Sean Hackbarth, writing at the Chamber of Commerce’s Chamberpost blog, made a point that we limited-government folks need to keep in mind as we hack away at government spending and try to rebuild our moribund economy. Limited government does not refer only to the size of the budget but the scope of its regulations, and Washington has used its regulatory power — often out of the sight of Congress and the voters — to choke small businesses with red tape and expensive mandates. Here are a couple recent examples he found.
Karen Beagle had already complied with all the local Troy, Ohio, environmental regulations her small electronics business faced when along came the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency with orders to scrap her existing septic system and replace it with an expensive and unnecessary sewer hookup.
Brad Muller’s Charlotte, N.C., pipe and foundry companies are ensnared by the federal rule book, too, forced to spend millions of dollars each year complying with environmental regulations.
The EPA isn’t done either. According to Hackbarth, that agency alone is about to drop a new set of ozone standards on us that will cost between $20 billion and $90 billion each year. That is money that could go toward new employees, or employee raises. It could be spent on new equipment, building repairs, or maybe Christmas bonuses for tens of thousands of workers. Instead, thanks to the overreach of regulators who do not take the economic effects of their dubious decisions into account, that money will simply go to waste.
Think about what we could do, though, if we wrested control of our government from the rent-seekers and the wastrels. Imagine a budget $1 trillion smaller than it is now. Then imagine we that regulations only cost us half of the $1.75 trillion they cost us now. How quickly would we grow with an extra $1.7 trillion dollars in our pockets every year? How quickly would we put hundreds of thousands of people back to work? How many new businesses would spring up, almost overnight?
Don’t mistake me. We would have to work awfully hard to make that happen. We’d have to push our elected officials harder than we’ve ever pushed them before, even if it meant we pushed a few right out of office. But wouldn’t it be worth the work?
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