The E.P.A.: Cry Havoc and Let Loose the Dogs of Fines

The Environmental Protection Agency is getting ready to let loose the dogs of war on American businesses, states, and municipalities.  The Supreme Court has given this rogue agency the green light and Lisa P. Jackson, the E.P.A. administrator, is going to make the most of it:

Ms. Jackson said she intended to go forward with new, tougher air- and water-quality rules, including those that address climate change, despite Congressional efforts to override her authority and even a White House initiative to weed out overly burdensome regulations.

The first of these new rules is expected to be announced Thursday, imposing tighter restrictions on soot and smog emissions from coal-burning power plants in 31 states east of the Rockies. The regulation is expected to lead to the closing of several older plants and will require the installation of scrubbers at many of those that remain in operation.

 Oh yes, that dreaded boogieman climate change has to be defeated.  Or is it global warming?  I guess it depends on the template of the day.  Anyway, the federal bureaucratic machine is looking to fill Uncle Sam’s coffers, and this green hoax is just the ticket (or should I say fine).  It’s much easier to have a government agency levy non-compliance fines, than it is for Congress to raise taxes.

The Competitive Enterprise Institute contends that in 2008 government regulations cost the American economy $1.75 trillion.

“If regulatory costs remain largely hidden from public view, regulating will become increasingly attractive compared with increasingly unpopular taxing and spending,” Crews writes. “Rather than pay directly and book expenses for new initiatives, the federal government can require the private sector — as well as state and local governments — to pay for federal initiatives through compliance costs.”

What a bunch of sneaky sons of bitches.  The Dailey Caller reports the following abuses of our freedom courtesy of the United States of the Federal Bureaucracy:

• In 2010, federal agencies issued 3,573 final rules.

• While agencies issued 3,573 final rules, Congress passed and the president signed into law a comparatively “few” 217 bills. Considerable lawmaking power is delegated to unelected bureaucrats at agencies, an abuse addressed recently in proposals such as the REINS Act.

• Proposed rules in the Federal Register have surged from 2,044 in 2009 to 2,439 in 2010, a jump of 19.3 percent.

• Of the 4,225 rules now in the regulatory pipeline, 224 are “economically significant” meaning they wield at least $100 million in economic impact—this is an increase of 22 percent over 2009’s 184 rules.

• Given 2010’s government spending (outlays) of $3.456 trillion, the regulatory “hidden tax” of $1.75 trillion stands at an unprecedented 50.7 percent of the level of federal spending itself.

• Regulatory costs exceed all 2008 corporate pretax profits of $1.463 trillion.

• Regulatory costs dwarf corporate income taxes of $157 billion.

• Regulatory costs tower over the estimated 2010 individual income taxes of $936 billion by 87 percent—nearly double the level.

• Regulatory costs of $1.75 trillion absorb 11.9 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP), estimated at $14.649 trillion in 2010.

• Combining regulatory costs with federal FY 2010 outlays of $3.456 trillion reveals a federal government whose share of the entire economy now reaches 35.5 percent.

 Let’s thank the Supreme Court for validating the supremacy of the Bureaucratic State.

Source:

http://dailycaller.com/2011/04/19/the-hidden-tax-report-estimates-regulation-costs-economy-1-75-trillion/#ixzz1RNQMDhmi

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/06/science/earth/06epa.html?_r=2&partner=rss&emc=rss

http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/government-regulations-economy-trillion/2011/04/19/id/393329