Regulations Do Cost More than Government Estimates

Posted by Tina

Clyde Wayne Crews runs what he calls a “working paper and ebook” on the web. The site, “Tip of the Costberg” asserts that the estimates we are regularly given from official government scoring is often wrong and inadequate and deceptive in terms of planning. I tend to agree. I applaud his efforts to establish and report the truer cost of government regulation:

Some think federal regulations cost boatloads. Others think what’s notable instead about regulatory costs is their “unbearable lightness.”

Whether regarded as high or not, regardless of subjective views on the impact and incidence of regulatory burdens, regulatory compliance costs shouldered by citizens and the enterprises they create deserve better measurement and explicit expression in official documentation.

But cost accounting is the exception rather than the rule.

Mr. Crew runs a wonkish site; thankfully the Washington Examiner features an article that gives an accounting of the cost of regulations by the “Tip of the Costberg” method:

Current federal regulations plus those coming under Obamacare will cost American taxpayers and businesses $1.8 trillion annually, more than twenty times the $88 billion the administration estimates, according to a new roundup provided to Secrets from the libertarian Competitive Enterprise Institute.

And it could grow, warned the author of the report, Clyde Wayne Crews, a CEI vice president.

Complying with Health and Human Services Department requirements alone, he revealed, costs $184 billion a year, yet regulators are still drafting the rules for the 2,400-page Obamacare law that kicks into gear in 2014. …

…”While OMB officially reports amounts of only up to $88.6 billion in 2010 dollars,” said Crews, “the non-tax cost of government intervention in the economy, without performing a sweeping survey, appears to total up to $1.806 trillion annually.”

I hope this example serves to inform as to how our economy is impacted by the cost of over regulation. I hope it informs as to how the programs that are sold to us as financially manageable can end up costing a great deal more in terms of national debt, economic strength, and jobs.

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4 Responses to Regulations Do Cost More than Government Estimates

  1. Post Scripts says:

    “Current federal regulations plus those coming under Obamacare will cost American taxpayers and businesses $1.8 trillion annually, more than twenty times the $88 billion the administration estimates, according to a new roundup provided to Secrets from the libertarian Competitive Enterprise Institute.

    And it could grow, warned the author of the report, Clyde Wayne Crews, a CEI vice president.”

    I am not at all surprised. Just wait till we get the final tab for the California bullet train to nowhere.

  2. Chris says:

    The party of jobs and veterans has voted against a bill that would have provided jobs to veterans.

    http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/19/g-o-p-blocks-veteran-jobs-bill/

    Senator Jeff Sessions, R-You Kidding Me, claimed that the bill violated a spending cap set by Congress last year. But the bill was entirely paid for by new revenues.

    All but 5 Republicans voted against the bill.

    This kind of obstruction is amazing. It seems the only reason to vote against this was if you were entirely motivated by partisan politics, and couldn’t stand to allow the President’s party to gain any kind of victory at all in an election year.

  3. Tina says:

    Chris: “This kind of obstruction is amazing”

    Harry Reid, Democrat, US Senate Majority Leader, no budget for three years and 30+ pieces of legislation he received from the house “dead on arrival”.

    “…the only reason to vote against this was if you were entirely motivated by partisan politics….”

    Harry Reid, Democrat, US Senate Majority Leader (see above and below).

    “…couldn’t stand to allow the President’s party to gain any kind of victory at all in an election year.”

    Like your guys ever give any Republican President a similar break?

    PHFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFT!

    This site gives a better perspective on the politics of the bill than I would expect from the NYT:

    http://www.rollcall.com/news/senate_gop_blocks_veterans_jobs_bill-217685-1.html

    Democrats sought to waive budget rules, but the proposal failed 58-40, with most Republicans voting against it. Sixty votes were needed to overcome the procedural hurdle and push the bill toward final passage. Five Republicans – Sens. Scott Brown (Mass.), Susan Collins (Maine), Dean Heller (Nev.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Olympia Snowe (Maine) – voted with all 53 members of the Democratic Conference to sidestep the procedural roadblock.

    Republicans also said that job-creating provisions in measure – including establishing a veterans jobs corps to employ veterans in conservation, recreation, and resource management projects on public lands; and as firefighters and police officers – are untested.

    “Nobody knows if it works,” said Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.). He warned that if Congress does not begin to exercise some restraint on spending, the deficit, which has topped more than $1 trillion in recent years, will ultimately undermine the nation’s economy.

    “So on Monday mornings … I’ve noticed I have an attitude problem,” Coburn said. “I don’t want to come [to work] anymore. And the reason I don’t want to come anymore is because we’re not doing anything to address the real problems that are in front of our country.

    Instead of using their time to address the economy and jobs for ALL Americans, including veterans, democrats designed a program to spend more federal money, adding to the debt, in an attempt to buy votes for the President from a demographic that doesn’t support him in large numbers.

    It was partisan politics alright but it wasn’t republicans doing the politicking…shame on you for stupidly falling for an obvious partisan ploy, Chris!

    It’s the typical democrat game…if it passes they have a victory if it fails they hammer republicans and the media helps them hammer. Your party disgusts me! They are using the veterans as pawns…ochttttttttttttttt.

  4. Tina says:

    And Chris…the post was not about Veterans or jobs. Next time, rather than change the subject, why not submit an article for posting? I know you would probably prefer to avoid information that uncovers the folly of trusting oh, say…what Obamacare will actually cost, but that was the topic of this post. Your remark had absolutely nothing to do with the subject.

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