would think local governments could handle such a complicated task on their own. But apparently they can’t. In fact, on Tuesday, the Coast Guard published a rule temporarily revising drawbridge schedules in Morgan City, Louisiana to accommodate some bridge maintenance. Again, this isn’t rocket science – the bridge will be in the down position during maintenance.

For more data, updated daily, go to TenThousandCommandments.com.

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Institute for Justice Sues the IRS

Posted on March 13, 2012 | Comments Off on Institute for Justice Sues the IRS

A new IRS proposal to require licensing all tax preparers would put a lot of people out of work. Not everyone can afford to pay for classes, exams, fees, and continuing education courses. It would also artificially tip the competitive scales in favor of H&R Block and other big tax prep firms. So the Institute for Justice is suing. This video explains why (click here if the embedded video doesn’t work):

The video doesn’t make an important argument: If the IRS has the power to grant licenses, it also has the power to take them away. Tax preparers had better be careful not to fight too hard for their clients’ interests. Nice career you have there. Shame if anything were to happen to it.

Caleb Brown and I wrote about that angle in a piece for Investor’s Business Daily.

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Posted in Economics, Public Choice, regulation, Taxation

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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation

Posted on March 12, 2012 | Comments Off on CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation


Just another week in the world of regulation:

  •  64 new final rules were published last week, down from 89 the previous week. That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every 2 hours and 38 minutes, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. All in all, 653 final rules have been published in the Federal Register this year. If this keeps up, the total tally for 2012 will be 3,464 new rules.
  •  1,490 new pages were added to the 2012 Federal Register last week, for a total of 14,451 pages. At this pace, the 2012 Federal Register will run 76,867 pages.
  •  The 9 economically significant rules published so far in 2012 cost at least $15.01 billion. Two of the rules do not have cost estimates. We assume that rules lacking this basic transparency measure cost the bare minimum of $100 million per year. The true cost is almost certainly higher.
  •  There were 10 significant actions this week, as defined by Executive Order 12866. For the second week in a row, none of them are “economically significant” final rules, meaning a cost $100 million or more per year. So far, 88 significant final rules have been published in 2012.
  •  So far this year, 110 final rules affect small businesses. 19 of them are significant rules.

Highlights from final rules published this week:

  •  The Fish and Wildlife Service issued a rule to “recognize the recent change to the taxonomy of the currently endangered plant taxon, Monardella linoides ssp. viminea, in which the subspecies was split into two distinct full species, Monardella viminea (willowy monardella) and Monardella stoneana (Jennifer’s monardella).” M. viminea will retain its endangered status; M. stoneana is not considered to be endangered. They are herbs that grow in the San Diego area.
  •  The FDA made some mistakes in a recent rule involving new drugs for use in animal feeds. They issued a correction on Friday.
  •  The FCC is busy crafting a “National Broadband Plan for Our Future.” One wonders how its results will compare to its intentions.

For more data, updated daily, go to TenThousandCommandments.com.

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CEI Podcast for March 8, 2012: IRS Moves to Fund Foreign Dictators

Posted on March 8, 2012 | Comments Off on CEI Podcast for March 8, 2012: IRS Moves to Fund Foreign Dictators


Have a listen here.

A new IRS regulation hits the trifecta of enriching foreign dictators, helping them crush dissent, and would raise no revenue for the U.S. government. Vice President for Strategy Iain Murray explains. Unlike most other countries, the U.S. taxes income its citizens earn abroad. So, to encourage foreign banks to cooperate with the IRS, it is requiring U.S. banks to report to foreign countries, even dictatorships, on their citizens’ U.S. holdings. Governments can then use this information to find and punish dissenters.

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Posted in CEI Podcast, Economics, International, regulation, Taxation

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Corporate Welfare for Farmers

Posted on March 6, 2012 | Comments Off on Corporate Welfare for Farmers

In a recent blog post, I describe the Agricultural Marketing Service’s (AMS) Beef Promotion and Research “checkoff” program as corporate welfare. The agency’s Public Affairs Director disagrees. In an email, he asked me to issue a correction. I would, but the facts won’t allow it. Still, some clarification would be helpful.

He claims that “Zero appropriations are used” in AMS’s research and promotion activities. Note the use of the word “appropriations” instead of “taxes.” This is a sneaky use of language. It doesn’t matter if Congress appropriates AMS money or not. The relevant question is whether AMS uses tax dollars to advertise for private businesses. It does.

Under federal law, farmers producing certain foods (beef, pork, milk, honey, various crops, etc.) are assessed fees. The AMS uses the revenue to promote those products. Those “Got Milk?” and “The other white meat” ads are prime examples.

The “Certified Angus Beef,” program, on the other hand, is a wholly private, voluntary marketing program supported by qualified producers of that particular cattle breed. But AMS’s beef checkoff assessment is mandatory (that is, a tax).

AMS argues that the entire industry benefits from collaborative promotion, though the Congressional Research Service explains that it’s not clear whether or to what extent this is true. What IS clear is that not all producers benefit to the same extent — those Certified Angus producers and others who sell branded products have to pay the tax to support advertising for their un-branded competitors.

And, though many beef producers love the program, many others would prefer not to participate at all. What’s more, farmers pass at least part of those fees on to consumers in the form of higher prices. We all get to share in the burden.

AMS’s rationale is that it’s difficult for farmers to advertise individually. Of course, trade associations already exist for beef, dairy, and other agricultural products. If farmers wish to advertise collectively, they can easily do so through their trade associations.

Checkoff program supporters will inevitably argue that purely voluntary collective action allows free riders to benefit from the efforts of others. But it’s pretty clear that the Certified Angus folks have found a way to prevent defection. There is no need for Washington to get involved. (Perhaps the AMS should rebrand itself as the Department of Redundancy Department?)

In the end, Washington is spending tax money on ads for private businesses in a way that benefits some at the expense of others. This is corporate welfare.

(Hat tip to my colleague Greg Conko for his helpful comments.)

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Posted in Economics, regulation, Taxation

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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation

Posted on March 5, 2012 | Comments Off on CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation


Just another week in the world of regulation:

  •  89 new final rules were published last week, compared to 68 the previous week. That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every one hour and 53 minutes, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. All in all, 589 final rules have been published in the Federal Register this year. If this keeps up, the total tally for 2012 will be 3,477 new rules.
  •  1,594 new pages were added to the 2012 Federal Register last week, for a total of 12,961 pages. At this pace, the 2012 Federal Register will run 77,149 pages.
  •  There were 17 significant actions this week, as defined by Executive Order 12866. Of those, none are “economically significant” final rules, meaning a cost $100 million or more per year. So far, 85 significant rules have been published in 2012.
  •  So far this year, 100 final rules affect small businesses. 19 of them are significant rules.
  •  The 9 economically significant rules published so far in 2012 cost at least $15.01 billion. Two of the rules do not have cost estimates. We assume that rules lacking basic transparency measure cost the bare minimum of $100 million per year. The true cost is almost certainly higher.

Here are highlights from final rules that passed this week:

  •  The Agricultural Marketing Service published a proposed rule under which it would like to pay for advertising and promoting beef. Corporate welfare: it’s what’s for dinner.
  •  The Defense Department, General Services Administration, and NASA jointly issued five separate rules on Friday about acquisition and dealing with contractors. Read them here, here, here, here, and here.
  •  The FAA issued new security regulations for airplane bathrooms.

For more data, updated daily, go to TenThousandCommandments.com.

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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation

Posted on February 24, 2012 | Comments Off on CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation


It may have been a short work week, but it was still a busy one in the world of regulation:

  • 68 new final rules were published this week. That’s a new rule every 2 hours and 28 minutes, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. All in all, exactly 500 final rules have been published in the Federal Register this year. If this keeps up, 3,327 new rules will hit the books in 2012.
  • 1,545 new pages were added to the 2012 Federal Register this week, for a total of 11,367 pages. At this pace, the 2012 Federal Register will run 76,804 pages.
  • There were 15 significant actions this week, as defined by Executive Order 12866. Of those, one is an “economically significant” final rule. That means it costs $100 million or more per year.
  • So far this year, 84 final rules affect small businesses. 16 of them are significant rules.
  • Economically significant rules published so far in 2012 cost at least $15.01 billion. Two of the nine rules do not have cost estimates. We assume that rules lacking this basic transparency measure cost the bare minimum of $100 million per year. The true cost is almost certainly higher.

Here are highlights from final rules that passed this week:

  • The Small Business Administration is changing the size requirements for certain types of businesses to qualify as small. By raising some size limits, the SBA hopes to increase the amount of money that it transfers from taxpayers to private businesses.
  • The EPA issued a 123-page final rule designating and revising critical habitats for two types of minnow, each measuring less than 3 inches in length.
  • The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration has revised its fireworks approval policy.
  • We dare you to read all the way through this regulation that was published today to implement part of the Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill.

For more data, updated daily, go to TenThousandCommandments.com.

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The Economist: Too Much Regulation

Posted on February 17, 2012 | Comments Off on The Economist: Too Much Regulation

Sounds like writers for The Economist have been reading some of CEI’s regulatory research. From this week’s magazine:

Two forces make American laws too complex. One is hubris. Many lawmakers seem to believe that they can lay down rules to govern every eventuality. Examples range from the merely annoying (eg, a proposed code for nurseries in Colorado that specifies how many crayons each box must contain) to the delusional (eg, the conceit of Dodd-Frank that you can anticipate and ban every nasty trick financiers will dream up in the future). Far from preventing abuses, complexity creates loopholes that the shrewd can abuse with impunity.

The other force that makes American laws complex is lobbying. The government’s drive to micromanage so many activities creates a huge incentive for interest groups to push for special favours. When a bill is hundreds of pages long, it is not hard for congressmen to slip in clauses that benefit their chums and campaign donors. The health-care bill included tons of favours for the pushy. Congress’s last, failed attempt to regulate greenhouse gases was even worse.

There are lots of ways to simplify the 165,000-page Code of Federal Regulations. All new rules should have automatic 5-year sunsets, renewable by a Congressional vote. An annual bipartisan commission should comb through the books and create a package of obsolete or harmful rules for Congress to repeal. Congress should vote on all “economically significant” regulations, a la the REINS Act.

The list goes on. The sooner Congress and the President get cracking on enacting these reforms, the better off the economy — and unemployment numbers — will be.

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Regulation, Jobs, and Creating Wealth

Posted on February 15, 2012 | Comments Off on Regulation, Jobs, and Creating Wealth

Here’s a letter I recently sent to Businessweek:

Editor, Businessweek:

Elizabeth Dwoskin and Mark Drajem’s February 9 article “Regulations Create Jobs, Too” points out that regulation doesn’t so much create jobs as redirect them somewhere else.

Lobbying, politicking, and special favors are part and parcel of the regulatory process. The result is that many regulation-created jobs are not created on the merits. If a job requires a regulation to be created, that usually means the job it replaced created more value for consumers. Regulations may not destroy jobs on net, but they do destroy wealth.

Markets respect no special interest; agencies like the EPA and SEC exist solely to cater to them. This is wonderful for politically connected companies like Breen Energy Solutions and Nol-Tec Systems, but the rest of us are poorer for it.

Ryan Young
Fellow in Regulatory Studies
Competitive Enterprise Institute
Washington, D.C.

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Posted in Correspondence, Economics, regulation

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