Small firms say regulation is fastest-growing concern

It’s been exactly three and a half years since Barack Obama was inaugurated, and here are two things that folks on the left have been saying about the economy every day since then: It’s Bush’s fault, and the problem is a lack of aggregate demand.

Here’s what small businesses have to say about the situation:

Chart by Dan Clifton at Strategas Research, via the AEIdeas blog

Chart by Dan Clifton at Strategas Research, via the AEIdeas blog

Keeping in mind that these are what small firms are “most concerned” about, meaning many likely have concerns to varying degrees about all three, a few things jump out at me:

1. In 2005, these three concerns accounted for a little more than one-third of small firms’ biggest worries. Today, they combine for about 60 percent. That suggests to me that these firms have less time and energy to devote to specific concerns about growing their business.

2. After shooting to the top in the second half of 2008, concerns about sales plateaued for about two years. Those concerns have been falling pretty steadily for the past year and a half.

3. Concerns about regulation, which more or less mirrored those about sales from 2005 to the start of 2008, began a steady ascent in 2009 and have almost doubled since then.

4. Concerns about taxes have remained fairly steady over these years.

5. At the beginning of 2009, the sum of concerns about regulation and those about sales was in the neighborhood of 40 percent — pretty much the same as today. But the division between them is starkly different: Whereas there were three small firms concerned about sales for every one worried about regulation then, now the two are dead even. In other words, worries about sales have been gradually replaced by worries about regulation.

6. If current trend lines continue, both taxes and regulation will soon rank higher among small firms’ concerns than sales.

Even if one wants to credit Obama’s “stimulus” package with the decrease in worries about sales — totally ignoring the effects of the Federal Reserve’s ultra-loose monetary policy — this graph clearly shows why improved demand hasn’t shifted the economy out of neutral: Increased regulation has stifled the recovery we might have had.

Small firms are generally credited with the bulk of job creation in this country. So the question this information puts to voters is: Which candidate do you expect to do more about the most pressing problems faced by small firms — Barack Obama or Mitt Romney?

– By Kyle Wingfield

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575 comments Add your comment

@@

July 20th, 2012
11:30 am

Well, Kyle. Since Obama built those businesses, shouldn’t he be able to regulate them? The man has to have something to do.

Is it true that he hasn’t met with his Jobs Council…Committee…whatever…in six months? Does he find jobs to be a boring topic or what?

JDW

July 20th, 2012
11:33 am

@Kyle….

Of course you are ignoring the fact that the performance of the current administration is far better than it’s Republican predecessors…

“The last three years of the Bush administration saw higher regulatory costs than the first three years of the Obama administration. If you’re looking for the year with the highest regulatory costs on record, you’ll have to go all the way back to 1992, under President George H.W. Bush.”

-Cass Sunstein, March 19, 2012

Fact Check agreed

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/who-issued-more-regulations–obama-or-bush/2012/03/22/gIQAVvGYWS_blog.html

Lil' Barry Bailout - Vote American

July 20th, 2012
11:33 am

Prediction: The libtards ignore the evidence and blame lack of a second Obozo stimulus and “corporate greed”.

Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed

July 20th, 2012
11:35 am

When you have the uncertainty of Obamacare looming, the always unaccommodating EPA, and the ever-present pressure of the IRS, there’s no doubt why this so-called “recovery” is as weak as it is.

It’s been three years since he promised to get rid of regulations that stifled growth, and they haven’t even come up with recommendations as yet.

Maybe the committee meets as often as his Jobs Council, which has been – zero – times since it was formed.

md

July 20th, 2012
11:35 am

They should be worried about those roads that aren’t built yet……we all know those roads are the reason a small business succeeds………

Jeffrey

July 20th, 2012
11:46 am

This is like chicken little. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, this is an unfounded fear. I don’t understand how a business owner can be confident enough to run their own business yet be so afraid of this bogeyman. The amount of change that small business has had to deal with over the last few years was more the cause of the private sector than govt ever could be. If a business can survive 08 these regulatiions are the gnat on the belly of an elephant. Stop being scared businesses and go back to worrying about sales, it’s healthier.

BW

July 20th, 2012
11:52 am

Wow…Kyle this is a reach. This is in generalities…which business are we discussing? Which regulations are we discussing? How does the torrent of new regulations affect these business? Are you saying lower demand in the face of the recession and the fact that people are deleveraging have nothing to do with low sales? I simply don’t believe that wiping the books clean of any regulatory actions will make up for the fact that people just don’t have the money.

BW

July 20th, 2012
11:53 am

Kyle

What’s a libtard?

Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed

July 20th, 2012
11:53 am

(Sigh) Another comment from JDW. Another miss.

The Washington Post conveniently (as usual) forgets who was running Congress during 2 of the last 3 years of the Bush Administration (not defending Bush at all, but providing CONTEXT behind the naked facts stated).

Further, the Post goes on to say: “Still, it’s worth noting that the number of “economically significant” regulations — meaning those that are expected to have a positive or negative impact on the economy of at least $100 million — has increased from 126 during Bush’s last three years to 177 during Obama’s first three.”

And just how many regulations from the Federal government ever reach the “positive effect” threshold?

Once again, there are lies, damned lies, and statistics.

Slick Rick

July 20th, 2012
11:55 am

Yes, Kyle, we get it: Obama bad, Romney good; government bad, private enterprise good; regulation bad, no regulation good.

When will you grow up and (a) realize that reality is exactly the opposite of what you believe and (b) start write about something other than the same inane talking points you hear from Rush your hero?

ByteMe

July 20th, 2012
11:56 am

Kyle didn’t do his homework.

He substitutes a survey of NFIB members with the generic “small businesses”. NFIB is an advocacy group for Republicans (just check out their endorsements). Surveying their members is like surveying NRA members to find out that gun control laws are too strict. They drank the Kool-Aid already.

I have several small businesses (including one that’s regulated as a “hotel”). Never have I thought that “regulations” are the issue that keep me from growing and expanding my business. Available credit, decent employees, and even this quaint concept of “24 hours in a day” are my biggest concerns. Regulations are so far down the list.

#FAIL

Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed

July 20th, 2012
11:56 am

“What’s a libtard?”

Anybody who would write nonsense like what you wrote below, BW.

“I simply don’t believe that wiping the books clean of any regulatory actions will make up for the fact that people just don’t have the money.”

You see, NO ONE has called for “wiping the books clean” on regulatory actions.

NO ONE.

ByteMe

July 20th, 2012
11:57 am

What’s a libtard?

A word made up by a middle schooler whose mother doesn’t know what he’s doing right now with his right hand in the basement of their home.

Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed

July 20th, 2012
12:00 pm

“NFIB is an advocacy group for Republicans (just check out their endorsements).”

Maybe they’re that way because they know who is actually responsible for building their businesses, ByteMe?

BW

July 20th, 2012
12:03 pm

Tiberius

Not one person has actually said which SPECIFIC regulation(s) is causing so much pain….just the threat of regulation. My point still stands…if people aren’t buying your stuff I don’t care how many regulations are or are not on the books, you’re done….the worry should be on why your business model cannot draw in enough revenue as opposed to non-specific regulations that may or may not even affect you.

Kyle Wingfield

July 20th, 2012
12:06 pm

BW @ 11:52: “wiping the books clean of any regulatory actions”

Talk about generalities…

Bucky

July 20th, 2012
12:06 pm

I know it is now a major chain, but Chick-fil-A was once a small business was BORN in Atlanta.

On a side note, I normally go to Chick-fil-a every Friday for 2 Chick-fil-A Sandwiches.

However, this Friday, in light of CFA’s very public & controversial political statement this week, I will be ordering 3 Chick-fil-A sandwiches instead.

I hope 0bammy’s Administration doesn’t come after you for sticking up for your beliefs.

You Rock, Cathy Family!

SBinF

July 20th, 2012
12:06 pm

Awesome,

My top concern is that tomorrow aliens will appear on earth in battleships and rain destruction on humanity.

Why isn’t that news?

Kyle Wingfield

July 20th, 2012
12:08 pm

Slick Rick @ 11:55: ICYMI, I didn’t answer this survey; people who run small businesses do. Perhaps you’d like to explain to them why the challenges they see for their businesses are not “reality.”

BW

July 20th, 2012
12:08 pm

Kyle

Nice deflection!

Bucky

July 20th, 2012
12:08 pm

The Federal Government now too big and too powerful, and it needs to stay the [Heck] out of our private lives.

I haven’t had a VARSITY chili dog in some time.

I wonder how the family who owns THE VARSITY feels (publicly) about same-gender “unions.”

Kyle Wingfield

July 20th, 2012
12:10 pm

ByteMe @ 11:56: So you must be among the ones who don’t cite regulation as your top concern. I’m not sure how that invalidates the ones who said it is theirs.

If you want to disregard anything you see from a source you disagree with, that’s your prerogative.

@@

July 20th, 2012
12:11 pm

the worry should be on why your business model cannot draw in enough revenue

Could be because so many people are unemployed?

ByteMe

July 20th, 2012
12:11 pm

Maybe they’re that way because they know who is actually responsible for building their businesses, ByteMe?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

:lol:

After I stop laughing, I’ll really start feeling bad for you.

Kyle Wingfield

July 20th, 2012
12:13 pm

BW: Deflection? No, I’m pointing out your mischaracterization of the argument. I know of no one who wants to “wipe the books clean of any regulatory actions.”

Btw, now is as good a time as any to point out that small firms are particularly sensitive to regulation because larger firms often team up with government to create regulations whose primary effect is to raise the barriers to entry for smaller competitors. So this is not necessarily about being “pro-business” but “pro-market.” And, yes, far too many Republicans fail to understand that distinction.

BW

July 20th, 2012
12:14 pm

@@

No that’s non-sense according to small businesses in this survey….it’s all taxes and regulation….yep that’s it (wish I knew how to do the rolling eyes emoticon)

Jeffrey

July 20th, 2012
12:14 pm

I am trying to thank byteme for his comment on the nfib. Why are they not showing up?

ByteMe

July 20th, 2012
12:15 pm

ByteMe @ 11:56: So you must be among the ones who don’t cite regulation as your top concern. I’m not sure how that invalidates the ones who said it is theirs.

So let me be clearer for you so you can’t deflect: you start with a limited set already being fed propaganda about all the things that are wrong for the people who are on “your side” and then ask them what they think is wrong and I’ll bet you end up with exactly what you fed them.

And you bought it.

I don’t disregard it for what it is. But then again, I also don’t puff it up to believe it’s a sample of ALL small businesses the way you tried to.

Now if you want to change your text it to reflect that the sample of small businesses comes exclusively from NFIB members, then I’ll be happy not to bat the ball around and accept it for what it is. But puff it up to mean more than it is supposed to mean and you get a #FAIL.

Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed

July 20th, 2012
12:15 pm

BW, in case you missed it, we’re in either a recession or a weak recovery. Sales will ALWAYS be down due to that economic condition alone.

However, the COST of regulations keeps companies from providing goods at a lower cost to consumers, making it even harder for those without much money to purchase things.

Cause and effect, BW.

Lil' Barry Bailout - Vote American

July 20th, 2012
12:17 pm

Kyle’s post isn’t about why Obozo’s economic recovery is so pathetic. It’s about the most significant problems facing small business. If you want to make small business more successful, you might pay attention to what real Americans who work in the real economy are saying, and not what Obozo and his sycophants are chanting.

ByteMe

July 20th, 2012
12:18 pm

Another way to think about this: if Bush generated more regulations than Obama why did concern over regulations start to increase when Obama took office? Could it be… Satan?

BW

July 20th, 2012
12:19 pm

Kyle

Thanks for pointing out that large business want to make it difficult for small businesses. In regards to my mischaracterization as you say…the point I’m making is that regulation has nothing to do with the reason alot of these small businesses may be struggling, it’s revenue plain and simple. Even the most die-hard partisan has to acknowledge the probability of keeping a business open and profitable has always been low even in good times. Let stop talking generally as if every small business has a model for sustained success and start talking about the specific regulations that are hindering profitability.

JamVet

July 20th, 2012
12:20 pm

Libtard?

That’s easy.

It is a term favored by juvenile delinquents with fifth grade vocabularies…

BW

July 20th, 2012
12:20 pm

Tiberius

Thank you for explaining why outsourcing continues unabated. If this is simply about the bottom dollar, American workers are too expensive to compete in ALOT of areas.

Hillbilly D

July 20th, 2012
12:23 pm

Personally, I think there should be more color contrast in the graph. Blue and black are to close together.

jd

July 20th, 2012
12:25 pm

How are the questions worded? What is the sample frame (i.e. what is a small firm?; what are the demographics of the respondents?) What are the std deviations for those questions — a 5 pt rise may be insignificant… I need evidence to make a decision — not more spin.

Filter

July 20th, 2012
12:26 pm

Serious question.

I have heard a lot of talk about “regulations” and how they are strangling the economy.

Can someone give me a list of say, about 10 regulations that are actively strangling small business.

ByteMe

July 20th, 2012
12:26 pm

Black? That’s only used in the axis and legend. I see graph lines that are blue/green/red…?

ByteMe

July 20th, 2012
12:27 pm

Can someone give me a list of say, about 10 regulations that are actively strangling small business.

And no fair complaining about a state regulation if the Republicans control your statewide offices. :)

@@

July 20th, 2012
12:28 pm

BW:

Since you weren’t buying what small businesses were selling, I just wanted to offer you another option.

ByteMe

July 20th, 2012
12:28 pm

How are the questions worded? What is the sample frame (i.e. what is a small firm?; what are the demographics of the respondents?)

Best you’ll get is to go to the NFIB site and look at the national press release about the survey. Sometime around May 23, 2012 I think.

dc

July 20th, 2012
12:29 pm

And as a result of this and other govt pressures against small businesses, we have had for the past 4 years absolutely no job growth. But let’s ignore that, and continue to pursue the same heavy handed govt control and increase in regulation and tax/cost burden.

For you folks who are out of work out there….how’s that approach working for you?

Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed

July 20th, 2012
12:29 pm

“Can someone give me a list of say, about 10 regulations that are actively strangling small business.”

Ask Obama. He’s been studying them for that last three years in between vacations, golf, and fundraising.

Filter

July 20th, 2012
12:29 pm

Also, is anyone aware of how this survey was done, the methodology behind it.

Was it an open survey asking an open question such as “what are your greatest concerns going forward” or a closed survey with options given to rank?

Hillbilly D

July 20th, 2012
12:31 pm

Btw, now is as good a time as any to point out that small firms are particularly sensitive to regulation because larger firms often team up with government to create regulations whose primary effect is to raise the barriers to entry for smaller competitors.

That’s a good point. It’s always amazed me that some small business people walk in lockstep with whatever large business people are pushing. They’re following the very people who are trying to put them out of business. I think for the large business people it’s often a bit of “please don’t throw me in the briar patch”.

Filter

July 20th, 2012
12:31 pm

Tiberious,

That really didn’t address my question, now did it?

@@

July 20th, 2012
12:31 pm

AmVet:

It is a term favored by juvenile delinquents with fifth grade vocabularies…

I know you dream of being a regulator, but try and focus, will you? The topic is regulations on small business, not your regulations on other bloggers.

You’re welcome.

Two Riders Were Approaching

July 20th, 2012
12:32 pm

I hear this meme repeated constantly on Fox but is argument always seems to lack specific regulations. Can someone enlighten?

Don't Tread

July 20th, 2012
12:34 pm

Did they ask other questions or just offer these three choices when they did the poll?

On the issue of regulation, it’s really hard to plan 5-10 years out when you don’t know what 0bama’s going to come up with next (and implement tomorrow via executive order), or which laws will be enforced and whch others won’t.

The data presented reinforces the idea that uncertainty is a job killer. (But hey, the government made you successful, right? Just leave it to them, we’ll all be singing kum-ba-ya when they fix it.)

Poor Boy from Alabama

July 20th, 2012
12:35 pm

The costs of federal regulatory compliance are a real issue for small business. They amounted to $10,585 per employee as of 2008 according to the Small Business Administration

archive.sba.gov/advo/research/rs371tot.pdf

See Table 1, page 13 for details.

Against that backdrop, all the new regulations that have been added in recent years only make it more costly and more difficult to operate a small business. These new regulations also make it more expensive to employ workers. Neither is a good thing.

The rate of new business formation has declined in recent years according to US Census data, as reported by the Kauffman Foundation:

kauffman.org/newsroom/number-of-firms-continues-to-slide-according-to-new-census-bureau-data.aspx

Slowdown in number of new companies and job creation from startups and young firms makes a robust recovery harder to achieve and sustain

(KANSAS CITY, Mo.), May 2, 2012 – Building on a long-term trend, the nation’s business startup rate fell below 8 percent for the first time in 2010, marking the lowest point on record for new firm births. New firms as a percentage of all firms continued a steady downward trend in 2010 – going from a high of 13 percent (as a percentage of all firms) in the 1980s to just under 11 percent in 2006 before making a steep decline to the 8 percent in 2010 – the most current year of data available.

The NFIB data is another indication that we’ve got a tax and regulatory environment that’s not good for small business. Our leaders should put their politics aside and work towards making America a better place to do business.

BTW: I’d offer working links to the references above but this blog put me in moderation when I tried that before.

ByteMe

July 20th, 2012
12:36 pm

I hear this meme repeated constantly on Fox but is argument always seems to lack specific regulations. Can someone enlighten?

It’s called “propaganda” and the low-information fools lap it up so that Fox can keep selling ad time for tampons and overpriced gold bullion.

Hillbilly D

July 20th, 2012
12:36 pm

Byte Me

I see Regulation as red, taxes as bluish/purple and sales as black. I reckon everybody sees different, which I reckon is what keeps blogs going. :lol:

ByteMe

July 20th, 2012
12:38 pm

The data presented reinforces the idea that uncertainty is a job killer.

Let me know when business success or external conditions are a certainty. Oh, that’s right: never.

Bruno

July 20th, 2012
12:38 pm

When you have the uncertainty of Obamacare looming, the always unaccommodating EPA, and the ever-present pressure of the IRS, there’s no doubt why this so-called “recovery” is as weak as it is.

To be fair, Ti, the most significant factor affecting the slow recovery is the anemic recovery of the housing market/construction industry. Which is to be expected when considering the vast oversupply of both residential and commercial properties we still have. This has caused a ripple effect into all sectors, and can only be remedied by time. There’s no magic correction that we simply haven’t stumbled upon or invented, a lesson that Obama and the Keynesian economists don’t seem to understand.

Having said that, I don’t see Obama as any type of “steadying hand” for our economy. As he made clear in his first two years in office, he places Utopian social goals at the top of his To-Do list, with predictable results. Doing nothing would have been far preferable IMO.

Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed

July 20th, 2012
12:39 pm

Filter, in case you missed it, government is all around you.

From the regulations on drugs that cause the cost of them to skyrocket, driving up health care costs, to OSHA regulations on virtually everything from exacting heights of electrical outlets to the type of ladder you have to buy, to virtually every other facet of running a business, and woe be unto you if you don’t follow them to the letter.

The studies are out there for you to read. Find them.

ByteMe

July 20th, 2012
12:40 pm

Hillbilly: sales is a dark green with what look to be black deltas. RGB on the line is #07340B. Check your monitor.

Bruno

July 20th, 2012
12:41 pm

Hey Poor Boy From Alabama!! Great to see you hanging around the Wingfield Blog!! Come by more often, you always have a lot to say.

Poor Boy from Alabama

July 20th, 2012
12:43 pm

Bruno,

Thanks for the kind words!

JamVet

July 20th, 2012
12:43 pm

Says the woman who has obsessed over me for nearly five years.

Too funny…

“Can someone give me a list of say, about 10 regulations that are actively strangling small business.”

I’ve asked this question before and have yet to ever get an intelligent, empirically verifiable list. I’d settle for two or three.

And the laugher is that it would be real easy to come up with. Because they certainly exist

But when basic research is a bane (is that word allowed anymore, Mr. Limbaugh?!) to the neocons, all one can expect is talking points compeletly bereft of facts, specifics, evidence, data, links or proof.

(And blank stares do not count!)

ByteMe

July 20th, 2012
12:44 pm

There’s no magic correction that we simply haven’t stumbled upon or invented, a lesson that Obama and the Keynesian economists don’t seem to understand.

There is, but both parties blew it in 2009-2010. They should have thrown huge amounts into anything that would have built something we need (like a better electrical grid) that would put construction workers to work. Not tax breaks for people who didn’t need them, but honest to goodness non-outsourceable projects that would employ the people with job skills that no longer had a place to go. Something gets built we need, people are employed and can pay taxes and be good consumers, everything’s good.

Yes, it’s Keynesian. So is Keynes’ statement that when times are good, you do everything you can to reduce government spending. People forget that part.

Get Real

July 20th, 2012
12:45 pm

ByteMe….can you enlighten us as to how you are running your small business since you seem to disagree with other small business owners.

ByteMe

July 20th, 2012
12:47 pm

ByteMe….can you enlighten us as to how you are running your small business since you seem to disagree with other small business owners.

Hard to imagine, isn’t it :)

See my comments above about how Kyle substituted “NFIB members” with the puffed up “small businesses”.

Hillbilly D

July 20th, 2012
12:48 pm

Byte Me @ 12:40

My eyes just ain’t seeing green. If it is green, they should’ve gone with a shade that offered more contrast, in my humble opinion.

Bruno @ 12:38

That’s a good point. In my opinion, they need to be figuring out something to base the economy on other than housing, consumerism and other things that depend on perpetual expansion (usually at a rapid rate). I don’t think either side has figured out that we’re in a long, slow decline and that’s the reality you have to deal with.

Poor Boy from Alabama

July 20th, 2012
12:49 pm

JamVet,

The Business Roundtable sent Team Obama a long memo about the various policies and regulations that were inhibiting growth back in June of 2010.

businessroundtable.org/news-center/business-roundtable-letter-to-the-white-house-on-policy-burdens-inhibi/

The memo is 54 pages long and available for download.

While the Business Roundtable represents big companies, most of the things they talked about affect smaller firms too.

tiredofIT

July 20th, 2012
12:50 pm

Some say that these small business owners spend to much time with Rush and Sean and not enough time running their businesses.

Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed

July 20th, 2012
12:51 pm

“There is, but both parties blew it in 2009-2010. They should have thrown huge amounts into anything that would have built something we need (like a better electrical grid) that would put construction workers to work.”

Stimulus 1 and follow-on mini Stimuli just aren’t enough? :roll:

I know. Who cares about 1/3rd of our total national debt being generated in 3 years, right?

Hillbilly D

July 20th, 2012
12:51 pm

Yes, it’s Keynesian. So is Keynes’ statement that when times are good, you do everything you can to reduce government spending. People forget that part.

That’s another good point. Most Keynesians (if that’s the right term) only follow half of the equation. It’s the same basic principle as the Biblical seven years of plenty and seven years of famine. It only works if you put up during the seven years of plenty. It’s hard to get through the seven years of famine, if you didn’t hold anything back during the seven years of plenty.

ByteMe

July 20th, 2012
12:55 pm

Stimulus 1 and follow-on mini Stimuli just aren’t enough?

Half the stimulus was wasted on tax cuts, which don’t put anyone to work. A whole bunch more went to the states to keep teachers employed. Completely misdirected actions on everyone’s part (and that includes the Republicans who damned it on one hand, while having their other hand out taking it the money).

Most Keynesians (if that’s the right term) only follow half of the equation.

You should say that most politicians follow half the equation, because that’s the half that gets them re-elected. Taking away the punch bowl doesn’t make you a favorite at the party.

I'm a liberal and believe everything I read and nothing the other side comes up with...cause we're smart and they are not

July 20th, 2012
12:56 pm

I own a small to mid size company. We have gone from 208 employees to 135 since Obama was sworn in. No, I don’t blame him for everything. I do blame him for an ideology that believes we can tax our way out of this and that government is the answer……and he is Hell bent on that belief. I’m a S corp and 4 years ago paid 1.5 million dollars in federal taxes. Last year I paid 400,000. Follow the math, that’s 1.1 million less. Obama is concerned about getting my top rate to 39.5 from 35% . At my current income level in this economy, that’s an extra 20,000 or so in additional taxes. Wow…….Why doesn’t he have the mind set to say, ” we need to get this company back to healthy so this company is back to paying 1.5 million in taxes rather than focus on the extra 4.5 %. He truly doesn’t get it. Robust companies in robust economies fill the treasury and the hiring. His ideology is killing us. That’s why the term ” it’s the economy stupid” is so true.

Jefferson

July 20th, 2012
12:56 pm

It will get worse if the failed policies of 2000-2008 are put back into place.

Get Real

July 20th, 2012
12:57 pm

ByteMe….none responsive, you still have not enlightened us on the small business you own and run. It really does not matter if deflect again or not as I believe everyone already knows the answer

Filter

July 20th, 2012
12:58 pm

Tiberious,

I repeat, That really didn’t answer my question, now did it. We’ve always had regulation in this country. What I want to see is a short list of economy strangling regulations brought into being by the Obama administration.

If this is such an important issue then it should be a simple matter of just typing them out.

You know
1.
2.
3.
etc

Get Real

July 20th, 2012
12:59 pm

I’m a liberal and believe everything I read and nothing the other side comes up with…cause we’re smart and they are not

maybe ByteMe can give you some pointers on how he runs his company

JamVet

July 20th, 2012
1:01 pm

Poor Boy, thanks for that info. I will look at it when I get a chance.

As a small business owner, I am somewhat aware of the effect of regulations – both good and bad.

Unlike the government haters here, I realize that had the free market operated ethically, morally and legally, many of these regulations would not exist.

But the banksters, casino capitalists and the Wall Street Titans of Malfeasance and Criminal Negligence have proven over and over and over again, that they simply cannot be trusted to do the right things for their clients, employees, shareholders, vendors, communities and certainly not the nation.

Corporate crime has turned into an avalanche and the Uncle Sam haters blame the cops and not the criminals for it…

Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed

July 20th, 2012
1:01 pm

“Half the stimulus was wasted on tax cuts, which don’t put anyone to work. A whole bunch more went to the states to keep teachers employed. Completely misdirected actions on everyone’s part ”

Am I reading this right, ByteMe?

Have you finally come around to the notion that the Stimulus was a failure?

ByteMe

July 20th, 2012
1:02 pm

ByteMe….none responsive, you still have not enlightened us on the small business you own and run. It really does not matter if deflect again or not as I believe everyone already knows the answer

Ooohh, we have ourselves a stalker! Whoo-hoo!! I’m the popular guy now!! Take THAT, JamVet!

I already said what I said. You just have to read it.

Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed

July 20th, 2012
1:03 pm

Well, I see AmVet has manged to get in all the requisite keywords to receive his compensation from the DNC this afternoon.

BW

July 20th, 2012
1:03 pm

@@

I was being sarcastic.

I'm a liberal and believe everything I read and nothing the other side comes up with...cause we're smart and they are not

July 20th, 2012
1:04 pm

One only needs to google ” new OSHA mandates to get a good start. I’m living it.

ByteMe

July 20th, 2012
1:05 pm

Have you finally come around to the notion that the Stimulus was a failure?

Did I say that? Nope. I said they wasted the opportunity.

TARP was the right answer, but initially applied wrong (with no controls). The concept of stimulus into falling demand is absolutely correct… if you do something to actually help increase demand. Only part of the stimulus helped demand… the rest was about treading water, which made it a waste.

Jefferson

July 20th, 2012
1:07 pm

We wouldn’t need jails if they were not any outlaws, this is why we need regulations because of the crooks. If you police yourselves, you wouldn’t need police.

Darwin

July 20th, 2012
1:07 pm

So what? What specific regulations are they talking about? Small firms always complain about government regulations. And there are those small business people who actually tell the truth – it’s all about demand.

ByteMe

July 20th, 2012
1:09 pm

Off to forage. Hope you all have a pleasant afternoon.

Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed

July 20th, 2012
1:10 pm

So you’re saying that the goal of the stimulus (to affect demand) was not met, yet you’re not going to call it a failure, ByteMe?

Got it. :roll:

I'm a liberal and believe everything I read and nothing the other side comes up with...cause we're smart and they are not

July 20th, 2012
1:12 pm

For the person asking for new federal regulations ( just give me 10) start with the new NFPA 70 E OSHA ( National fire protection Assoc) Standards and the new OSHA 30 hour hour mandatory training. We’ll start with these simple 40 -50 requirements.

Bruno

July 20th, 2012
1:12 pm

They should have thrown huge amounts into anything that would have built something we need (like a better electrical grid) that would put construction workers to work.

ByteMe–The problem with economic theories is that there is no truly scientific way to test them insofar as you never have a “control group” against which you can compare outcomes. In other words, you can’t simply divide the country in half and apply different economic theories and see which one works best. In the end, there are a myriad of factors which affect our economy, some under our control and others not. As such, we can only rely on faith and gut instinct inorder to decide if a particular economic policy is effective.

In terms of Keynesian economics, we do have a body of evidence by which to judge it–the Great Depression. Although die-hard Roosevelt fans will claim that he pulled us out of the Depression with all of the government spending, there are just as many on the other side that believe his policies extended it. Personally, I don’t think “make-work” projects have much value, since all they do is add to the debt.

Poor Boy from Alabama

July 20th, 2012
1:18 pm

JamVet,

You’re welcome.

There’s no doubt that we need laws and regulations just to keep society functioning. Things would be chaotic without them. The problem is that we often get bad laws and regulations from folks who don’t seem to know or care how burdensome they are. Big companies often like these clunky rules because they stifle innovation and make it harder for new firms to grow. Take a look at the SBA report I reference previously. The annual cost of federal regulatory compliance is $10,585 per employee for firms with less than 20 workers vs. $7,755 per employee for companies with more than 500 workers. Those kinds of differentials can really hurt small businesses. .

hatorade drinker

July 20th, 2012
1:20 pm

Kyle, what are your thoughts on the LIBOR scam? do you think banks should be self-regulating?

wonder why you are silent on this

Hillbilly D

July 20th, 2012
1:21 pm

If you police yourselves, you wouldn’t need police.

That’s the way we used to do it up here in the Hills. Folks called us backwards, though. It worked as well as what we have now, if not better.

As such, we can only rely on faith and gut instinct inorder to decide if a particular economic policy is effective.

I agree with you on that. All economic systems and theories are a product of man, so they’re all flawed. I don’t believe there is a such thing as an “economic law”. You just do the best you can and make it up as you go, hopefully looking backwards for a little guidance.

I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...

July 20th, 2012
1:23 pm

Which candidate do you expect to do more about the most pressing problems faced by small firms — Barack Obama or Mitt Romney?

Geez, Kyle, you even had to ask this question?

I mean really, president Little Tard runs hither and yon telling small business owners he’s going to ease their concerns about regulation by raising their taxes and making that their biggest concern.

Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed

July 20th, 2012
1:23 pm

“Kyle, what are your thoughts on the LIBOR scam? do you think banks should be self-regulating?

wonder why you are silent on this”

This is known in the business as a deflection.

fedup

July 20th, 2012
1:30 pm

Is there a website that lists actual regulations created thus far during the Obama administration that negatively impact small businesses? Any independent data describing these regulations? I am trying to determine whether this is a real problem or is something that gets repeated so much that people are afraid of what they just “know” is coming versus what is really there.

Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed

July 20th, 2012
1:32 pm

What part of Poor Boy’s 12:49 did you not understand, fedup?

Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed

July 20th, 2012
1:33 pm

Off for a warm soak of my poor, aching back.

Later!

MarkV

July 20th, 2012
1:35 pm

The fallacy of Kyle’s conclusion is quite clear:

“— this graph clearly shows why improved demand hasn’t shifted the economy out of neutral: Increased regulation has stifled the recovery we might have had.”

The graph shows nothing like that. The graph only shows what business answering the cited survey said about their concerns, not what actually has happened.

stranger in a strange land

July 20th, 2012
1:37 pm

TO: I’m a liberal and believe everything I read and nothing the other side comes up with…cause we’re smart and they are not.

you need to cool it with actual data. We liberals FEEL like regulations are not a problem and if you keep it with facts – well then….you’re just a…you know…like a hater

They BOTH suck

July 20th, 2012
1:39 pm

Kyle

In certain industries and companies there is a lack of aggregate demand.

As for the article. I am not arguing with the chart you put up, however you seem to short on specifics in terms of the issues within the chart. How about a deep dive within those categories.

As for demand. Not many companies turning away business because of Obamacare being declared constitutional. Outside of contractual or proprietary issues, if company A can not meet a customers demand, company B will do it.

They BOTH suck

July 20th, 2012
1:41 pm

MarkV @ 1:35

Bingo. Kyle is making an opinionated conclusion based on the overall aggregate numbers in that survey. He could be correct, however it is an opinion

AU Liberal in ATL

July 20th, 2012
1:43 pm

Hating the President because he is so much more intelligent, more compassionate, more capable, better educated and is just a better person than you are is not pretty. That also explains your hatred for Bill Clinton and your love of Dubya. You’re a pathetic and disgusting excuse for a human being.

They BOTH suck

July 20th, 2012
1:44 pm

“I am a liberal”

Haven’t seen you next door. Hope you are coming back.

:-)

ragnar danneskjold

July 20th, 2012
1:46 pm

There is no meaningful economic difference between (a) a regulation, and (b) a tax coupled with a legal mandate. A regulation requires that a company tax itself to whatever extent necessary to achieve a particular goal-not-set-by-the-market. If you like higher taxes, you will love the coming economic effects of ObamaCare and Dodd-Frank.

Dusty

July 20th, 2012
1:49 pm

Wellll…..anybody think it is going to rain this afternoon?

As to small firm regulations, is an AVON sales person a small firm? Is PAY-A-POSTER (Cheep!) a smarl firm? I think they have an office on a back street in Doraville.

Up to 50 workers does not sound so small to me, But…if small firms think they know what hurts their business I’m inclined to believe them. Taxing and regulations sound like tying a small child to a chair and feeding him nothing but spinach to make him grow strong. Perpetually wrong.

OK, that’s my bad comparison for today. I do think it is going to rain! Otherwise, why is cloud cover hanging over my house? Some people just cannot realize the obvious. Well, that’s the subject, isn’t it? Taxes and regulation hinder small business and Obama refuses to believe it.. There. THE SUBJECT!!!

I'm a liberal and believe everything I read and nothing the other side comes up with...cause we're smart and they are not

July 20th, 2012
1:49 pm

I’m banned over there ” they BOTH suck”………..And rightly so I guess. Having a little fun and there is no fun in Libville to be had.

carlosgvv

July 20th, 2012
1:49 pm

I don’t blame firms one bit for wanting little or no regulations. After all, we all want to return to the days of 6 day work weeks, 12 to 16 hour workdays, no health insurance, no vacation days, no sick days, no workman’s comp and, most importantly, child labor. It’s definitely true that Republcians are called “compassionate conservatives” for a reason. I mean no regulations is good. Right? Right? Right?

Cutty

July 20th, 2012
1:51 pm

Exactly what regulations have hindered these small businesses? Seems like its all just speculation to me. What new regs instituted under this President have kept these businesses from making a buck?

I'm a liberal and believe everything I read and nothing the other side comes up with...cause we're smart and they are not

July 20th, 2012
1:52 pm

Jay said he would probably reinstate after his Vacation. Man I gotta be there for the Romney victory.

ragnar danneskjold

July 20th, 2012
1:54 pm

If you seriously want to stimulate the economy, you need not repeal a single regulation – simply abolish the capacity of any agency to “levy a fine.” Let them attempt to put people in jail for alleged violations, but do not allow the bureaucrats to siphon off capital.

I'm a liberal and believe everything I read and nothing the other side comes up with...cause we're smart and they are not

July 20th, 2012
1:55 pm

Cutty, I spent 21K on a surprise OSHA visit last year on petty stuff. ( no lives in danger) and the guy on day 2 told ( a con no doubt after I got to know him day 2) that he was out getting his new ” quota”.
Real world cutty, no fantasy lib world.

ragnar danneskjold

July 20th, 2012
1:56 pm

Dear Cutty @ 1:51, good afternoon, you have a flawed assumption, that the moribund economy is reactive to the Obama agenda already published in the CFR. In fact, the morbund economy is anticipative of the Obama agenda to be published in the CFR.

I'm a liberal and believe everything I read and nothing the other side comes up with...cause we're smart and they are not

July 20th, 2012
1:57 pm

and one more thing cutty………….I know in a Libs mind I got what was coming to me.

ragnar danneskjold

July 20th, 2012
1:58 pm

Dear Cutty @ 1:51, rephrasing my 1:56, the fellow whose head in the guillotine is concerned about the blade about to fall; he has little regard for the blade that already fell.

They BOTH suck

July 20th, 2012
1:59 pm

I’m a lib

Unless you did something real crazy. He will let you come back

Filter

July 20th, 2012
2:03 pm

I still don’t have an answer to my question. Lots of banter and deflection but no answer.

As for OSHA and their inspections, that agency was around LONG before January 2009. It seems disingenuous to lay every regulation on the books at the feet of the President, unless of course your argument is that he should repeal all of them.

I am asking, repeatedly now, for a simple list of regulations that this President has enacted that are strangling small business and the economy.

Get Real

July 20th, 2012
2:04 pm

“Hating the President because he is so much more intelligent, more compassionate, more capable, better educated and is just a better person than you are is not pretty. That also explains your hatred for Bill Clinton and your love of Dubya. You’re a pathetic and disgusting excuse for a human being”

Wow, somone must have an Obama poster above their bed

Some people are stupid

July 20th, 2012
2:05 pm

I am a liberal-

So you say it was petty stuff, but that implies it ws still a violation

So what you are saying is you want to be above the law…wow.

Some people are stupid

July 20th, 2012
2:06 pm

As for OSHA and their inspections, that agency was around LONG before January 2009

He has a point…

Real Athens

July 20th, 2012
2:08 pm

Tools of ignorance.

I'm a liberal and believe everything I read and nothing the other side comes up with...cause we're smart and they are not

July 20th, 2012
2:10 pm

nah, I just hijacked a moniker for some fun. He got po’ed

Real Athens

July 20th, 2012
2:10 pm

“Let them attempt to put people in jail for alleged violations”

Sounds like the former Soviet Union — and not at all Randian.

Real Athens

July 20th, 2012
2:12 pm

“Taxing and regulations sound like tying a small child to a chair and feeding him nothing but spinach to make him grow strong.”

For real?

I'm a liberal and believe everything I read and nothing the other side comes up with...cause we're smart and they are not

July 20th, 2012
2:13 pm

A fan plugged into a outlet with an extension cord is worth a 1,200 fine from a “fair, I’m here to help Government”. The OSHA book has over 76,000 rules. This guy said he only knew about 20 % of them

They BOTH suck

July 20th, 2012
2:14 pm

Well maybe a methed out Ayn………….

can’t speak for the Rand Heads themselves, but Ayn did love her some meth, she did

Dusty

July 20th, 2012
2:16 pm

Well, off subject as usual but Romney and Obama have BOTH spoken with charm and concern on the terrible tragedy in Colorado. Always good to remember the real feeling Americans have for each other. Someone killing 12 people and wounding 50 while they were simply watching a movie…..that reminds us of our mutual humanity.. The outstanding gentlemen of our country reflect that well.

Dusty

July 20th, 2012
2:19 pm

Real Athens 2:12

Yes, for real. I already said that was a poor comparison. What you want? Ice cream with your spinach?

I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...

July 20th, 2012
2:20 pm

We don’t hate your president, AU, we just think he’s mildly retarded and a sociopath.

Jefferson

July 20th, 2012
2:21 pm

Sounds like McCain could have won with all the same ideas you spew, ever wonder why he didn’t ?

Real Athens

July 20th, 2012
2:22 pm

For 28 years she took Methamphetamine every day to “control her weight”. She died collecting her disability check because of her declining health due to over consumption of cigarettes.

So much for objectivism, as long as it doesn’t apply to you.

She was personally more into collectivism. The lemmings still hang on every word though. Only L. Ron Hubbard was a worse, morally corrupt “author”.

Real Athens

July 20th, 2012
2:25 pm

I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin… calling someone a sociopath — that’s rich.

Georgia, The " New Mississippi "

July 20th, 2012
2:31 pm

“Corporations are people too ” ….Mitt

They are people because they have lobbyists that give money to elect politicians. Small firms do not count.

Jimmy62

July 20th, 2012
2:31 pm

Amen, Kyle. A lot of regulations are set up to protect existing players, and existing players usually aren’t the small businesses, they are the big ones that the left loves to vilify, but then helps by supporting regulations that protect those big businesses.

Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)

July 20th, 2012
2:31 pm

Which candidate do you expect to do more about the most pressing problems faced by small firms — Barack Obama or Mitt Romney?

Barack Obama.

Mitt will help firms that need to offshore work or organize workforces outside the US. And very few small businesses are in a situation to take advantage of that. Barack is focused on the companies working here.

Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)

July 20th, 2012
2:33 pm

The regulations most of these small businesses are worried about are what?

Limitations of access to low-wage illegals?

Healthcare? But the government will now make it easier for small businesses to be able to afford healthcare provisions for their employees?

Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)

July 20th, 2012
2:38 pm

We don’t hate your president, AU, we just think he’s mildly retarded and a sociopath.

Well, better mildly retarded than obviously retarded:

“We want to help people put food on their families.”

“We ought to make the pie higher.”

“Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job.”

“You’re working hard to put food on your family.”

“Too many good docs are getting out of the business. Too many OB-GYNs aren’t able to practice their love with women all across this country.”

“Strategery”

Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)

July 20th, 2012
2:39 pm

best one:

“Then you wake up at the high school level and find out that the illiteracy level of our children are appalling.” —President George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Jan. 23, 2004

Thulsa Doom

July 20th, 2012
2:43 pm

I made the point just yesterday to our liberal friends on the other blog that burdensome regulation is affordable by the big boys in business and helps keep out the smaller firms and erect a barrier to entry. Hopefully it will sink in with our liberal friends. If you really despise big business as many of you seem to then you better hope that regulation is loosened. Because if not then big business will be protected and insulated by regulation and will be calling the shots. You would think that once they understand this that liberals would be in favor of less regulation that only aids the big business behemoths.

Kyle Wingfield

July 20th, 2012
2:46 pm

hatorade @ 1:20: I haven’t commented on it yet because it seems to me this story has a lot of information yet to come out. But it’s not nearly as one-sided as you seem to think: The Federal Reserve of New York — headed at the time by one Timothy Geithner — knew about it in 2008.

Thulsa Doom

July 20th, 2012
2:48 pm

Same thing happened in fascist Germany by the way. The big businesses like Mercedes Benz allowed themselves to be regulated and worked with by the govt. The combination of the 2 together big business with big gubment should be enough to scare the hell out of both cons and libs. Over here we call it crony capitalism but the idea is the same- big gubment picking winners and losers and helping big business which in turn gets help in the form of subsidies, tax breaks, and regulation that keeps out or unfairly burdens smaller competitors.

md

July 20th, 2012
2:49 pm

“if people aren’t buying your stuff I don’t care how many regulations are or are not on the books, you’re done….the worry should be on why your business model cannot draw in enough revenue as opposed to non-specific regulations that may or may not even affect you.”

A big leap with assumption on this one……who said they were having trouble getting customers? Regulations add to expenses, which may be the difference between a profit and hiring more people and a loss and having to let them go……and the number of customers might be a constant.

Thulsa Doom

July 20th, 2012
2:54 pm

md,

To echo your point grocery stores operate on traditionally razor thin profit margins- 1-3%. If you have a new regulation that adversely affects a small, independent grocery store or a smaller grocery chain then that could be the difference between profit and going out of business.

Real Athens

July 20th, 2012
2:56 pm

Hey Thulsa Dope,

And who “aids” big business?

“Corporations are people, my friend” – Mitt Romney.

Saxby Chambliss is the best friend Monsanto and Conagra ever had (his son Bo works for them) are small farmers small businesses?

Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)

July 20th, 2012
3:01 pm

Regulations add to expenses, which may be the difference between a profit and hiring more people and a loss and having to let them go……and the number of customers might be a constant.

Regulations are the cost of doing business – every company in that space has the same regulations. All trucking companies face the same regulations. All stapler makers face the same regulations. All calculator makers face the same regulations. All ice cream truck vendors face the same regulations.

It’s the cost of doing business and has to be taken in to account when starting a business. If you can’t make a profit, start a different business. Otherwise, it’s just a normal everyday republican crying point.

Any manager you see – anywhere – who is blaming regulations for his/her not being able to earn profits is a lazy slob or an idiot who shouldn’t be in business anyway. If you can’t make a profit and don’t leave the industry then you have to question your ability to think clearly.

Republicans want to keep failing businesses open for what reason? Republicans want sorry managers to keep on losing money and laying off people because of what?

Oh, that’s right. They can probably write the losses off on their taxes. So we, the tax payers, get to subsidize these losers cause Republicans love em and need their votes?

md

July 20th, 2012
3:01 pm

As for actual examples…..pick one, they are right in front of your face…start with Dodd-Frank, think having to have an accountant/accounting department read through that thing and make sure one is complying doesn’t cost money??

Here’s another…..”state waters”………did you people know that one has to have any standing body of water looked at by the corps of engineers to ensure it is NOT state waters. And that even the ditch in front of your house can be classified as state waters? And that waiting on the corps to send out an engineer can take up to 12 months? No cost there, right?

Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)

July 20th, 2012
3:03 pm

If you have a new regulation that adversely affects a small, independent grocery store or a smaller grocery chain then that could be the difference between profit and going out of business.

Then LEARN how to make a profit – do the work, pull all nighters working on the problems. Hire people who can solve problems. Otherwise, close you doors cause you are just a drain on all the other businesses.

Jefferson

July 20th, 2012
3:05 pm

Romney should get a VP that has more jack than he does, just to take the pressure off. You know more money oversees and stuff.

Dusty

July 20th, 2012
3:06 pm

Well, I forgot to throw out the welcome mat for refugees from the blog next door. I am sure they miss the twisted pretzel bits they are fed every day. Kyle serves only wholesome vittles here. (I am definitely into food comparisons today, Real Athens)

Anyway, dear wandering ones, Kyle does have REGULATIONS!!! Tada! If you do not behave, you are thrown into the outer darkness. If you cry and sniffle, Kyle does have a box of Kleenex on his desk.

Now, for the most part, I am off to mind my small “business”. Just one delightful household, a few tomato plants and a feral cat !!

Don’t forget,: MYOB and no monkey business!

Jefferson

July 20th, 2012
3:06 pm

Oh yea, just pass the cost of regulation on to the customer, it will be fine.

Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed

July 20th, 2012
3:09 pm

“I still don’t have an answer to my question.”

Yes you have Filter; you just choose not to do your own reading.

However in the spirit of hoping you’ll finally shut up with your foolish question:

Obamacare.

Far more than 10 regulations in THAT steaming pile which will cost businesses plenty.

md

July 20th, 2012
3:11 pm

“Corporations are people too ”

Hmmm…..Chik-fil-a just announced an opinion…….are corporations capable of doing that?

Dusty

July 20th, 2012
3:11 pm

Uh oh, Finn is here to start his second job. I shoulda left earlier.

md

July 20th, 2012
3:13 pm

“Then LEARN how to make a profit”

They did……hence the 20 million people looking for jobs……

They BOTH suck

July 20th, 2012
3:18 pm

Filter

Ask on if you have the notion. No blogger has been given the authority to tell or suggest you shut up.

Everyone have a great weekend.

Lil' Barry Bailout - Vote American

July 20th, 2012
3:19 pm

“In certain industries and companies there is a lack of aggregate demand”
———

And Kyle’s post explains why small businesses aren’t spending.

Jefferson

July 20th, 2012
3:20 pm

If rather running from Chik, the gays should make say Thur night “their” night at Chik, holding hands and such, they after a while change to say Wed night and surprise the homophobes who would stay away to avoid them. Cathy is getting what he wants.

I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...

July 20th, 2012
3:24 pm

McCool- All Texans speak like that.

Balls in your court.

Some people are stupid

July 20th, 2012
3:25 pm

I find it funny when someone ask for a list of regulations, you simply point out a bill but not a regulation.

And on the state water thing. That seems really important..just saying.

Lil' Barry Bailout - Vote American

July 20th, 2012
3:26 pm

If you think Cathey is going to change his morals because of some freak show, you’re going to be disappointed.

md

July 20th, 2012
3:27 pm

“Cathy is getting what he wants.”

Not condoning his actions. but the guy is 91 years old…..I’m guessing he pretty much doesn’t care what others think……now cfa may have to worry about it, but I doubt he will.

Jefferson

July 20th, 2012
3:28 pm

I was thinking the son made the comments.

Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)

July 20th, 2012
3:30 pm

Kyle, here is a weekend topic idea:

Should Women Have the Right to Go Topless in Public?

md

July 20th, 2012
3:30 pm

“I find it funny when someone ask for a list of regulations, you simply point out a bill but not a regulation.”

A bill is a regulation………..usually bunches of them grouped together………

As for the water……yep, it makes sense for someone to make the corps of engineers that are very shorthanded go out and tell a landowner…..”yep, that’s just a puddle”………which is what they did with us after waiting 10 months……….

Jefferson

July 20th, 2012
3:31 pm

I don’t expect Cathy to change any morals — if the chain got labeled “gay” his customers would stay home. You have been to chick right ?

md

July 20th, 2012
3:31 pm

“I was thinking the son made the comments.”

Probably did, but more than likely not without daddy’s guidance……

Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed

July 20th, 2012
3:39 pm

“I find it funny when someone ask for a list of regulations, you simply point out a bill but not a regulation.”

Written by someone who has never studied the legislation process or passed Civics 101 (or actually passed a law) in their lifetime.

Bills are nothing BUT regulations, with the lone exception of proclamations – you know – things like “Treat a liberal with kindness because they are so dense” day.

Jefferson

July 20th, 2012
3:40 pm

Just another choice, he made… :)

I'm a liberal and believe everything I read and nothing the other side comes up with...cause we're smart and they are not

July 20th, 2012
3:43 pm

I don’t think Chick fil a is worried, because if you landed here from Mars last week and started listening to the news, the radio, movies, TV, Washington, you would think the country is about 1/3 Gay. It’s about 2% or less Gay. It’s just the Business model is so strong.

Some people are stupid

July 20th, 2012
3:45 pm

By that accoutn then, wouldn’t it make more sense to then compare this administration to otheres by the amount of bills passed, since bills are just regulations?

On another note, regulations can create jobs as well. I find it funny that people say cost to a business, that cost usually goes towards the creation of another business or job. See Sarbanes Oxley, the cost incurred to the business were A. hiring more internal auditors and people to properly use controls, and B. Hiring an outside accounting firm to audit, who in turn hired more auditors.

Tom

July 20th, 2012
3:46 pm

If you actually believe that Chick-Fil-A does anything for any reason other than focus-group-tested marketing purposes, your childlike credulity is really touching.

Jefferson

July 20th, 2012
3:49 pm

Tom, you may be right… he made the statement to run away a segment of customers that he feels he can live without, if that is what the will do.

Jefferson

July 20th, 2012
3:49 pm

s/b they will do.

Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed

July 20th, 2012
3:52 pm

“By that accoutn then, wouldn’t it make more sense to then compare this administration to otheres by the amount of bills passed, since bills are just regulations?”

I’ll re-post a comment I showed JDW earlier.

“Further, the Post goes on to say: “Still, it’s worth noting that the number of “economically significant” regulations — meaning those that are expected to have a positive or negative impact on the economy of at least $100 million — has increased from 126 during Bush’s last three years to 177 during Obama’s first three.”

And just how many regulations from the Federal government ever reach the “positive effect” threshold?”

Now, to your final comment: “On another note, regulations can create jobs as well. I find it funny that people say cost to a business, that cost usually goes towards the creation of another business or job. See Sarbanes Oxley, the cost incurred to the business were A. hiring more internal auditors and people to properly use controls, and B. Hiring an outside accounting firm to audit, who in turn hired more auditors.”

You DO realize that the regulations creating those jobs COSTS THE COMPANIES THAT HAVE TO CREATE / HIRE THEM MONEY, right? :roll:

Jefferson

July 20th, 2012
3:55 pm

Pass the cost on…just like a tax…huh

Filter

July 20th, 2012
4:00 pm

Tiberious,

I have no intention of shutting up other than the fact that I am done for the day and headed out.

My final thoughts here are these. I asked for a list of regulations because I knew you couldn’t come up with one. This is political propaganda, pure and simple, on the part of the right. Just another in a series of silly talking points and false allegations.

Sputtering out the ACA is not an answer and the simple fact is that you don’t have one. You and your compatriots had almost FOUR HOURS to produce a simple list of 10 small business strangling regulations and you couldn’t give me even one outside of the right’s favorite boogie man du jour, the ACA.

You can look all you like and all you’ll see is people talking about these evil and onerous regulations without one bit of specificity. But if you talk about it enough you’re bound to scare a few folks.

Kind of like War of the Worlds Mr. Wells.

Filter

July 20th, 2012
4:01 pm

And with that I go to fight traffic.

md

July 20th, 2012
4:01 pm

“Just another choice, he made…”

Although it is/was a choice, my original point was that it was made by a “corporation”……which many will say are not people. Last I checked, opinions come from people……..hence the fact that corporations are indeed “people”.

Some people are stupid

July 20th, 2012
4:02 pm

Tiberius-
You DO realize that the regulations creating those jobs COSTS THE COMPANIES THAT HAVE TO CREATE / HIRE THEM MONEY, right?

Is there a difference between one job at company A, or company A sending money to company B for a service and they hire one person.

That’s like me saying you know me going grocery shopping cost me money.

Money is not a finite linear change, it’s circular. My income is your revenue. In the case of a company, their revenue(or expense) is my income stream.

md

July 20th, 2012
4:04 pm

“See Sarbanes Oxley, the cost incurred to the business were A. hiring more internal auditors and people to properly use controls, and B. Hiring an outside accounting firm to audit, who in turn hired more auditors.”

One should not assume that just because it created jobs in one department it did not cost jobs in another………..if a corp only has xx dollars to spend on the expense of employees, that corp must actually move people around or fire others to comply with SO……

How Inciteful Is That!

July 20th, 2012
4:05 pm

Strategas Research. Hmmm. Oh yes. They used to be called HotAir Inc.

Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed

July 20th, 2012
4:06 pm

In the case of groceries, you spend money because you are hungry or because you want to.

In the case of regulations, you spend money because you are forced to.

That I even had to spell that out to you speaks volumes.

md

July 20th, 2012
4:12 pm

“or company A sending money to company B for a service and they hire one person. ”

One must also remember that company B is also subject to SOX….may be a wash.

Some people are stupid

July 20th, 2012
4:12 pm

md-

same point applies still, in your example, if it cost jobs in one and created them in another, isn’t that a zero sum gain(assuming a 1 to 1 relationship)

Tiberius- In the context of jobs though, whether forced or not, did it not create a job. Just like the ACA(i think you used it as an example), does it not require more IRS workers(jobs), healthcare facilities seeing an increase of patients hire more staff(jobs), even insurance comapnies to process the payments(jobs), not including the secondary market(healthcare consultants, recovery analyst).

Jefferson

July 20th, 2012
4:15 pm

Private vs public corps, md …. if they are “people”, they should pay more taxes.

Artful Observer...

July 20th, 2012
4:15 pm

“In the case of regulations, you spend money because you are forced to.”

I am forced to disagree…..You are not forced to spend anything…..You always have choice in these type of matters….. You can comply and spend, you canfind a way around the regulation, or you can close up shop and try to find a business that will allow you to make some money with having to spend any money……

Some people are stupid

July 20th, 2012
4:17 pm

MD-

In the company A to B example, they were generic. If the SOX example was applied, comapny B would be a CPA firm, and only 5 I believe are public and would not be subject to SOX.

Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed

July 20th, 2012
4:18 pm

You’re really going to hang your hat on that 4:15 post, Artful Observer?

REALLY?

Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed

July 20th, 2012
4:21 pm

“Tiberius- In the context of jobs though, whether forced or not, did it not create a job.”

Yes. Your point?

Because being forced to shell out money to create a job takes money out of a business it can use to lower the cost of a product, pay their own people more, hire new people to actually make things, or simply make more money. Even upgrade their processes to become more efficient.

Something bad has to happen before you get your created job.

Dusty

July 20th, 2012
4:23 pm

Tiberius, 3:52

I am beginning to understand the policies of Obama a lot better. You asked:

“You DO realize that the regulations creating those jobs COSTS THE COMPANIES THAT HAVE TO CREATE/ HIRE THEM MONEY, right?”

A liberal here doesn’t even know that hiring more people in a company increases company costs.

I don’t think Obama knows THAT either. He also does not know that spending money you don’t have increases debt. That is the lack of simple knowledge that is running this country into the financial “ground”. His supposedly “greater knowledge” did not include common sense.

Artful Observer...

July 20th, 2012
4:23 pm

Tiberius, Not really hanging my hat on anything….. But where is the flaw in that statement????

Some people are stupid

July 20th, 2012
4:25 pm

Tiberius-

I thought our whole discussion was regulations can create jobs. Since you seem to have conceded that point…

Skip

July 20th, 2012
4:27 pm

The list of ten, never going to happen. But be afraid, be very afraid..

Lynnie Gal

July 20th, 2012
4:30 pm

This has nothing to do with whether or not businesses will hire. It’s a false notion that “regulation” is the reason the “job creators” haven’t created any jobs in over a decade. There is no link with “regulation” or with income taxes and job creation. That’s just right winger speak. If the “job creators” need tax breaks to create jobs, why haven’t they created jobs? They’ve had the Bush tax cuts for twelve years now. Still-no jobs. The regulation argument is just as lame.

Some people are stupid

July 20th, 2012
4:31 pm

Dusty-

A liberal here doesn’t even know that hiring more people in a company increases company costs

(Face plam) I thought that was understood and didn’t need to be spelled out. MY point was that an increase can be tied to a job created.

He also does not know that spending money you don’t have increases debt.

So what would you say to all the small business owners who finance their start-ups with debt. Isn’t that money they don’t have/

Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed

July 20th, 2012
4:41 pm

Artful Observer, to go down each of your points (and again, I can’t believe I have to explain this stuff):

“You can comply and spend,”

Thereby proving my point.

” you canfind a way around the regulation,”

Encouraging lawlessness isn’t the way to advance society.

” or you can close up shop and try to find a business that will allow you to make some money with having to spend any money……”

First, can’t be done. You cannot start up a business without spending money complying with regulations. Second, again you’re making my point. If regulations are so bad that your choice is to fold up shop, this nation is doomed.

That this has to be explained to you points to this nation’s demise.

md

July 20th, 2012
4:42 pm

“same point applies still, in your example, if it cost jobs in one and created them in another, isn’t that a zero sum gain(assuming a 1 to 1 relationship)”

An awful lot of assuming to get to that 1 for 1……..if A doesn’t increase demand at B, it’s a net loss.

Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed

July 20th, 2012
4:45 pm

“I thought our whole discussion was regulations can create jobs.”

No, stupid (and that is just a convenient shortening of your blog name – if you don’t like it, change it), YOU were making the point that regulations have a positive effect in creating jobs. I was pointing out that the positive effect you are relying on is negated by the negative effect of taking money away from a private firm to pay for those jobs.

Once again, a negative MUST occur before you get your additional job.

And again, that I have to explain that to you speaks volumes.

Some people are stupid

July 20th, 2012
4:45 pm

MD-
Not really, the regulation created the demand rememeber.(See SOX example)

It is just like any other law or rule on the books. If they passed a law saying all businesses must purchase the ajc, the demand was created by the law.

md

July 20th, 2012
4:46 pm

“You can comply and spend, you canfind a way around the regulation, or you can close up shop and try to find a business that will allow you to make some money with having to spend any money……”

Which is why our corps have 3 trillion dollars sitting offshore. Since the dems demand that they get 30% to bring it home, our corps have said OK, we’ll just ramp up our subsidiaries overseas……and that is what they are doing as it maximizes their capital……….

Dusty

July 20th, 2012
4:46 pm

Some people are stupid @4:31

I don’t think you “understood” that hiring people costs companies money at all. You had an idea that hiring a bunch of people would give the magic word “jobs”. Now you back off.

Not all small business owners start up with debt. The ones that do are probably the ones closing the business as their homes are being. foreclosed.

Our president is supposed to be running one of the largest countries in the world. I hope he isn’t trying to run it like a start-up in debt small business.

On second thought, that may be exactly what he is doing. I’m for shutting down his “business” before we are all in Chinese foreclosure.

md

July 20th, 2012
4:51 pm

“Not really, the regulation created the demand rememeber.(See SOX example)”

No….the regulation demanded that the corp increase it’s expenses to comply…..which does not equate to shipping that work elsewhere.

In your example, it is an increase in expenses…..a corp may keep all that in house or outsource some of it…..but remember, outsourcing it will cost corp A even more money….so in your example, B may get another job but A had to have a person do the new work AND pay for the new outsourcing……if A only has xx dollars to spend, it’s a net loss.

Some people are stupid

July 20th, 2012
4:51 pm

Tiberius-

1. Initial discussion on this blog is regulations hurting small business form hiring correct.
2. My point regulations can lead to jobs.
3. your point regulations cost the company
4. my next point the cost to the company is the income to the other.
5. Regulation has to happen before a job can be created.
6. My point, I have to spend money before a job can be created, so what the difference.
7. In conclusion- it’s the same thing. I see your point, my counter-point is money out whether from you or a company is still money out that goes to someone or something else. Your cost is still my income. In the end, the net sum is more than likely still the same.

(most companies employed auditors prior to SOX. The whole free market, who would you trust kind of thing, an audited report vs an non audited report. )

Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed

July 20th, 2012
4:51 pm

Off to engage in some commerce.

VOLUNTARY, UNREGULATED commerce.

Artful Observer...

July 20th, 2012
4:53 pm

Tiberius, Again, you are off base…..

Comply….Speaks for itself….
Find away around the regulation……
To the point someone made earlier about being fined $1200.00 for having a lamp plugged into and extension cord…. How about you removed teh extension cord and go right to the outlet. Or the one aout having a pond and needing the COE to come out and approve it…… Why not choose a location that DOES NOT HAVE A POND!!!!

And my third point….. Well starting and running a business is not easy and it is not supposed to be… If you do not have the will and or teh smarts to figure out how to do it and make a profit, then shutting your doors and going to work for the next guy might not be such a bad idea……

md

July 20th, 2012
4:56 pm

“So what would you say to all the small business owners who finance their start-ups with debt. Isn’t that money they don’t have/”

And that my friend is where Bain comes in :)

Some people are stupid

July 20th, 2012
4:57 pm

Dusty-
1. HUH??
2. When you purchase groceries, is that not an expense to you, is that not revenue to the grocery store. I’m pretty sure there are some errors in the second sentence that I don’t want to misinterpret so I will let you reword it so I can respond if you feel like it.

MD-
the regulation demanded that the corp increase it’s expenses to comply..

Ok, then if the work wasn’t shipped somewhere else or given to someone new, what is the expense?? This whole post was about financial so unless you are about to say time, you are completly off topic.

Some people are stupid

July 20th, 2012
4:58 pm

MD- LOL @ the Bain comment

Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed

July 20th, 2012
4:58 pm

“I see your point, my counter-point is money out whether from you or a company is still money out that goes to someone or something else.”

My final point is that the money out was taken by FORCE.

If you think that is a good thing, then heaven help this nation.

Some people are stupid

July 20th, 2012
4:59 pm

Tiberius-

Didn’t say it was a good thing.

md

July 20th, 2012
5:02 pm

“Why not choose a location that DOES NOT HAVE A POND!!!! ”

Ever been to south Ga?

And pond was never mentioned………we are talking “puddles”…..real honest to goodness puddles. In Atlanta, one wouldn’t think twice about it, in south Ga, it depends on what is growing in that puddle (atl too, but not as frequent). And the corp has to verify that the plants in the puddle aren’t the special ones or there aren’t enough special ones to worry about it…….bureaucracy at it’s finest…..

md

July 20th, 2012
5:04 pm

“Ok, then if the work wasn’t shipped somewhere else or given to someone new, what is the expense?? This whole post was about financial so unless you are about to say time, you are completly off topic.”

Of course it’s time……..the increased expense of paying for employees.

How Inciteful Is That!

July 20th, 2012
5:05 pm

In 2010, 25 of its [NFIB's] members, all Republican, were elected to the 112th Congress. A number of them, such as Rand Paul, Jeff Duncan, Paul Gosar and Kristi Noem, are affiliated with or endorsed by the Tea Party movement. The same year, the NFIB opposed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act health care reform legislation while some other small business advocates supported the measure.

Get real, Kyle.

Hillbilly D

July 20th, 2012
5:10 pm

In most cases, running a fan off an extension cord isn’t a good idea, regulation or not.

Thulsa Doom

July 20th, 2012
5:23 pm

“I thought our whole discussion was regulations can create jobs. Since you seem to have conceded that point…”

Perhaps regulations do create jobs- jobs that deal with pushing paperwork to comply with some bureaucrats fancy dictates. But in the end it comes back to basic economics 101. Spending money to comply with regulatory costs is an inefficient allocation of resources and economic progress is enhanced by higher and higher levels of worker productivity and the efficient allocation of scarce resources. Regulatory costs inhibit both. The problem is that most liberals lack basic economics knowledge and can’t understand this most basic tenet of economics.

Dusty

July 20th, 2012
5:24 pm

Err Mr. Stupid,

You were talking about a company hiring more people, not buying groceries. Hiring new employees adds another COST to the company, especially if the hiring is due to regulation,and not a need because of increased business.

Buying groceries puts money into an established business already set up to sell food products. Their prices are set for a small profit margin. If they hire some extras just because of regulations (AND NOT MORE CUSTOMERS) then they have lost money with no way to offset it. Just hiring new “help” at the store will not help unless you have MORE customers. When the small profit margin is gone, then the business will fail eventually.

I saw another small business announce its closing today. I don’t know what caused it but their profit margin is gone for sure and you cannot run very long without it..

saywhat?

July 20th, 2012
5:29 pm

@ 5:05- exactly. Its an easy and generally a bogus argument to berate information simply because of the source without looking at it in depth. In this case however, looking at it closely clearly shows multiple sources of bias, rendering the results useless for anything other than propaganda.

Just as useful would be a poll among known wife beaters asking what they perceive to be the biggest problem facing American women. Do they A) Talk too much, B) Think they know too much, or C)Not do what they are told fast enough?

Kyle Wingfield

July 20th, 2012
5:29 pm

Many of you seem convinced the NFIB members’ beliefs simply reflect their partisan leanings (I’m not sure it’s fair to describe all NFIB members as Republicans anymore than to describe all AARP members as Democrats, but let’s ignore that point for argument’s sake). But why would it not instead be that their partisan leanings reflect their beliefs?

If small-business owners really care about things like taxes and regulation, why wouldn’t they support the party that at least talks about doing things to help them in those areas (and sometimes follows through)? Why in the world would you expect an association of small-business owners who care about such things to be even-handed politically, when Democrats at the federal level show no signs of wanting to address their concerns in a meaningful way?

And if any of you know an equivalent association of small-business owners who tend to support Democratic policies, and want to cite a similar poll by them, then by all means, please do.

How Inciteful Is That!

July 20th, 2012
5:29 pm

EPA Boiler MACT

There are more than 1.5 million boilers in the U.S.

• For 86 percent of all boilers in the United States, these rules would not apply,
because these boilers burn clean natural gas at area source facilities and emit
little pollution.
• For almost 13 percent of all boilers in the United States, EPA’s standards would
continue to rely on practical, cost-effective work practice standards to reduce
emissions.
• For the highest emitting 0.4 percent of all boilers in the United States, including
boilers located at refineries, chemical plants, and other industrial facilities, EPA is
proposing more targeted revised emissions limits that provide industry practical,
protective, cost-effective options to meet the standards.
• Existing boilers would have three years to comply with these standards and can
obtain an additional year beyond that, if technology cannot be installed in time.
• Existing incinerators would need to comply no later than three years after EPA
approves a state plan or five years after the publication date, whichever is earlier.

• The proposed changes would cut emission of pollutants such as mercury,
particle pollution, sulfur dioxide, dioxin, lead, and nitrogen dioxide.
• These pollutants can cause a range of dangerous health effects – from
developmental disabilities in children to cancer, heart disease and premature
death.
• The proposed standards would have direct benefits to many communities where
people live very close to these units.
• Together, the standards will avoid up to 8,100 premature deaths, 5,100 heart
attacks, and 52,000 asthma attacks.
• EPA estimates that Americans would receive 12 to 30 dollars in health benefits
for every dollar spent to meet the proposed standards.

Those mean nasty wegulations are just killing our small businesses. Oh Woe is me.

Not So Casual Observer

July 20th, 2012
5:31 pm

The IRS offered tax preparers a tax preparer identification number sometime in the 1980’s or 90’s to allow them to replace thier social security numbers on the returns they prepared. A great idea I would say and at the same cost as a federal identification number for all businesses – nothing, nada, zero.

Along comes the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” and suddenly there is now a renewal fee currently set at $62.50 per year but, as in all things of government, this will rise as the cost of ObamaCare continues to increase. What, pray tell, does the id number have to do with health care? And this is simply one example of the many HIDDEN taxes imposed on the businesses to pay for this abomination of a bill.

The Democrats could not conceive of a bill that was an honest HEALTH CARE act that would pass without the imposition of reconciliation in the Congress.

There is not one problem in this country that is not the result of liberalism.

saywhat?

July 20th, 2012
5:34 pm

“Perhaps regulations do create jobs- jobs that deal with pushing paperwork to comply with some bureaucrats fancy dictates”
____________________________________________________________
Tell that to the engineers who designed and people who manufacture automobile seatbelts and airbags, or the equipment which help create healty food processing, etc. not to mention the benefits of not suffering the economic losses which result from irresponsible business behavior in the first place.

Kyle Wingfield

July 20th, 2012
5:34 pm

LOL. Inciteful chides me for citing a survey of small-business owners about what concerns small-business owners, because many of them are Republicans — and then uses talking points from an EPA press release to defend an EPA policy, even though it’s currently run by Democrats.

Tell you what: I’ll concede the folks at EPA really think they’re doing the right thing, if you’ll concede the NFIB members really believe what they say.

Thulsa Doom

July 20th, 2012
5:35 pm

saywhat?

NFIB has 350,000 thousand members according to wiki. And if so then the opinions of 25 Republicans out of 350,000 members who also happen to be NFIB members is negligible.

How Inciteful Is That!

July 20th, 2012
5:38 pm

Kyle,

Why don’t you try digging a little deeper into these regulations that you claim are of such concern to small businesses (whatever their definition of small business happens to be, amongst other things). I just gave you a little information on the boiler MACT that the partisan hack in the video on the NFIB website whined about as a starter. She also moaned and groaned about the horrid things that the Obama administration was doing to small businesses as a result of having to deal with tighter regulations for cement plants and for coal ash and greenhouse gases. Maybe you just don’t live downstream of a coal ash retention pond or downwind of an antiquated coal-fired boiler or cement plant so what concern should they be to you, huh.

Kyle Wingfield

July 20th, 2012
5:39 pm

The regulations-create-jobs crowd really needs to brush up on their Bastiat.

Thulsa Doom

July 20th, 2012
5:40 pm

saywhat,

Sure. You can find a handful of examples to bolster your argument and certainly some common sense regulations such as seat belts are a dang good thing. But burdensome regulations that add nothing to the particular good or service but which do incur a cost are simply an added cost or drag on economic output. Not all regulation is bad. But regulations that do nothing to enhance safety at a reasonable cost do nothing but add to the overall cost of a product or service.

saywhat?

July 20th, 2012
5:45 pm

Kyle- “And if any of you know an equivalent association of small-business owners who tend to support Democratic policies, and want to cite a similar poll by them, then by all means, please do.”

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/04/regulation-and-unemployment/

This opinion column( by a Republican no less) holds an opinion different than your own, and cites many other surveys and data. It even cites the NFIB poll you started with, though with a far different interpretation, including one provided by the Economic Policy Institute (which though it calls itself non-partisan, appears to be more liberal in its core ideology).

How Inciteful Is That!

July 20th, 2012
5:50 pm

What Republican could possibly support a regulation that requires 0.4% of those worst of the worst coal fired boilers to cut back on emissions of mercury and dioxin. After all, those things cannot possibly be harmful enough to warrant some poor small business expending money to clean up their act. Why don’t you pump those emissions straight into your own homes just to show us just how harmless those things are.

And as for your chart of concerned small businesses, it might be more believable if it included source data. You guys are into source data given all the “lies” and “deceit” that you have uncovered in the hacked e-mails from climate scientists, right. :roll:

Kyle Wingfield

July 20th, 2012
5:50 pm

Inciteful @ 5:38: Yes, you provided “information” — information that is rife with EPA’s opinion of its own new rule and its effects: “practical,” “cost-effective,” etc.

First, let me point out that 0.4 percent of 1.5 million is 6,000 — or 120 per state, on average. That’s 120 “refineries, chemical plants and other industrial facilities” in the average state whose boilers will probably have to be overhauled, replaced or retired; that’s not an insignificant number. EPA also estimates 1% of national electricity-generation capacity will be retired due to the rule, and that the average electricity bill will rise by 3.7%. EPA itself has estimated the rule’s total cost at about $11 billion per year. Your mileage on whether this is “practical” and “cost-effective” may vary.

How Inciteful Is That!

July 20th, 2012
5:52 pm

Y’all enjoy your weekend.

Not So Casual Observer

July 20th, 2012
5:53 pm

How…,

Would I be correct that you agree with the stated goal of Obama to crush the coal industry in this country?

How interesting that you chide small businesses for their “moaning and groaning” yet you imply that you live, or lived, downstream of a coal ash retention pond or downwind of an antiquated coal-fired boiler or cement plant, as if these businesses had an impact on your quality of life.

So was your home there when the businesses moved upstream or upwind of you, or did you move in without investigating the area?

Airports are not pleasant neighbors so would you then propose closing all of the airports?

Hospitals have emergency vehicles, with their lights and sirens, arriving at all hours of the day and night. Would you propose closing all of the hospitals out of respect for their residential neighbors?

Schools with hundreds of screaming children are a nuisance to some. Close those as well?

Liberals live in a dream world where everyting should be perfect for all and all of the time. In every good little liberal’s mind the government is the answer when in fact government is the problem. Government has an unquenchable thirst for money and liberals do not see this as a problem when, in fact, this thirst is the most crushing of problems for the citizens.

Thulsa Doom

July 20th, 2012
5:55 pm

saywhat,

You’re still not getting it. Regs that only add costs to a product or svc with no tangible net benefit such as a seatbelt regulation do not also raise economic output. All that is happening is that the cost of goods and services are being raised with no corresponding increase in economic output.

Not So Casual Observer

July 20th, 2012
5:59 pm

Seat belts are an excellent idea, however the imposition by government into the private lives of citizens through a law requiring seat belt use is a bad idea. Sure they save lives but we should seek freedom not surfdom.

I use my seat belt every time I drive and require those who ride with me to do the same. Those who ride with me have the option of an alternative ride. Government as your nanny is a bad idea.

saywhat?

July 20th, 2012
6:04 pm

TD, “tangible net benefit” seems to be a little subjective. Just because YOU fail to see the benefit of a specific regulation does not mean the benefit does not exist.(I admit that it doesn’t necessarrily mean a benefit DOES exist either). Read the Bartlett column from my 5:45

Dusty

July 20th, 2012
6:05 pm

How Inciteful 5:29

I wouldn’t know a boiler from a broiler. Nevertheless, we all want to live with fresh air, safe environment and clean water. Most of us know that getting that 100% is impossible.

It is good to try to improve such conditions but considering the cost of such regulations shows the impossibility for one thing. “Boilers” are but a drop in the bucket for “green” regulations. We need filters on every river, on every “smoke stack”, on every chemical plant or any that use chemicals. on every farm production, every medicine, every gas & oil producer, all building material, all machinery and automotives, and every drop of ocean water should be purified.

The government is not good at giving costs as they usually under estimate. I would say double any government estimate and start from there.

We have to limit the amount of money spent on unhealthy but interminable expenses, We must do the best we can with limited amounts. Too many problems, too many people, and not enough money.

Our government was made to govern a free people, not produce impossible miracles or sink a country with debt..Right now it seems government has forgotten its definition .

Hillbilly D

July 20th, 2012
6:06 pm

Having worked in the car business for years, I can tell you that seat belts, and air bags especially, drove up the price of a car. Not saying they are bad ideas but airbags are expensive. They are also have a 10 year life, which few people know but how many folks are going to spend $3-4K to change out airbags on a 10 year old car?

Lil' Barry Bailout - Vote American

July 20th, 2012
6:09 pm

Since we bloggers haven’t been able to satisfy the libtards by providing chapter and verse on the reasons small businesses are doing poorly during the Obozo regime, perhaps someone should take a poll of small businessmen.

Oh, wait, someone already did…

F. Sinkwich

July 20th, 2012
6:10 pm

“If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.”

–O’bozo, July 13.

I waited for Somebody all day today to set me up. Didn’t happen.

I’ll still wait tomorrow!

saywhat?

July 20th, 2012
6:11 pm

You think airbags and seatbelts are expensive? Price out a funeral, or multiply that by a factor of 10 to 50 for a closed head injury.

Thulsa Doom

July 20th, 2012
6:12 pm

saywhat,

I read the Bartlett column. His own column contradicts him because he states that only 13.9% of small businesses considered it a serious concern. Well 13.9% is a pretty good number and was the third biggest concern. We’re not talking peanuts here.

As I said there are some regs which are good and some which are just plain wasteful- some bureaucrat thinking up stuff to do to justify his job. Personally I would rather have some regulatory activity increased in beneficial areas and decreased in others. 2 quick examples- only 1 % of our seafood is inspected coming into the country. I would be all for increasing the number of inspectors to raise it to 5% or more of our seafood being inspected. On the other side I’ve seen the stacks and stacks of books waist high that govern banks. So much of it that even the regulators don’t understand it all. Didn’t stop the housing meltdown though.

Conversely you look at the Cayman islands where the regs to open a hedge fund is something like 30 pages and the regs for opening and running a bank are something like 100 pages. Simple- straightforward. And when’s the last time you heard of a Cayman island bank failing? They had no bank failures to my knowledge in the wake of the housing meltdown and wordwide recession of 07-08.

Hillbilly D

July 20th, 2012
6:14 pm

saywhat?

You missed my point. I didn’t say they weren’t regulations that we should have, I said they increased the cost of a car, which they did.

Lil' Barry Bailout - Vote American

July 20th, 2012
6:16 pm

You don’t compare the cost of an airbag directly to the cost of a funeral or the value of a human life. You compare it to the cost of a funeral or the value of a life multiplied by the chance of needing the airbag.

That calculation is not so clear cut.

Thulsa Doom

July 20th, 2012
6:18 pm

Hillbilly D,

Dang. I didn’t know they added that much to the price of a car. I’m a very defensive driver and have never had an accident. Come to think of it I would have passed on the airbags but not on the seatbelts. But I didn’t have the choice.

Hillbilly D

July 20th, 2012
6:21 pm

Thulsa

Yeah they are expensive and a lot of times they go off, when you really didn’t need them but I’ve seen them save people, too. You’ll still probably get hurt but much less severely. The airbag would be must less effective without the seatbelt, though. They’re designed to work together.

Thulsa Doom

July 20th, 2012
6:22 pm

saywhat,

For what its worth the 3 or 4 k saved on an airbag would be lots of money left over to buy an insurance premium that exceeds the cost of a funeral 10 to 50 fold depending on the insured. For example that 4 k saved over 8 years would amount to $500 a year or roughly $50 a month. $50 a month for someone in their 30s or 40s could buy a half million in life insurance.

Old Timer

July 20th, 2012
6:23 pm

Regulations increase “government” employment and stymie private investment.. Regulations are too costly for any business. The country functioned pretty well until along came the EPA, EPD and the mulitude of alphabet government regulations born in the 1960-70’s and later. Curently Obama is taking a page of Roosevelts administration which basically was a failure. The only thng tha t saved Roosevelt was World War II. Hopefully we won’t have a war to save Obama.

Lil' Barry Bailout - Vote American

July 20th, 2012
6:26 pm

Old Timer, if Romney had a lead on October 1, we’ll be bombing Iran.

Thulsa Doom

July 20th, 2012
6:27 pm

Lil Barry,

I think we could calulate it out. 45,000 of us each year die in accidents out of 300 million. Of course about 20k of those are alcohol related deaths that are preventable. So the odds of risk sound pretty easy to figure out. What I don’t know is how many more would have died without seat belts/airbags which I am guessing would be another 50,000 people at the minimum. Math probably isn’t that hard to do.

Hillbilly,

I forgot that they were designed to work together. I guess my cheapass probably would have just gone and ahead and splurged and got both anyway. Still woulda liked to have had the choice though as opposed to having it forced on me.

Lil' Barry Bailout - Vote American

July 20th, 2012
6:30 pm

Boston mayor vows to keep Chick-fil-A out of city
The Associated Press
—————————————

The Catholic church is next, no doubt.

Moon Mullins

July 20th, 2012
6:31 pm

“First get all the facts, then you can distort them as you please.”
~Mark Twain

Filter

July 20th, 2012
6:33 pm

SIX hours and not one of the brilliant posters here have taken up my challenge to put forth a list of ten small business/economy strangling regulations promulgated by the Obama Administration.

Not one.

Until next time

Thulsa Doom

July 20th, 2012
6:34 pm

One last thing on the harm that regulations can do that is unseen before its too late. Back in the 20s and 30s regulators did not allow for multi branch across states banking. Why? Because pols wanted to protect local banks from competition and didn’t want banks being run by big conglomerates from NY. So what happened in the 30s and during other times also? These small banks that were tied to the local economy such as a local bank in cotton country during the invasion of the boll weevil couldn’t withstand the depression or crop failings in local economies. Why? Obviously because they weren’t diversified. So during the 30s we had hundreds of not a few thousand bank failures. How many bank failures did Canada have during the same depression? None. Cause they had 10 large banks with 3,000 branches that were well diversified through many different local economies. So right there you have an example of well intended govt regulation that resulted in unmitigated disaster.

@@

July 20th, 2012
6:34 pm

BW:

You were being sarcastic? My bad. And please, NEVER learn to use those emoticon thingies. Hate those things.

AmVet:

Poor Boy, thanks for that info. I will look at it when I get a chance.

And please share your “thoughts” with us once you have.

schnirt

F. Sinkwich

July 20th, 2012
6:34 pm

“As I said there are some regs which are good and some which are just plain wasteful- some bureaucrat thinking up stuff to do to justify his job.”

Therein lies the problem.

Let’s say, for example, someone gets hired into the federal government as a “regulator.” Let’s further postulate that said new-hire, after a year, had concluded that no additional regulations were necessary, and therefore had proposed none.

Any of you lib ilks like to predict the outcome of this individual’s performance review?

Solution: Fire half of the regulator head count. Then, only the regs that were truly important would be debated.

F. Sinkwich

July 20th, 2012
6:38 pm

“SIX hours and not one of the brilliant posters here have taken up my challenge to put forth a list of ten small business/economy strangling regulations promulgated by the Obama Administration.”

Okay, fil, I’ll bite.

Lots a times it’s the regs that aren’t out there that are the most damaging to business, but are in the pipeline.

There are still more than 150 regs outstanding for Obamacare and over a hundred for Dodd-Frank.

Uncertainty abounds.

It’s a killer environment for business expansion.

But thanks for playing.

Thulsa Doom

July 20th, 2012
6:38 pm

Filter,

I just now saw your open challenge. I can’t speak for others but I know increased regulation has dragged my business down. Hasn’t put me out. Its just made life more difficult and a pain in the ass with extra compliance and rules.

But I did just provide an example of how regulation bankrupted hundreds of U.S. banks back in the 30s. You asked for 10. I gave you an example of several hundred in just one industry that went under due to regulation.

Hillbilly D

July 20th, 2012
6:39 pm

Thulsa @ 6:34

Yes but we’ve also gotten to see the downside of big banks, too.

As somebody wrote in the Vent the other day, “Give a man a gun and he can rob a bank; give a man a bank and he can rob the world”. :lol:

sirwinston

July 20th, 2012
6:42 pm

No matter what is said about the trend of small businesses, it started in the last 8 years with President Bushes and his administration lying to the American Citizens about Weapons of Mass Destructions or (WMD) which lead to wars that last for years. Then there were all of these unprofessional Real Estate Agents and Real Estate Companies, couple with these cheating and greedy banks making out mortgage to people who were lied to; could not afford home loans, etc., that got all of us into this great big mess that has ran over for years. Everything begun to fall when President Obama was running for office and when he took office. So none of this really has anything to do with him…..but he say, the bucks stop with him and he is dealing with it in a most professional manner. Now those of you who know what those big banks have done to you and your 401k, why are you still carrying around one or two of their bank credit cards in your possession? I am not stupid, I have not going to let someone rob me and then carry around their card and pay them for what they stolen from me. They made you and millions of others to suffer; took your home, cars, put on the streets, etc. I do without any of those banks credit cards, I am not going to be sucker into their arena, paying them back for years for something they actually owe me for. So all of these small businesses, don’t plan on getting back on top until you sit down and see what the banks have done for you on your behalf. then asked yourself, why can’t I qualify to get loan or build my small business, it is the greed that hamper and keep banks in business over your hard earn dollars that you make and can’t enjoy because yo have to pay it all back to them! Also remember this, Sadaum Husain, (excuse the spelling), and his two sons was killed for nothing because of the lies that was told about WMD in both of the Bushes President era.

Thulsa Doom

July 20th, 2012
6:44 pm

Hillbilly D,

No doubt. There are downsides also but I’ll take a bank that is going to stay in business over one that could fold with the latest crop failure. Besides credit unions is what I’ve always gone with even though I deal with a bank right now. Much friendlier than banks.

md

July 20th, 2012
6:45 pm

“They are also have a 10 year life, which few people know but how many folks are going to spend $3-4K to change out airbags on a 10 year old car?”

Hence the reason I had to “throw away” a car recently……the damage from the accident was repairable…..the cost of installing a new airbag sent it over the top………

Thulsa Doom

July 20th, 2012
6:49 pm

” Now those of you who know what those big banks have done to you and your 401k, why are you still carrying around one or two of their bank credit cards in your possession?”

Sorry but my bank has never done anything to me. Nor to my 401k which has nothing to do with them. Get off the W tirade. He is not in office anymore. Furthermore if you look at economic history typically the deeper the recession/depression the greater and steeper the recovery. Only under obama has this nation had such a poor, anemic recovery. And btw the recession officially ended 6 months into his presidency. That doesn’t explain poor economic performance for the 3 years after it ended.

md

July 20th, 2012
6:49 pm

“Price out a funeral”

Bad example……that one’s coming at some point no matter what…….

Thulsa Doom

July 20th, 2012
6:52 pm

” it is the greed that hamper and keep banks in business over your hard earn dollars that you make and can’t enjoy because yo have to pay it all back to them!”

We must come from 2 different worlds. In my world when you borrow money you pay back the loan. As for greed if the banks are that greedy don’t deal with them. The last bank loan I had was also at a reasonable rate. Its not as if I was dealing with titlemax sir.

MarkV

July 20th, 2012
6:52 pm

The question of business regulations is similar to the question of spending. With the exception of people too crazy to make a sense to debate with, it is not about whether there should be regulations, but which regulations. The conservatives usually hide beside such expressions as “as few regulations as possible,” which are essentially meaningless.

Thulsa Doom

July 20th, 2012
6:52 pm

I’m out. Ya’ll have a good evening.

yuzeyurbrane

July 20th, 2012
6:54 pm

Now is a small businessman like the small investor? Shorter than 5 ft.? I know. Bad joke. But a valid point. It is a cliche’ thrown around but who exactly do you include? And what is the source of your impressive chart? Its bonafides? Even your own analysis talks about feelings, not facts. The facts are that you are not going to increase production or your sales force if your current production is more than adequate to meet the demand. Yet all you and your ilk keep proposing is more tax breaks for the wealthy, excuse me, the “job producers” to make them feel more confident. What a bunch of illogical hooey. Kyle, stop tilting at the economics windmill—you show your intellectual shortcomings.

Libtard defined

July 20th, 2012
6:54 pm

A liberal who believes the government is the answer to your problems.

The Austrian Brotherhood

July 20th, 2012
6:54 pm

Kyle, which economist(s), living or dead, do you believe has the most credibility?

md

July 20th, 2012
7:05 pm

winston….those are some mighty fine excuses there, and I bet you have even more.

Can you show me just one person that was forced to buy a house? Just one will do.

As for the credit cards……you are aware that everybody’s rates went up in direct relation to the credit card bill passed by Obama….don’t you?

And filter, you can add that bill to your list of regulations……….

Filter

July 20th, 2012
7:28 pm

Thulsa,

I understand your point. My point, however, is that I hear an awful lot of scary talk about the Obama administration promulgating regulations that strangle business. So my question was narrowly presented to see if I could get a list of 10 of that specific type of regulation.

So far, outside of broad, general references to prominent bills like Dodd-Frank and the ACA I have had no takers.

I understand the necessity of political propaganda, but i do believe that if you are going to employ the propaganda it needs a specific basis in a core truth. From that core truth comes the propaganda message. Here it’s a self consuming “common knowledge” of which no one seems to have any specific, actual knowledge. People know the propaganda but they don’t understand the underlying basis. Therefore it’s just empty talk.

Another sort of related example is all the talk of “repeal and replace”. I get repeal, what is the replace. I have never gotten an intelligent response to that outside of broad generalities of “let the free market work”.

Michael H. Smith

July 20th, 2012
7:29 pm

While we are talking about conservatives making non-sense arguments on which regulations to keep perhaps one of these sanctimonious Marxist Fascist Socialist all government gurus can enlighten us on what isn’t regulated by the wunerful BIG FEDERAL GUB’MENT?

Oh and by the way, I can make a very sensible list of “specific regulations”. In fact, that list has already been written long ago by people far smarter than any of us and that includes you on the left. That list can be found in the United States Constitution Article 1 Section 8.

Enjoy your “enumerated” reading assignment liberals. :)

Michael H. Smith

July 20th, 2012
7:32 pm

Bet I’m not going to get any takers either on my question: What isn’t regulated by government?

MarkV

July 20th, 2012
7:34 pm

“Oh and by the way, I can make a very sensible list of “specific regulations”. In fact, that list has already been written long ago by people far smarter than any of us and that includes you on the left. That list can be found in the United States Constitution Article 1 Section 8.”

A nonsense par excellence.

Michael H. Smith

July 20th, 2012
7:39 pm

Free market?

If anyone finds it let me know where it is located, perhaps in a vacuum, some lab, or deep outer space?

Yeah I know, the phrase Free Market sounds good in talking points on fox news but so do fairy tales until you mature enough to face reality. The market is both manipulated business and regulated by government.

Samantha

July 20th, 2012
7:39 pm

We can’t be concerned about regulation. What difference does regulating business make since government and the workers are the source of all economic growth. Businesses are just parasites to be milked…err…taxed and kept under control.

How far we have fallen!!

Michael H. Smith

July 20th, 2012
7:42 pm

A nonsense par excellence.

Confession does the heart good but I’m not your priest and you have answered my question and you certainly cannot rebut my answer with that childish retort.

Michael H. Smith

July 20th, 2012
7:45 pm

correction….and you haven’t answered my question

Michael H. Smith

July 20th, 2012
7:51 pm

How far we have fallen!!

Oh about as far outside of the Constitution as you can get, thanks to the so-called progressives who have dismissed any idea of state and individual rights.

[...] Small firms say regulation is fastest-growing concern [...]

Rafe Hollister, suffering through Oblamer's ineptocracy

July 20th, 2012
8:10 pm

After reading all these comments, I think I finally figured out why there are only about 22% of the people in America, who ID themselves as liberals. I think a great deal of people, who would have sired liberals were previously killed by marauders.

Can’t you just see it now. Guy runs across a hill and says, run for your life, Hannibal is coming with 150 elephants and warriors. Conservatives run for the swamps. Liberals gather around and say, are you sure those were elephants and not big horses, are you sure about the 150 number, have you had your eyes checked recently? Be specific man!! I think that is too many elephants to have crossed the sea. Surely, the gov will protect us if this foolishness is real. What is your source for these lies? Are you anti-government? Why would they hurt us? Are they armed? Aren’t spears and arrows illegal? Whap!

Bruno

July 20th, 2012
8:25 pm

Are we officially off-topic yet??

For my old friend josef:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jg8jf9oTjw

Bruno

July 20th, 2012
8:29 pm

I was 21 years when I wrote this song…….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1Bl4BnU_NI

Bruno

July 20th, 2012
8:33 pm

I guess I’m just in a Simon & Garfunkel type of mood……

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lO9Ild2cvdg&feature=related

For @@ ^^^^^^^^

PlatinumBlack

July 20th, 2012
8:37 pm

Tonight I am playing the “What the heck does that lyric mean?” game:

I wanted to be with you alone
And talk about the weather
But traditions I can trace against the child in your face
Won’t escape my attention

http://youtu.be/NYx8IHJ9dWE

Bruno

July 20th, 2012
8:40 pm

Well, if we’re going with Tears For Fears, this one comes to mind. Must be the mood I’m in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96025-qG3C8&feature=related

Mr_B

July 20th, 2012
8:43 pm

Evening, Bruno. You are missed next door.

How Inciteful Is That!

July 20th, 2012
8:43 pm

PlatinumBlack

July 20th, 2012
8:45 pm

Bruno, your post inspires this one of me:

http://youtu.be/av11y3tm_ek

Bruno

July 20th, 2012
8:47 pm

Evening, Bruno. You are missed next door.

Hey, Mr. B, great to see you. I guess all good things must eventually end. Hope you and yours are well.

Put up a song for us.

Mr_B

July 20th, 2012
8:49 pm

Bruno

July 20th, 2012
8:50 pm

Mr_B

July 20th, 2012
8:51 pm

Damn! “You’re” not “your.” I’d ream a student for that one.

obozo

July 20th, 2012
8:54 pm

Happy ramadan!

allah akbar!

Wait, is moochelle eating pork? Again?

Mr_B

July 20th, 2012
8:55 pm

“Tenneco Automotive Operating Co. Inc. is a division of Tenneco Inc., a global transportation components manufacturer headquartered in Lake Forest, Ill., that has more than 80 facilities on six continents.”

Small business? I hope you’re being sarcastic.

PlatinumBlackAsTheDarkKNightRises

July 20th, 2012
8:57 pm

OK. While your in a Simon mood

Mr. B…

For thy tuneage, we gratefully thank thee.

PlatinumBlackAsAnneHathaway'sCatSuit

July 20th, 2012
9:00 pm

Do you have to smell my finger?

http://youtu.be/G6Kspj3OO0s

Bruno

July 20th, 2012
9:03 pm

So where are josef, TBS, JamVet and Reporter tonight??

Mr_B

July 20th, 2012
9:08 pm

Jamvet was here earlier: josef and TBS were next door.

josef

July 20th, 2012
9:10 pm

BRUNO

Thanks….tried to make a link, but I’m in moderation here, so going back home…

Bruno

July 20th, 2012
9:14 pm

Bruno

July 20th, 2012
9:15 pm

but I’m in moderation here

Thanks for trying, josef.

Bruno

July 20th, 2012
9:20 pm

Here’s the Coldplay song I was looking for:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIHZBKl7KPw

Confusion that never stops
The closing walls and the ticking clocks gonna
Come back and take you home
I could not stop, that you now know, singing

JDW

July 20th, 2012
9:21 pm

@tiberius…”Further, the Post goes on to say: “Still, it’s worth noting that the number of “economically significant” regulations — meaning those that are expected to have a positive or negative impact on the economy of at least $100 million — has increased from 126 during Bush’s last three years to 177 during Obama’s first three.””

Yep and since the net impact is less than in prior Republican Administrations Sunsteins statement is correct and your opinion is not.

PlatinumBlack

July 20th, 2012
9:27 pm

I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...

July 20th, 2012
9:27 pm

yosef- If you are in moderation, how would we see your comment?

Bruno

July 20th, 2012
9:33 pm

Got anything for us, Reporter. PB liked your Shaggy selection last week.

obozo

July 20th, 2012
9:33 pm

Cool, we’re exchanging tunes tonight!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Tz4bbqgge8

I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...

July 20th, 2012
9:36 pm

josef

July 20th, 2012
9:38 pm

REPORTER

It was the post where I made a link…I’m not a paranoiac on these things…

I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...

July 20th, 2012
9:40 pm

ok, yosef.

Whatever you say.

Bruno

July 20th, 2012
9:43 pm

josef–Send JamMan over, will you??

Bruno

July 20th, 2012
9:44 pm

Bruno

July 20th, 2012
9:48 pm

Wish I could afford to see these guys next week at Chastain:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dTBTeoS0MA

MarkV

July 20th, 2012
10:07 pm

Michael H. Smith @7:42 pm: “Confession does the heart good but I’m not your priest and you have answered my question and you certainly cannot rebut my answer with that childish retort.”

I was not answering any of your questions, and nonsense does not require any rebuttal, only derision.

Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed

July 20th, 2012
10:11 pm

Clearly, JDW, your reading comprehension skills are eroding even further than I thought.

There is NO WAY in the English language that you can construe that the net impact is less based on that statement. Obama has 50 more “economically significant” regulations than Bush did. Of AT LEAST $100 million in impact. There is ZERO possibility, given the usually negative impact of regulations, that anyone can conclude that the net impact is less.

Unless you’re severely deranged.

Are you?

Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed

July 20th, 2012
10:12 pm

Hiya, josef!

Just a reminder that there is a limit of one link per post over here at Kyle’s place.

native

July 20th, 2012
10:23 pm

Mr. Wingfield:

The decreased concern about sales may reflect the halting recovery we are enjoying. The concern over regulation may reflect the uncertainty of all of us about what our disfunctional government (both parties) may produce eventually.

Jason

July 20th, 2012
11:46 pm

My concern isn’t about regulation. It might be annoying but you can easily find an attorney or a consultant to walk you through what you need to know. What concerns me most is the out of control patent system. As the owner of a small IT company, I have no idea if any of the products we invent are covered by some obscure patent granted by the government to huge companies like Apple or an overseas corporation like British Telecom. They’ve been granted patents for all kinds of trivial ideas and have shown they’re quite willing to use them to squash anyone who gets in their way… or for that matter, anyone who earns a few dollars to which they feel entitled.

Patent searches are costly but even worse, almost impossible to incorporate into the day to day operations of a business. Almost any trivial process that a business engages in could be found to violate a patent in someone’s huge portfolio. It’s like dancing drunk through a minefield. Unless this is reformed, innovation will be squshed and many who would have otherwise invented the technology of tomorrow will be too intimidated to even bother.

j nes

July 21st, 2012
12:03 am

Mr. Wingfield,

You claim that “Small firms are generally credited with the bulk of job creation in this country.”

Have you ever bothered to substantiate this claim, or do you just take it as true because both sides of the political divide seem to repeatedly make this claim?

While small businesses are certainly important to the cultural and economic fabric of America, their impact as job creators is being completely misrepresented for political gain by both Romney and Obama.

Please educate yourself! Small businesses (those with fewer than 20 employees) account for 21.5 million employees; bigger firms employ close to 100 million American workers (from http://www.census.gov/econ/smallbus.html).

I invite you to visit politicdiscourse.com for more enlightening facts and opinions.

j nes

July 21st, 2012
12:22 am

If the census link does not work in the previous post, just google “census, small business employment.”

Look at the numbers. Even if you consider businesses with up to 100 employees as small, the larger firms still employ twice as many employees.

Jim H

July 21st, 2012
2:52 am

Kyle, Your effort to connect regs, sales, etc is virtually meaningless as are typical efforts by Repubs. For instance just what regs are involved that act as deterrents and would they apply across board to create deterrent effect? Just what taxes are you speaking off specifically that has the effect you claim? Are theses regs and taxes perceived or actual? How much of “fear” is result Repub misinformation? There is simply not enough hard data and way to many unknowns and variables to support your claims of some connection between these “fears.” Such claims affect your journalistic credibility. Jim
,

marko

July 21st, 2012
6:25 am

Many years years ago, the evil federal government , discovered that breathing coal dust is detrimental to the health of coal miners. Strict regulations were enacted to protect the miners from the life threatening consequences of exposure to coal dust. Today the scary sounding regulations are largely ignored. As a result, black lung is alive, well, and living in Kentucky.

Let’s assume business men find excessive regulations nearly as burdensome as drug dealers find our strict drug laws. the main difference being, we actually spend billions every year trying to enforce drug laws.

At some point it might occur to some of us that businesses aren’t growing because the middle classes have little disposable income left after meeting expenses.

Lil' Barry Bailout (Unexpectedly Revised Downward - Again)

July 21st, 2012
6:29 am

Jim, Kyle didn’t say that regulations are the fastest-growing concern of small business, or that taxes are as big a concern as sales.

Small business owners did.

Do you somehow know more about these businesses than do their owners?

Are we to substitute your wisdom for that of thousands of real Americans working in the real economy? That’s what your Klown Obozo wants to do–and the results are apparent in his 41 months of 8-10% unemployment, record numbers of folks on welfare, and annual $1.5 trillion deficits.

Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed

July 21st, 2012
7:51 am

j nes, you missed the point entirely (and Kyle omitted the operative word “new”).

Small businesses are responsible for the majority of NEW jobs, not total jobs.

And yes, that IS a fact.

Moon Mullins

July 21st, 2012
7:54 am

I agree with Gallager: you don’t need dam inspections. If your arse lives downstream from a dam, get your arse up there and inspect it yourself.

If you’re gonna eat meat, then you ought to make sure it’s clean.

You gonna drink water, make sure it come from a good well.

You gonna buy a car, crawl up under that bad boy and check ‘er out.

And, I could go on and on, but the fact of the matter is we have too damn many regulations and bureaucrats doing what we ought to be doing for ourselves. They didn’t have these dang regulations and inspectors back in the 19th century and if they were able to survive so can we.

You’re just too dang lazy sitting there on your comfortable couch waiting for your handout and for someone to taste your food for you. Man up and do it yourself.

Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed

July 21st, 2012
8:03 am

“Are theses regs and taxes perceived or actual?”

Every time I read a quote like this, I’m convinced that the people writing them have never owner nor operated a business in their lives, or simply live in a bubble in the middle of nowhere.

Get with it, people! This Federal government takes 1/3rd of your paycheck (those of you who actually earn one) each and every year, and they’d take closer to 2/3rds if they were charging you what it actually costs to run this country, and YOU DON’T THINK THERE ARE TOO MANY REGULATIONS OUT THERE?

What do you people think deficit spending is, for crying out loud?

So here’s the solution for you clueless people out there. No more ignorance! No more sitting back and getting stuff like clean air and water, and safe food and all the other things you love to tout about what government does for us – unless you pay for what they are actually worth.

No more deficit spending by this government in an attempt to hide it’s actual costs to the people who live off of this system. You want clean air and water – PAY FOR THEM! Increase taxes on everybody that enjoys these wonderful services at today’s cut rates of just 1/3rd of your paycheck. As of right now, we all pay the freight of this government at the going rate of 2/3rds of our paychecks – everybody – no exceptions!

Maybe then you’ll have a better appreciation of what all these regulations and costs are, and will stop this nonsense of “Are theses regs and taxes perceived or actual?”

The ignorance of the American public, largely in the form of liberals, is stunning in the extreme.

Jack

July 21st, 2012
8:04 am

The full implementaion of obamacare is the fastest growing concern for small businesses; and large businesses.

Jack

July 21st, 2012
8:05 am

Enter your comments here
implementation

JamVet

July 21st, 2012
8:19 am

…have been saying about the economy every day since then: It’s Bush’s fault, and the problem is a lack of aggregate demand.

BWAHAHAHAHAHA!

Run, Kyle, run!

Hide Kyle, hide!

You elected the worst president in modern American history.

Cataclysmic bad. Th eman who left office is disgrace with insanely low approval ratings. 18% by Independents!

And now you don’t like that aftermath of what you wrought. All this talk about personal responsibility is just that. Talk…

It’s OK, he’s gone, your party has been humiliated and the devastation is slowly ebbing.

And you neocons are going to watch as your RINO gets a second dose of your putrid medicine.

Enjoy this summer and fall, fake conservatives, because I sure am.

Off to do some good in my community, you guys spit and spew here though…

JDW

July 21st, 2012
8:34 am

@tiberius…”There is NO WAY in the English language that you can construe that the net impact is less based on that statement. Obama has 50 more “economically significant” regulations than Bush did. Of AT LEAST $100 million in impact. There is ZERO possibility, given the usually negative impact of regulations, that anyone can conclude that the net impact is less.”

Guesss your brain doesn’t process both positive and negative impact. However the fact check guys can handle it and the fact is the current administration has been less of a drag on business than either Bush.

Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed

July 21st, 2012
8:41 am

JDW, in the history of this nation, the ratio of regulations that have had a negative financial effect on business vs. a positive financial effect on business is something on the order of 20:1.

Even being generous in the extreme and cutting that in half, the negative impact of 50 more significant-level regulations would have cost American businesses over $4 billion.

Yes, you really are deranged.

How Inciteful Is That!

July 21st, 2012
8:58 am

This one certainly bears repeating and repeating…

Misrepresentations, Regulations and Jobs.

The Truth! Republicans can’t handle the truth. The truth goes against their unfounded claims. So Republicans will do what they know how to do. Deny. Obfuscate. Deflect. Give their opinion as though it were fact.

Kyle claims rightfully that 0.4% of 1.5 million is about 6000 but Kyle uses this deflection to skirt the more statistically significant 99.6%. Then he goes on to tell us about the horrors of a 3.7% increase in electricity bills as a result of stripping out the mercury and dioxin, etc., from those emissions. How much increase in healthcare costs are associated with those emissions. What value do Republicans place on health. I spent $1936 last year on electricity, Kyle. I can afford an extra $71.63 per year if those owners of the coal-fired boilers deem it necessary to pass on that to customers. Meanwhile, I paid $2727 for ex-employer subsidized health insurance in 2010 and now I am paying $3490, for less. That 28% hike is of more concern to me so go ahead and give me your opinion that the increase is due to ObamaCare or increased regulation (hint, it’s not.). :roll:

@@

July 21st, 2012
10:46 am

I see AmVet didn’t bother reading that 54 page memo, Poor Boy presented in his link.

Nor did AmVet offer any “new thoughts” he may have gleaned from having done so.

The Business Roundtable sent Team Obama a long memo about the various policies and regulations that were inhibiting growth back in June of 2010.

businessroundtable.org/news-center/business-roundtable-letter-to-the-white-house-on-policy-burdens-inhibi/

No surprise here!

AmVet @ 8:19You elected the worst president in modern American history.

Cataclysmic bad. Th eman who left office is disgrace with insanely low approval ratings. 18% by Independents!

schnirt

j nes

July 21st, 2012
11:20 am

Tiberius,

You sir, are missing the point.

Mr. Wingfield failed to support his point (because it can’t be supported) and then you did the exact same thing by writing, “Small businesses are responsible for the majority of NEW jobs, not total jobs. And yes, that IS a fact.”

Where is your evidence for this. I gave you evidence to support my fact. You give nothing. Just because you capitalize the word “IS” in your statement, you must think people will just accept your baseless claims, and in the world of political blogs, some will. But if you want to convince reasonable people, you have to use reason.

Class dismissed.

Dirty Dawg

July 21st, 2012
11:22 am

The Business Roundtable is an accumulation of the top 1% of the 1%…a group of fellow board members whose primary concern is that their ‘retained.earnings’ tax rates (or capital gains if you prefer) – AKA the money they make on exercising stock options, doesn’t go up. And furthermore all you said, Kyle, was that small business was ‘concerned’ about regulation…where’s the beef? What we’ve got here is the result of the ‘anti-branding’ campaign that the Repug (opposite of libtard) propaganda machine has devoted their entire existence to. They have managed to convince people that this administration, and specifically this ‘illegitimate’ President, is not only inept but evil as well. Perceptions in this instance is their reality…and you’re simply feeding it.

What I wonder is come Nov 7, and Obama’s re-elected, what are you gonna do then? You’ll no longer have the goal/motivation of keeping him from a second term, so what now? Impeachment? Worse? Cause we damn well know that Repugs will never agree to cooperate to accomplish something that might be ‘a good thing’…it just ain’t in em. Is it Kyle?

Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed

July 21st, 2012
11:40 am

j nes, the FACT that small businesses are responsible for creating the majority of new jobs is the point made by BOTH political parties. They both agree, and both cite the data to back up their common views.

You were just picking on Kyle for not including the word “new” in his post.

So, yes, j nes, you were right. However, you were off-target in trying to pin Kyle on a perceived error that was just a dropped word.

Do you feel better now?

Or do you need a hug, too?

md

July 21st, 2012
11:43 am

That link supplied for number of employees per business does not work, but it is wrong or one is reading it incorrectly to think only 21 million are employed in corps under 20 people. Last I checked, there were 20+ million single person corps alone, which would equal that number.

ragnar danneskjold

July 21st, 2012
11:43 am

Several of our leftist friends affirm that regulations “create” jobs. Frederic Bastiat wrote about that lunatic position more than 150 years ago – academia calls that misbegotten belief the “broken window fallacy.” A quick Bing search will educate those of you who believe in this perverted Obamaism.

Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed

July 21st, 2012
11:43 am

“What I wonder is come Nov 7, and Obama’s re-elected, what are you gonna do then?”

We’ll just suffer through the second Obama recession, Dirty Dawg.

Just like you will.

Because he has no plan to continue this weak recovery that is any different than his first, failed plan, and he has nobody around him capable of convincing him he has to work with a divided Congress, rather than campaign against them, which hasn’t worked, either.

Gina

July 21st, 2012
11:51 am

I work for a large fast food restaurant company. I remeber shortly after Obama being elected, being at an annual meeting and our CEO stating that because of fears of the Obama administration and what would happen to the economy, they were suspending the building of any new restaurants. They would do any repairs needed to existing restaurants, but save the companies money for the lean times they were expecting.

j nes

July 21st, 2012
11:54 am

Tiberius,

You are making the same mistake as Kyle WIngfield by accepting what both sides are saying about job creation without checking it out for yourself.

For the second time you have responded without any evidence to support your claim–besides the fact that politicians on both sides say its true and cite data. Well, what data? Show me the data and I will believe you.

Go do some homework and try again.

In the meantime you can read this article that does show small businesses are hiring at higher rates than big firms–but notice the author does not (and cannot) make the claim that they are hiring more workers than big firms…because they aren’t.

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-04-26/small-business-job-creation-is-stronger-than-we-think

Just because both sides say it does not make it a fact. Maybe you do not understand politics, but both sides have something to gain by convincing trusting fools like you that they are looking out for the little guy and small businesses.

j nes

July 21st, 2012
12:00 pm

md,

Nice try. But a single person firm is an independent agency that works for himself/herself. These people do not create jobs–they work for themselves.

There is potential for these people to grow a business and create jobs, but that is not usually their aim. They are just as likely to be hired by a firm–small or large.

Even if I were to grant that people who work for themselves are the product of small business job creation (which does not make sense), the numbers still favor big firms by 20,000,000.

md

July 21st, 2012
12:01 pm

Reading those numbers correctly, as of 2008 there were roughly 60 million employed by firms with less than 100 employees……….

md

July 21st, 2012
12:04 pm

“Nice try. But a single person firm is an independent agency that works for himself/herself. These people do not create jobs–they work for themselves”

Sorry, but one has to count them as one “job”…….they close their business, they count as an “unemployed”…….so the potential of unemployed would be another 21 million…..

j nes

July 21st, 2012
12:11 pm

Right, but I thought we were talking about job creators. Independent workers are not considered the small businesses that politicians are claiming contribute to so much job creation.

j nes

July 21st, 2012
12:13 pm

md,

Do you consider a company with 99 employees a “small” business?

md

July 21st, 2012
12:14 pm

“Right, but I thought we were talking about job creators.”

We are……it matters not where that one job is created, it is a net gain. A good business climate without hindering regulations would also boost the increase of these single person entities, hence more job “creation”.

Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed

July 21st, 2012
12:21 pm

j nes, if you think you’re going to make a living wordsmithing every post you don’t agree with on this site, think again.

Small businesses create more new jobs than big businesses – period. Republicans agree. Democrats agree. Just about everybody on the planet agrees – except you.

Ever think about why that is?

j nes

July 21st, 2012
12:22 pm

md,

I could be wrong but it seems like you and others are making the case that small businesses (and I will include those who work for themselves as small businesses) are creating more jobs than big firms. I think the evidence disproves this, but I want to move on to a more important point.

If the claim is true that small businesses (however you want to classify them) are creating so many more jobs than big firms, wouldn’t that defeat the other claim that regulations are killing the job creators.

You can’t have it both ways.

j nes

July 21st, 2012
12:24 pm

Tiberius,’

What I think about is why you choose not to prove what you believe with anything besides the “everyone else is doing it” defense.

Lemming.

j nes

July 21st, 2012
12:28 pm

Everyone once believed in a geocentric universe too.

md

July 21st, 2012
12:30 pm

“Do you consider a company with 99 employees a “small” business?”

Now that depends on what one is comparing it to…..compared to one with 5-10, no…..compared to one with 500+, definitely yes.

Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed

July 21st, 2012
12:36 pm

“If the claim is true that small businesses (however you want to classify them) are creating so many more jobs than big firms, wouldn’t that defeat the other claim that regulations are killing the job creators. ”

You didn’t pass any logic courses when you were in school, did you, j nes?

Your question doesn’t take into effect what could be created if regulations were not hindering job creation.

Oh, and since you still insist on remaining ignorant about the job creation aspect of small businesses, this link to the SBA probably won’t interest you (found it in 30 seconds, btw). Oh, and be sure to NOT look at bullet points 2 and 4 under Item #2. You wouldn’t want to learn anything.

Class dismissed.

md

July 21st, 2012
12:38 pm

“If the claim is true that small businesses (however you want to classify them) are creating so many more jobs than big firms, wouldn’t that defeat the other claim that regulations are killing the job creators. ”

Right now, there isn’t much “creating” going on by anybody…..hence the stagnant unemployment numbers.

As for those regulations…..the aca does play a huge role when people really have no idea how it is going to effect the bottom line…..smart people have a tendency to plan for the unexpected, especially when their very survival depends on it (vs a gov’t that just takes more if it needs it).

It could be a regulation as simple as the credit card bill passed by the dems. The bill caused everybody’s rates to rise, including those of small business owners. To them, it is merely an increase of expenses…..which may take away just enough capital to hinder the hiring of another employee, or even cause one of those single person entities from being created if that person was counting on a credit card as part of their capital flow……….

Dirty Dawg

July 21st, 2012
12:43 pm

Hey tiberius…somehow I can’t imagine ‘you people’ (to borrow an expression) just ’suffering through’ the next Obama administration. My bet is that they’ll (aka you) resolve to engage in as much obstructionism as you have over the last three-plus. You’ve heard the old story of four guys that played golf religiously every Saturday, until one day one of the members dropped dead on the fourth hole. Later the survivors were responding to words of sympathy from others with, ‘Yes it was terrible about ‘Ol Charlie’. I mean it took us six hours to finish’ cause after the fourth hole it was hit the ball and drag Charlie.’. Not that Republicans actually died, although for practical purposes they might as well have, but for these three and a half years it’s been ‘Hit the ball and drag the Republicans.’. Its a wonder there’s been any progress at all.

Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed

July 21st, 2012
12:44 pm

Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed

July 21st, 2012
12:46 pm

” My bet is that they’ll (aka you) resolve to engage in as much obstructionism as you have over the last three-plus.”

Your point, Dirty Dawg?

Why wouldn’t the Republicans try to obstruct that which is destroying us and has proven to be ineffective? That is the epitome of the role of the opposition – don’t allow the other guy to make things worse.

md

July 21st, 2012
12:58 pm

“Not that Republicans actually died, although for practical purposes they might as well have, but for these three and a half years it’s been ‘Hit the ball and drag the Republicans.’. Its a wonder there’s been any progress at all.”

A bit like Bush trying to reform Fannie and Freddie huh?

Amazing how that info is also on google, but those on the left refuse to acknowledge the fact and it very well may have help avoid the collapse in 2008 altogether……..

Funny how things work huh?

j nes

July 21st, 2012
1:09 pm

Tiberius,

I was almost proud of you. But you forgot the link. You are so close to supporting a claim with evidence. Don’t quit now!

Jim H

July 21st, 2012
1:14 pm

Kyle has simply thrown up graph he likes with no supporting data to back up what he then claims. Tiberius I am now 68 and ran small business for many years. Interesting article about student loans in AJC. Despite Barclays, student loans, JP Morgan, housing collapse, two unjustified wars, and Bain many just cannot wait for another dose. What is it Tiberius that you specifically object to. Please give specifics not unsupported conclusions and rhetoric like Kyle. Look forward to civil exchange on issues. Jim

Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed

July 21st, 2012
1:24 pm

“What is it Tiberius that you specifically object to.”

Jim, if you actually READ my post, it is entirely clear what I object to. For anyone to state as you did shows incredible ignorance. Not only that, naivete. What do you think you’re paying for, Jim? More importantly, what do you think you’re NOT paying for?

Again, instead of running up deficits each year, let’s just adjust the taxes on EVERYBODY so that all that clean air and water, safe food, security and entitlements actually get paid for? And since it’s roughly double what we’re paying today, instead of just taking 1/3rd of your paycheck, let’s make sure we take 2/3rds of it.

Maybe if you everybody actually stated contributing their fair share of what all this costs, you might not keep whining for more of it.

md

July 21st, 2012
1:53 pm

For those that doubt Bush tried to stop the housing meltdown only to be denied by the democrats, I had to look around a bit for some info that those on the left wouldn’t automatically poo poo the source.

This link to the NY Times (that bastion of conservative thought) spells it out:

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/11/business/11LEND.html?ei=5070&en=f31e9de1e37a3180&ex=1221969600&pagewanted=all&position=

But we all know what happened……obstructionism at it’s finest……….

Mr_B

July 21st, 2012
1:54 pm

The real problem with Kyle’s analysis is that the three “problems” that he cites are not independent variables. Let’s assume that the study cited was in fact a legitimate exercise and not merely a sort of sophisticated push poll along the lines of “Do you think that Obamacare is A) threat B) menace C) unconstitutional power grab; the answer that any respondent gives will alter his perceptions of the other two. For instance, if the respondent chooses “regulations,” his response to low sales is necessarily less, and vice versa. A more valuable way of looking at the question would be to ask small business owners to rate each segment individually, without regard to the other two. Maybe set the questions with a sliding 1-10 scale.

Also, if small business is less worried about sales (revenue); isn’t that a good thing

md

July 21st, 2012
1:58 pm

And folks can poo poo this source all day long if they wish, but it won’t change the underlying numbers one iota:

“Rove said Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac “accelerated their imprudent behavior after we attempted to regulate them. They bought almost as much mortgage debt from 2005 through 2008” as they bought in their first 30 years of their existence.”

Could we have stopped the meltdown? You decide………

Michael H. Smith

July 21st, 2012
2:15 pm

Reining in the Obama Administration’s Regulatory Agenda

The bureaucracy should serve, not rule the people. As Ranking Member of the EPW Committee, Senator Inhofe oversees activities at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other energy and environmental agencies under the Obama Administration. While regulations are needed to protect the environment and ensure clean air and water, Senator Inhofe has fought against regulations that destroy jobs, raise energy costs for consumers, and provide no meaningful environmental benefits. The following is a list of the regulations Senator Inhofe challenged, several of the initiatives he led to beat them back, and efforts to highlight the Obama Administration’s overreaching bureaucracy:

http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Issues.View&Issue_id=87c1303a-7e9c-9af9-7d81-37771c380b87

I’m quite sure the resident Marxist Fascist BIG GUB’MENT Socialist who never fail to disagree completely with anything Kyle has to say would find every obumer regulation Senator Inhofe fought against as totally unjust and costly to small business.

Michael H. Smith

July 21st, 2012
2:34 pm

Regulatory Tidal Wave

The next four years could bring a tidal wave of more than 4,100 regulations for the American economy. Regulations in the pipeline are estimated to cost the economy more than half a trillion dollars.

http://www.sensibleregulations.org/resources/stop-the-tidal-wave-regulations/

Michael H. Smith

July 21st, 2012
2:39 pm

NFIB Small Business Coalition Launches Nine-State Effort to Stop President Obama’s Regulatory Tidal Wave

Concerns Mount over 4,100 Regulations Pending in Washington That Could Cost More than Half a Trillion Dollars

WASHINGTON, July 18, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The next four years could bring a tidal wave of costly federal regulations impacting U.S. businesses and consumers, according to new analysis by the National Federation of Independent Business’ coalition, Small Businesses for Sensible Regulations. There are currently 4,128 federal regulations in the pipeline which, if implemented, will impose costs of more than $515 billion on the U.S. economy.

“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,” said Susan Eckerly, Vice President of Public Policy for the NFIB.

Over the past four years, regulations have cost American businesses and taxpayers more than $138 billion, according to NFIB’s analysis of the Office of Management and Budget’s semi-annual regulatory agenda and a recent report by the Heritage Foundation. NFIB estimates that regulations under consideration in Washington could cost more than a half trillion dollars when implemented, quadrupling the cost of regulations finalized during the previous four years…

Poll after poll demonstrates that regulatory burdens are a top reason why small businesses are not hiring at pace with previous years. In fact, a Gallup poll earlier this year found 85 percent of small businesses surveyed weren’t hiring, and about half cited government regulations as the reason.

Last year, Small Businesses for Sensible Regulations along with the National Federation of Independent Businesses sent an open letter to President Obama proposing five commonsense principles to help reform the regulatory system. They include: 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.

http://uspolitics.einnews.com/pr_news/105928672/nfib-small-business-coalition-launches-nine-state-effort-to-stop-president-obama-s-regulatory-tidal-wave

Bye for now.

JDW

July 21st, 2012
2:45 pm

@Tiberius…”FACT that small businesses are responsible for creating the majority of new jobs is the point made by BOTH political parties. They both agree, and both cite the data to back up their common views.”

Of course they, like you usually, are wrong. It’s not small it’s NEW businesses that create the jobs.

http://econweb.umd.edu/~haltiwan/size_age_paper_R%26R_Aug_16_2011.pdf

JDW

July 21st, 2012
2:54 pm

@Tiberius…”JDW, in the history of this nation, the ratio of regulations that have had a negative financial effect on business vs. a positive financial effect on business is something on the order of 20:1.”

So speketh Tiberius :roll: of course the rest of us know you just pulled that out of your….oppps forgot that’s where you keep your brain.

ncgreybr

July 21st, 2012
3:27 pm

I run a small retail store. Have run it for the past 12 years. What new “regulations” are there that haven’t been here in the past 12 years? I can’t think of any off hand! Where are all these neew taxes that I’m drowning under?
The only thing that keep me down is people coming in and whining about Obama and then not spending money. I’ve actually had people say “Don’t bother waiting on me. I’m not planning on spending a cent until Obama is out of office. I don’t plan on doing anything to help the economy! When I said “That’s certainly not a very patriotic attitude!” I was told “Tough Sh%t!”

The attitude I see from the Republican customers and my Republican friends (and especailly Congress) is that they wiill do ANYTHING to bring Obama down, including distroy the economy and ultimately America in the process (and blame it on Obama).

JDW

July 21st, 2012
3:34 pm

@ncgreybr…”The only thing that keep me down is people coming in and whining about Obama and then not spending money”

AMEN…the Party of No PR machine is the biggest drag going.

Lil' Barry Bailout - Vote American

July 21st, 2012
3:45 pm

How Inciteful Is That!: I paid $2727 for ex-employer subsidized health insurance in 2010 and now I am paying $3490, for less.
—————————–

Why didn’t you keep your health care plan? Obozo said you could. Either you messed up badly, or Obozo lied.

Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed

July 21st, 2012
4:13 pm

JDW conveniently leaves out the link the the SBA I provided. The SBA, of course, is also known as the Small Business Administration, an arm of the U.S. Government, and one that would, you know, actually KNOW about the number of new jobs small businesses create.

Ooops! :roll:

Facts are such troublesome things, even when they have to be handed to liberals.

JDW

July 21st, 2012
4:42 pm

@Tiberius…”Facts are such troublesome things, even when they have to be handed to liberals.”

Especially “facts” that have been debunked by actual research…say just the kind of stuff in my 2:54 link.

dabir dalton

July 21st, 2012
4:44 pm

If that is the case Kyle then conservative pundits like yourself and small business owners need to be honest and forthright enough to point out which regulations are causing the problems and why so that they can be fixed or discarded. Otherwise all you and the small business owners are doing by whining about regulations is making yourself look like your above the rules the rest of us must play by – that you don’t care if people die from eating tainted food like peanut butter simply because the regulations put into place to prevent tainted food from reaching the average persons table is an impediment to getting making money.

ncgreybr

July 21st, 2012
4:45 pm

Tiberius…one of the flaws of the system is that my store is considered a “small business” but so is Dekalb General Hospital (or whatever it’s called nowadays) with it’s hundreds of employees is also a “small business”.

JDW

July 21st, 2012
4:49 pm

See Tiberius your problem is you don’t think…the sba says “small business generated 65 percent of net new jobs over the past 17 years.”. That leads to folks like you waving the banner for local small business, which is important but does not drive job growth.

As the research shows what drives job growth is NEW businesses which are by definition s
“small” for a time then GROW into large companies…think Google and Facebook.

Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed

July 21st, 2012
4:50 pm

“It’s not small it’s NEW businesses that create the jobs.”

JDW, it is really embarrassing debating you when you come up with nonsense like this.

Of course, every NEW business is a BIG business, right?

No, JDW, every new business is a SMALL business. Ergo, small businesses create the majority of new jobs.

And of course, the SMALL BUSINESS Administration (you know, the people who actually know small businesses) are really considered the experts to consult on these figures.

Not some obscure white paper by some liberal hacks.

“It’s not small it’s NEW businesses that create the jobs.” :lol: :lol: :lol: What a maroon!

Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed

July 21st, 2012
4:51 pm

“that you don’t care if people die from eating tainted food like peanut butter simply because the regulations put into place to prevent tainted food from reaching the average persons table is an impediment to getting making money.”

Oh, holy crap! Not this nonsense again. . . :roll:

JDW

July 21st, 2012
4:52 pm

so one of the issues with focusing on “small business” regulations is that they really don’t Impact job growth. You want to drive grow…focus on funding…think 1990’s.

JDW

July 21st, 2012
4:56 pm

@Tiberius, as I have noted before, a large part of our problem is people like you that can’t process information that challenges your closely held opinions.

ncgreybr

July 21st, 2012
4:59 pm

It was just pointed out to me by an employee that, here I am, living in ignorant bliss, while everyone else is getting hit but unbearable regulations, I am not!

Someone! Please tell me!

Kyle! Please! What are these unbearable regulations that the Obama administration has put into effect that is going to kill my retail business? I feel them pressing on my shoulders but can’t see them!

Wait! That was just gas…..

JDW

July 21st, 2012
5:05 pm

O’ BTW tibeius…i wouldn’t exactly call work by The University of Maryland and The Bureau Economic Research

An” obscure white paper by some liberal hacks.”

/www.nber.org/

Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed

July 21st, 2012
5:11 pm

“people like you that can’t process information that challenges your closely held opinions.”

Really, JDW? You’re going to put up a liberal white paper against the Small Business Administration?

Who can’t process information, son? You’re an embarrassment to liberal across America.

But entirely typical.

JDW

July 21st, 2012
5:17 pm

@tiberius…you must be too dumb to find the link. Psssst…the sba gets a lot of its research from the nber and dumbs it down into sound bytes that folks like you inverably misinterpret.

How Inciteful Is That!

July 21st, 2012
5:22 pm

Why didn’t you keep your health care plan? Obozo said you could. Either you messed up badly, or Obozo lied.

I did keep the same healthcare plan. They just continue to charge more while delivering less and President Obama is not the problem. So your “either or” construct is woefully inadequate.

JDW

July 21st, 2012
5:30 pm

@Tiberius…since you can only process sound bytes I dumbed down for you…

“Haltiwanger and two other economists showed, in a study of 32,000 companies over 30 years, that small businesses no more than 5 years old — that’s about 40% of them — are the only ones that create more jobs each year than they cut.
In 2005, for instance, more than 99% of the 2.5 million net new private-sector jobs in the United States came from these start ups”

It’s not your local dry cleaner, Restaurant or retailer that creates the jobs. Wasting time in that segment is the problem…you want to foster growth…it’s the funding stupid.

Bruno

July 21st, 2012
5:36 pm

Because he has no plan to continue this weak recovery that is any different than his first, failed plan, and he has nobody around him capable of convincing him he has to work with a divided Congress, rather than campaign against them, which hasn’t worked, either.

Just a gambler’s hunch, Ti, but I believe the average American has grown tired of Obama’s Villains and Victims finger-pointing shtick. At some point, results matter. There’s no doubt that Obama inherited a difficult situation, yet even less doubt that all of the deficit spending has made the hole far deeper.

Bruno

July 21st, 2012
5:39 pm

Everyone once believed in a geocentric universe too.

Obviously j nes doesn’t know much about Astronomy or Einsteinian Relativity either……

Bruno

July 21st, 2012
5:47 pm

“Don’t bother waiting on me. I’m not planning on spending a cent until Obama is out of office. I don’t plan on doing anything to help the economy!

Is it just me, or does ncgreybr sound like he’s full of crap?? I’ve never heard anyone of either political stripe mention politics while deciding whether to spend money in a small retail store. Sounds like projection to me…..

kelly

July 21st, 2012
5:57 pm

I don’t know who this survey actually surveyed, but ALL my friends in business cite the same concern – and it isn’t regulations. It’s lack of customers. But regulations are a concern; mostly state and local that take the biggest toll, and the most unreasonable to resolve.

ncgreybr

July 21st, 2012
6:27 pm

Sorry, Bruno! People look at me and think because I’m a business owner, I’m a Republican and think the way they do and begin spouting off against Obama. If they’re spending money. I just let them run their mouths. If they’re not spending money, I put them in their place. I’ve had more than one guy come in with the “How are you even staying in business with Obama trying to close all the small businesses around the USA right now?” They hear this crap on the radio and don’t think to question any of it, they just repeat it.

When they ask that, I give them the “Yeah! That’s why he’s funneling billions into the Small Business Administration, to put them out of business.” I usually get a “Duh…Huh?”

I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...

July 21st, 2012
6:47 pm

The Small Business Administration doesn’t fund anything. All they do is assume the debt when the loan fails.

Kinda like the Housing Bubble the libs created that wiped out the economy.

Nice try, however.

Bruno

July 21st, 2012
6:51 pm

ncgreybr–From one businessman to another, I hope things improve for you. We’re all in this thing together.

I can’t doubt your experiences, but I’ve yet to meet anyone who is rooting against the country doing well based on who the leader is, however. I’d rather do well under a leader I couldn’t stand then poorly under a leader I liked. I have to believe that I’m not unique in that sentiment.

Bruno

July 21st, 2012
6:52 pm

Bruno

July 21st, 2012
6:55 pm

Kinda like the Housing Bubble the libs created that wiped out the economy.

Reporter–Everyone from the top to the bottom, both Democrat and Republican was responsible for the mortgage meltdown. Everyone from greedy, dishonest bankers to greedy, dishonest consumers. We’re all to blame.

Bruno

July 21st, 2012
6:56 pm

I dedicate the next one to Obama’s re-election campaign:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3p_xAToFzck&feature=related

Dusty

July 21st, 2012
7:05 pm

JDW

Where did you get your degree in Pomposity? Did they take you as seriously as you take yourself?

I suggest you get a billboard so the world can know of your great glory. Shakespeare put it so nicely:

Glory is like a circle in the water,
Which never ceasth to enlarge itself,
‘Till, by broad spreading, it disperse to nought.

.

Bruno

July 21st, 2012
7:08 pm

“Yellow Brick Road” was an awesome album, all except for the title track. “Grey Seal” kicks some major butt:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsozyGR6Eo4

MarkV

July 21st, 2012
7:10 pm

Dusty,

I can see that you have a problem with somebody citing facts. Not that it would surprise me.

Bruno

July 21st, 2012
7:12 pm

Dusty–How’s this for some poetry??

Tune me in to the wild side of life
I’m an innocent young child sharp as a knife
Take me to the garretts where the artists have died
Show me the courtrooms where the judges have lied
.
If I was an artist who paints with his eyes
I’d study my subject and silently cry
Cry for the darkness to come down on me
For confusion to carry on turning the wheel
.

And each day I learn just a little bit more
I don’t know why but I do know what for
If we’re all going somewhere let’s get there soon
Oh this song’s got no title just words and a tune

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRw2EROYGNM&feature=related

Bruno

July 21st, 2012
7:15 pm

Bruno

July 21st, 2012
7:21 pm

Bruno

July 21st, 2012
7:24 pm

Bruno

July 21st, 2012
7:34 pm

JDW

July 21st, 2012
8:00 pm

@dusty…”Where did you get your degree in Pomposity”

Didnt need a degree…only thing I need is myopic folks like you and Tiberius to unleash the beast.

Wildanter

July 21st, 2012
9:34 pm

There is PLENTY if not more State and local regulation, enacted these last few years by republican lawmakers that are just as much as a hinderance. Don’t raise taxes, but raise as many fees and put up as much red tape as possible. Same thing as far as I am concerned.

Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed

July 21st, 2012
10:18 pm

Don’t mind JDW, Dusty.

He just hates being shown up as being wrong in public.

RW-(the original)

July 21st, 2012
10:42 pm

The title track from Yellow Brick Road was just fine. It was Benny and the Jets that sucked…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In my little corner of heaven, where we could outvote and dictate to Hillbilly D if we wanted, most everybody I run into is against the upcoming tsplost, but yesterday I ran across an outcropping of signs in support. Those folks had the cutesy green “untie Atlanta” signs everywhere so I suppose they were just citizens concerned about traffic. I’m sure the fact that they are also one of the country’s largest concrete concerns had nothing to do with it.

Bruno

July 22nd, 2012
1:45 am

It was Benny and the Jets that sucked…

Well, probably not a big “Benny” fan either, RW…….. ;-)

jezel

July 22nd, 2012
7:20 am

With the high cost of oil, the outrageous price of health care and the fact that wall street and the banks have made off with people’s life savings….It appears that no one has been doing any regulating.

Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed

July 22nd, 2012
7:39 am

Spoken like a true liberal, jezel.

With a complete and total disregard of the facts.

JDW

July 22nd, 2012
8:08 am

@Tiberius…”He just hates being shown up as being wrong in public.”

The next time you accomplish that feat will be you first.

JDW

July 22nd, 2012
8:09 am

Your..iPad typo

Skip

July 22nd, 2012
8:11 am

I don’t think facts mean what you think they mean.

JDW

July 22nd, 2012
8:52 am

@skip…”I don’t think facts mean what you think they mean.”

:lol: :lol: I see you have met Tiberius.

Michael H. Smith

July 22nd, 2012
10:11 am

Tiberius – pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed

July 21st, 2012
10:18 pm
He just hates being shown up as being wrong in public

Perhaps brucie shouldn’t show-up in public Tiberius. :lol:

Michael H. Smith

July 22nd, 2012
10:18 am

You got to love this pathetic line of defense that not supporting obumer and not going out on a spending spree just to make the economy good for obumer’s re-election is UNPATRIOTIC!

Yeah, right… Is that the way things worked for all those on the socialist left when Bush was President? :roll:

CDC

July 22nd, 2012
10:24 am

This country is now at the point where regulation barely exists… but as long as someone gets their money no matter what they do it’s all OK. The new American way! Have no respect for the nation… just your own wallet.

jezel

July 22nd, 2012
10:26 am

Gee Tiberius…thought I was Republican…a real one with an understanding of the role of government as explained in the Federalist Papers.

The facts are: oil companies are oligopolies who conspire to set prices rather than allow the laws of supply and demand to dictate the cost. Medical cost are out of reach of many Americans because there is limited competition. And we all know competition brings prices down and improves quality. It is also a fact that my 401k is not doing very well at all. Our banking system is on the ropes from lack regulations…not from being over regulated.

So we throw the word liberal and conservative around like that can explain our countries predicament. Wish it was that easy.

Michael H. Smith

July 22nd, 2012
10:35 am

Truth is Kyle, when you have so many regulations that not one area of your economy or of your life itself for that matter that isn’t regulated in some shape, form or fashion by the government then it should be obvious to any sane liberty loving mind that we have too many regulations, not too few.

It is time to peel back the layers of government overreach and find what works and what doesn’t, keep what we really need and get rid of what we can do better without. Of course, after the Supreme Court ruling on obumercare, which gave the federal government unlimited powers to regulate everything, it is going to be nearly impossible for this government to exercise regulatory prudence with that much unbridled power.

Michael H. Smith

July 22nd, 2012
10:41 am

And we all know competition brings prices down and improves quality

Let me know when you find that kind of competition inside this country but please don’t say where you found it very loudly because some corporation will have their lobbyist on the phone to Congress for another regulation to kill that kind COMPETITION.

Monopolies are unquestionably bad, any regulation that permits one to exist is the only thing worse.

jezel

July 22nd, 2012
10:43 am

With all the smart people writing comments. Would like to pose a question? Just what is the role of government?

Michael H. Smith

July 22nd, 2012
10:57 am

Just what is the role of government?

Which level federal, state or local if you want details?

But as a rule of thumb the Declaration of Independence made it very clear why governments were instituted(their role): To protect our rights, among them are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness

bibleman

July 22nd, 2012
11:38 am

DJIA down 25% from Bush 2’s inauguration to Obama’s inauguration. DJIA up 60%. I think it’s pretty easy to see who has been better for business.

Michael H. Smith

July 22nd, 2012
11:54 am

I kind of like what former obumer supporter Steve Wynn of Las Vegas fame had to say when someone point out to him and of his criticism of obumer’s anti-business attitude how that he [Wynn] actually made money under obumer.

To which Mr. Wynn replied in this manner… “I would have made a great deal more money if he [obumer] had not been President!

jezel

July 22nd, 2012
12:17 pm

Thank you Michael for answering. This is the fundamental question we need to discuss in this country today. And we should demand that our politicians address this issue.

As i understand it….when man entered a “social contract” to submit to the rules of government..it was understood that government’s role was to do only for us what we as individuals could not do for ourselves. Build roads, schools, maintain a national defense, coin money, establish liberty and justice for all….and maintain an economic climate where the laws of supply and demand can operate.

It would be great to see the political and economic issues of today debated in that context.
Any law or regulation that crossed this boundary made it an illegitimate government.

Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed

July 22nd, 2012
12:25 pm

“Just what is the role of government?”

Bottom-line, to protect people from those who would take your life, liberty or property through the use of force or fraud.

That’s it.

Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed

July 22nd, 2012
1:04 pm

bibleman, the stock market might show you how a select few companies are doing as regards their performance based on profits, revenues and meting expectations of same, but it hasn’t been an indicators of the health of the American economy for over 30 years.

In short, your point would have had the same validity if you had said that it was rainy when Bush left office, and sunny when Obama took office, so Obama has been better for the weather.

JDW

July 22nd, 2012
1:09 pm

Contrary to some opinions expressed here the role of government is not static or defined. That was clearly set forth in the Declaration of Indepedence…

“-That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness”

The role of government is a function of the governed and whatever they think is best at the time.

Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed

July 22nd, 2012
1:16 pm

“The role of government is a function of the governed and whatever they think is best at the time.”

Not even remotely true, JDW, as the Declaration of Independence was NOT a document which described the role of government (not that English is your strong suit, anyway). It did describe, however, the perils of government and the role of MAN when government became unjust. In short, it was, and remains, nothing but a Declaration of Independence.

If your above statement were true, there would be no need for a U.S. Constitution, yet the Founding Fathers decided we needed one of those to keep your statement from becoming true. What you describe is a democracy, which the Founding Fathers particularly loathed. In fact, the origin of the word “democrat” is “one who panders to the masses”.

Epic fail again, JDW.

JDW

July 22nd, 2012
1:33 pm

@Tiberius…talk to Jefferson…you putz :roll:

Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed

July 22nd, 2012
1:35 pm

Your inability to refute is acknowledged, JDW.

MarkV

July 22nd, 2012
2:06 pm

jezel @ 12:17 pm

“As i understand it….when man entered a “social contract” to submit to the rules of government..it was understood that government’s role was to do only for us what we as individuals could not do for ourselves.”

That may be your understanding, but that does not make it a fact.The critical issue is not what inidividuals “could not do,” but what those who are governed decide their government should do as a better aternative to individual efforts.

As matter of fact, some conservatives on this blog, including Kyle, go even further than you, suggesting that even building of roads is not the proper role of the government.
Kyle, 1:00 pm July 16, 2012: “And it has become routine for Obama to harp on the roads and bridges as if that’s necessarily something the federal government must or should be involved in.”

JDW @1:09 pm

”The role of government is a function of the governed and whatever they think is best at the time.”

Not remotely, but absolutely correct. To argue that it would mean democracy as a system of government and make the constitution unnecessary is so ridiculous that it is hard to take it seriously.

JDW

July 22nd, 2012
2:31 pm

@markv…not sure exactly where you were heading…the role of government is a function of the governed’s wishes at a point in time. In the US those wishes, in their current form is expressed in the body of law and regulations, subject to the current interpretation of the boundries of the Constitution. Which of course can be changed by the governed as desired at any point in time.

JDW

July 22nd, 2012
2:37 pm

@Tiberius…”Your inability to refute is acknowledged”

My only inability is to make the blind, such as yourself see.

JDW

July 22nd, 2012
2:40 pm

@markv…got it…forgot to to take the blather of Tiberius into context. :lol:

MarkV

July 22nd, 2012
2:57 pm

JDW @ 2:31 pm
I have agreed with you. A constitution is a set of fundamental principles for governing an organization, in this case the USA. Since it contains the means by which it can be changed (amended), those governed absolutely can, by this process, decide what is the role of government according to what they think is best at the time, as you have written.

I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...

July 22nd, 2012
3:07 pm

The Declaration of Independence doesn’t even address the US Government, most likely because there wasn’t one when it was written.

Wrong again, dummycrats.

jezel

July 22nd, 2012
3:20 pm

MarkV…If you disagree with the statement … that the role of the government is to do for us what we as individuals cannot do for ourselves, Why would we want a government to do for us what we CAN do for ourselves? Once we go down that path we are opening our society up to having others think for us, decide moral issues and generally run our lives. It leads to totalitarian regimes.

That form of government has been called a dictatorship, communism and a monarchy.

Michael H. Smith

July 22nd, 2012
3:21 pm

Yeah I believe you brucie wilcox, those old coots Franklin, Jefferson, Adams, Madison, Jay etc. did not have a clue about what the role government should be when Jefferson wrote down the words of the Declaration. Neither did Madison or Jay when they wrote the federalist papers.

By the way the Constitution codified everything the Declaration spelled out before the we became a nation.

Government’s role is to protect our rights, not your’s and socialist MarkV’s wishes, personal thought or wants.

md

July 22nd, 2012
3:23 pm

We can’t even pass a budget, and folks here are talking about passing amendments……what we “can” do as a people and what we “can” do are two totally different concepts………….

Michael H. Smith

July 22nd, 2012
3:24 pm

MarkV…the role of the government is to do for us what we as individuals cannot do for ourselves,

IS NON SENSE!

Michael H. Smith

July 22nd, 2012
3:35 pm

when man entered a “social contract” to submit to the rules of government

How unfortunate for these socialists that our forefathers never enter into a contract with a government. Then again they never had to bargain or reach some agreement, since first, they were the creators of this nation and its government and therefore granted to that government its’ rights and powers; as well, they put into place a Constitution that would keep that same government from ever abusing or taking their rights and or property without due process under the laws that they would make, as just powers are derived from the hand of the governed.

JDW

July 22nd, 2012
3:36 pm

@jezel…”that the role of the government is to do for us what we as individuals cannot do for ourselves,”

That is a line of thought that was put forth in American history by Thomas Jefferson as a discription of what he thought government should do. I happen to think it is a good yardstick, but as mark points out the “governed decide what their government should do as a better aternative to individual efforts”

JDW

July 22nd, 2012
3:37 pm

For example, creating an equitable health care market is beyond the purview of an individual and fair game for government.

Michael H. Smith

July 22nd, 2012
3:39 pm

We can’t even pass a budget

Had Senator Hatch been able to get one more vote most likely we would have a budget and a balanced one at that in the same way state governments do.

Then again thanks to old Woodrow Big Gub’ment Wilson what we have is a debt ceiling that can be raised and has it ever from that day unto this one.

JDW

July 22nd, 2012
3:41 pm

Lincoln said it like this…”The legitimate object of government is to do for a community of people whatever they need to have done, but can not do at all, or can not so well do, for themselves–in their separate, and individual”

Michael H. Smith

July 22nd, 2012
3:42 pm

For example, creating an equitable health care market is beyond the purview of an individual and fair game for government.

Mostly because of government regulations.

jezel

July 22nd, 2012
3:44 pm

Mike….If you read the Federalist Papers…that statement is the summation and the foundation upon which our constitution was written and sold the the public. What other legitimate role can a democratic government have? Had this approach to limited government never been formulated, the states would not have ratified the constitution and we would not have a United States.

At that time in history, Americans were opposed to government in general. Afraid that the new country would see a repeat of the extreme abuse of power that existed in European countries.

Michael H. Smith

July 22nd, 2012
3:47 pm

Government is to do for us, what we cannot do for ourselves?

Where is that line of thinking in the Declaration or in the Constitution?

Might sound good as a movie script for Hollywood but it isn’t codified.

md

July 22nd, 2012
3:53 pm

A simple example of how gov’t oversteps it’s bounds can be found in the simple act of garbage collection. Folks around Atlanta for the most part do not have this problem, as it is left up to the individual to dispose of his/her garbage as they see fit. Yet all around the country, local gov’ts mandate that taxes will pay for the service………….

There are many more such instances and it seems to be getting worse as folks don’t much put up the fight any more.

In the not too distant future, our benevolent gov’t will have taxed all that is bad for us until only doing what they see as “right” will remain…….

Don’t think so? Just ask the guy that smoked his cigarette on the way to the tanning salon. For many that don’t smoke or use tanning beds, this won’t much matter and they won’t much care………only when it is their vice that is affected will it begin to matter…………….

jezel

July 22nd, 2012
3:54 pm

It is found through out the constitution…..that was the purpose of each article and particularly the reason for the Bill of Rights. To limit the powers and spell them out.

Michael H. Smith

July 22nd, 2012
3:55 pm

.If you read the Federalist Papers…that statement is the summation and the foundation upon which our constitution was written and sold the the public.

If you mean government doing for us what we cannot do for ourselves then have you got a number for that particular paper because I don’t think you are right on that claim?

I know full well the whys of our government and I am 100% on the money about the role of government and it protecting our rights and NOT REGULATING out of existence as some clever way to get around the Constitution. Then we really don’t need much of anything else from our government that we cannot do for ourselves.

Michael H. Smith

July 22nd, 2012
3:59 pm

jezel

If you are talking to me about limited government you are wasting your time. I more dogmatic on limiting government than you are that I can assure you.

By the way, Federalist papers 41 and 45 speaking directly to limiting the powers of the Federal government, it ain’t just a summation my friend. And it was mostly codified under Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution.

Michael H. Smith

July 22nd, 2012
4:04 pm

Americans were opposed to government in general.

I have to absolutely disagree with that statement. We are not and neither were the founders of this nation anti-government anarchist. They and I opposes a strong centralized government with omnipotent powers like the King of England held over them. Which if you ask me, we again are not very far from becoming likened unto once again as an oligarchy.

I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...

July 22nd, 2012
4:13 pm

Allow me to finish JDW’s Lincoln quote-

In all that the people can individually do as well for themselves, government ought not to interfere.

Just sayin…

MarkV

July 22nd, 2012
4:14 pm

jezel @3:20 pm

“MarkV…If you disagree with the statement … that the role of the government is to do for us what we as individuals cannot do for ourselves,”

Where did I or why would I disagree?

“Why would we want a government to do for us what we CAN do for ourselves? “

Because there are things that “the government” can do better. Notice that although we use the term “the government,” we do not mean it literally. For instance, the government” usually does not build roads, even those that are “government built.” Rather, it contracts private companies to do the building, but the government has an essential role. Even when the actual workers are in fact government employees, I wonder how many people would argue that, for example, employees of CDC are “government’ and therefore we should not let them do what they do. Yes, we COULD have hundreds of individual private companies try to do the same, but would that be a wise thing?

Michael H. Smith

July 22nd, 2012
4:25 pm

In case anyone wonders what type of omnipotent(fascist regulating) government these few leftist “Social Democrats” on Kyle’s blog want you and I to live under, take a relaxing read on the topic of “Social Democracy”. (It parallels some of Karl Marx thinking.)

Social democracy is a political ideology that considers itself to be a form of reformist democratic socialism.[1] Social democracy rejects the “either/or” polarization interpretation of capitalism versus socialism.[2] It claims that fostering a progressive evolution of capitalism will gradually result in the evolution of capitalist economy into socialist economy.[3] Social democracy argues that all citizens should be legally entitled to certain social rights. These are made up of universal access to public services such as: education, health care, workers’ compensation, and other services including child care and care for the elderly.[4] Social democracy is connected with the trade union labour movement and supports collective bargaining rights for workers.[5] Contemporary social democracy advocates freedom from discrimination based on differences of: ability/disability, age, social class, ethnicity, gender, language, race, religion, and sexual orientation.[6] Most social democratic parties are affiliated with the Socialist International.[7]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_democracy

Hey, it will do everything for you that you cannot do for yourself.

Michael H Smith

July 22nd, 2012
4:31 pm

Hey, it will do everything for you that you cannot do for yourself.

Oops… and I meant to say, it will also do everything to you that you would never to to yourself. :)

Michael H. Smith

July 22nd, 2012
4:36 pm

Are we all Comrades now, Kyle? :roll:

Michael H. Smith

July 22nd, 2012
4:40 pm

Uh Oh

July 22nd, 2012
4:48 pm

The Fortune 500 is regulated to so bad, they collectively made more income in 2011 than ever before.

FACT

Uh Oh

July 22nd, 2012
4:52 pm

Oh the regs and liberals. The sky is falling. waaaaaaaaaaa
waaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

The 500 largest US companies piled up record profits last year, despite a lackluster economy, and energy giant ExxonMobil ousted Wal-Mart as the biggest revenue maker, Fortune magazine said Monday.

The combined earnings of the Fortune 500 corporations rose 16 percent from 2010 to a record high of $825 billion in 2011, the magazine said.

Raw Story (http://s.tt/1daCK)

I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...

July 22nd, 2012
4:56 pm

Who’s been talking about the Fortune 500? The conversation is about small business.

Try comprehension, you might like it.

Uh Oh

July 22nd, 2012
4:57 pm

I report

I wanted to bring up that issue and I did

Accept it, you might like it

Michael H. Smith

July 22nd, 2012
4:58 pm

The Fortune 500 is regulated to so bad, they collectively made more income in 2011 than ever before.

And if they all did it legally, so what?

The combined earnings of the Fortune 500 corporations rose 16 percent from 2010

Well gee, 16% is about the average profit margin for the pharmaceutical sector thanks to government regulations on re-importation of FDA approved drugs… good to see the others are catching up so to speak.

Uh Oh

July 22nd, 2012
4:58 pm

This blog is all over the place in terms of topics, so cry to the others who have changed topics and keep your tears,

have a tissue

Mary Elizabeth

July 22nd, 2012
5:03 pm

About the immutability of the U.S. Constitution from Thomas Jefferson’s perspective, from pages 378 – 379 of Saul K. Padover’s book, entitled “Jefferson,” published in 1942 by Konecky & Konecky by special arrangement with Harcourt, Brace & Company. Padover received a doctorate degree in history from the University of Chicago and was a Professor of History at the University of California and at the New School for Social Research in New York City. He was the author of 30 books, six of which were about Jefferson:
————————————————————-

“Thus Jefferson accepted the inevitable. Ultimately the growth of American industrialization led to the ruin of the agricultural South. Even in Jefferson’s lifetime Congress passed a tariff which hit him and his fellow agrarians hard. Jefferson had to pay three times the prewar prices for shirtings, for example.

“Jefferson’s change of position on the subject of industrialization illustrates a basic quality of his mind, that of flexibility. He viewed the world as mutable. In his eyes nothing was permanent and nothing was rigidly fixed. Men changed, institutions changed, ideas changed. There was constant growth, and constant decay. The life cycle applied to nature as well as to institutions. Even the Constitution of the United States, which was the bulwark of American freedom, was not immutable. At the age of seventy-three Jefferson said that the Constitution was not ‘too sacred to be touched’ but was a human institution that should be revised periodically when needed:

“(Jefferson): ‘Some men look at constitutions with sanctimonious reverence and deem them like the arc of the covenant, too sacred to be touched. They ascribe to the men of the preceding age a wisdom more than human, and suppose what they did to be beyond amendment. . . .I know. . . that laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. . . .As. . . new discoveries are made, new truths disclosed, and manners and opinions change with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also, and keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy, as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors. . . .Each generation. . . has. . .a right to choose for itself the form of government it believes most promotive of its own happiness. . . .a solemn opportunity of doing this every nineteen or twenty years should be provided by the constitution.’

“His (Jefferson’s) conclusion in the matter of laws and institutions was that they perpetually subject to change for the benefit of humanity. ‘Nothing then,’ he told Major John Cartwright in 1824, ‘is unchangeable but the inherent and unalienable rights of man.’ ”

(Note: The above information from Padover’s book was footnoted to reference, “Notices, Letters, etc. Respecting the Library Manuscripts of Thomas Jefferson,” typescript, Library of Congress, 1898, vol. 7, page 359.)

Uh Oh

July 22nd, 2012
5:03 pm

MHS

I say forget the regs. Just put the medicine on the market

Guess we need more incidents like the one a week or so ago where the pharmaceutical was fined a huge some for FRAUD.

http://www.thirdage.com/news/glaxo-smith-kline-to-pay-3b-for-health-fraud_07-02-2012

Bet they only did this because of the regs, right?

:-)

What would they have done without any regs?

Michael H. Smith

July 22nd, 2012
5:04 pm

No tears from me just because companies and individuals are still making money before government regulates them out of making their profits. It would make me happier if a lot of those government regulations that protect big business from small business competition were gone. whimper whimper

Uh Oh

July 22nd, 2012
5:06 pm

MHS

If you are not in agreement with the laws and regs of an industry, do not invest your money into that industry directly or indirectly.

Supply and demand. If there is a demand, some company will meet the demand. Period, plain and simple

Michael H Smith

July 22nd, 2012
5:08 pm

Uh Oh

Forgot how to read you mean? :lol:

Like this part in my statement: re-importation of “FDA approved drugs”

Well gee, 16% is about the average profit margin for the pharmaceutical sector thanks to government regulations on re-importation of FDA approved drugs… good to see the others are catching up so to speak.

Michael H. Smith

July 22nd, 2012
5:11 pm

If you are not in agreement with the laws and regs of an industry, do not invest your money into that industry directly or indirectly.

Supply and demand. If there is a demand, some company will meet the demand. Period, plain and simple

Oh I don’t but unlike you I never cry when any of the make a legal profit without a regulation protecting it or having secured it. WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA brucie

Michael H. Smith

July 22nd, 2012
5:16 pm

Guess we need more incidents like the one a week or so ago where the pharmaceutical was fined a huge some for FRAUD.

Nah, guess we need more of what I already pointed out many times before now which you didn’t read or chose to ignore then: We need regulators who do their dang jobs and don’t get a regulatory job via the revolving door process to regulate the sector where they were employed in sometimes only a few months earlier.

Uh Oh

July 22nd, 2012
5:22 pm

“We need regulators who do their dang jobs and don’t get a regulatory job via the revolving door process to regulate the sector where they were employed in sometimes only a few months earlier.”

Good luck. Both parties put in their cronies, many who have worked in the industry of question, in ALL of the departments that are doing oversight

jezel

July 22nd, 2012
5:27 pm

Right…we do not need the government doing anything for us.. under any pretense.. that we can do for ourselves.

The question of how much regulation is the debate. If the regulations hinder competition then we do not need them. So we should ask ourselves… how do we create an atmosphere where more oil companies can enter the market….how can we graduate more doctors…how can we create competition among the insurance companies and drug manufactures…what can we do to protect our money in the banks…what do we do with the investment instruments created by Wall street that drive prices up and down.

The only regulations we need are those that stimulate competition in the market. Unfortunately, we as individuals cannot implement this. We can identify them and demand that our elected officials follow through.

RiaW

July 22nd, 2012
5:32 pm

An excellent read if you dare.

Government-business partnerships. A third defining characteristic of economic fascism is that private property and business ownership are permitted, but are in reality controlled by government through a business-government “partnership.” As Ayn Rand often noted, however, in such a partnership government is always the senior or dominating “partner.”

[snip]

Virtually all of the specific economic policies advocated by the Italian and German fascists of the 1930s have also been adopted in the United States in some form, and continue to be adopted to this day. Sixty years ago, those who adopted these interventionist policies in Italy and Germany did so because they wanted to destroy economic liberty, free enterprise, and individualism. Only if these institutions were abolished could they hope to achieve the kind of totalitarian state they had in mind.

Many American politicians who have advocated more or less total government control over economic activity have been more devious in their approach. They have advocated and adopted many of the same policies, but they have always recognized that direct attacks on private property, free enterprise, self-government, and individual freedom are not politically palatable to the majority of the American electorate. Thus, they have enacted a great many tax, regulatory, and income-transfer policies that achieve the ends of economic fascism, but which are sugar-coated with deceptive rhetoric about their alleged desire only to “save” capitalism.

American politicians have long taken their cue in this regard from Franklin D. Roosevelt, who sold his National Recovery Administration (which was eventually ruled unconstitutional) on the grounds that “government restrictions henceforth must be accepted not to hamper individualism but to protect it.”[40] In a classic example of Orwellian doublespeak, Roosevelt thus argued that individualism must be destroyed in order to protect it.

http://www.thefreemanonline.org/columns/economic-fascism/

As Wingfield mentioned, it’s the difference between pro-business and pro-market.

Unleash the free market.

Michael H. Smith

July 22nd, 2012
5:38 pm

Uh Oh

July 22nd, 2012
5:22 pm

Well, you just stripped away any value in your argument for regulations with that good luck comment.

It’s going to take a great deal more than luck to set right the regulatory policies this country actually needs in place and the right people doing those regulatory jobs. I don’t care much for Gub’Ment workers, particularly unionized ones, but I care even less than that about having to do without the few government employees and the few well needed regulations I actually must have to protect my rights and property and that of all others.

I’m for a limited federal government not states of anarchy.

md

July 22nd, 2012
5:43 pm

“The combined earnings of the Fortune 500 corporations rose 16 percent from 2010 to a record high of $825 billion in 2011, the magazine said.”

And those same corps laid off 850k in 2009 alone……and have been cutting steadily since.

Profit is a reflection of income minus expenses…….I wouldn’t be tooting this horn too loud without looking at the overall picture first.

Uh Oh

July 22nd, 2012
5:47 pm

MHS

Well is you vote Republican then you are aware that Republican Presidents are just as apt to have their folks place industry people over and in departments that regulate the industries they came from. You will be able to produce not a thing that says different

So if you are against it as you say and vote Republican, you are being a hypocrite on that issue.

Nothing more, nothing less

Uh Oh

July 22nd, 2012
5:49 pm

“if you….”

Excuse me

Uh Oh

July 22nd, 2012
5:53 pm

md

I’m just saying it is what it is. Didn’t praise it or knock it.

md

July 22nd, 2012
5:56 pm

“I’m just saying it is what it is. Didn’t praise it or knock it.”

Well…the talking point put out by the dems does the same thing…..I’m just laying out the rest of the info so people can see the whole picture……since you didn’t.

Uh Oh

July 22nd, 2012
6:01 pm

md

It’s all about supply and demand along the resources it takes to meet that demand.

Dusty

July 22nd, 2012
6:04 pm

Well, I am perfectly satisfied that Kyle is correct to say that small firms say regulation is fastest growing concern for them. I don’t doubt that they have other concerns too but, if the government would mind its business instead of theirs, small business will succeed.

I do wish I was a expert in consitutional law, all government agencies, the national economy and could write a treatise on Jefferson (every two weeks) but I just have to rely on newspapers, books, TV and dear Google. So it is good to have so many experts available here. Yes!!

But I am getting a bit bored here on Sunday evening. Did any of you watch that record breaking game with the Braves yesterday? What a game! Read Zell Miller’s comments? (He’s 80 years old with 100 year old knees, he said.) He’s still interesting. President Obama and Romney in mourning as they should be. What a tragedy in Colorado. And locally, the wandering raccoons are eating green figs off my tree. Now that takes a strong digestive tract if I do say so.

Someday I will get back on topic. Just don’t count on it..

Mary Elizabeth

July 22nd, 2012
6:08 pm

Many people in the nation today believe, as did Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, that governmental social programs which serve the general welfare or “common good” of the public, such as Social Security, Medicare (later established), public education, and the recent Affordable Health Act, aka Obamacare, do serve the American people’s best interest, and that these programs within government are reflections of government function at its highest level – by serving the human rights of all of its citizens.

The words of Thomas Jefferson, which I have excerpted from my 5:03 p.m. post, above:

“Each generation. . . has. . .a right to choose for itself the form of government it believes most promotive of its own happiness. . .”

From Saul Padover’ book, highlighted from my same 5:03 p.m. post:

“His (Jefferson’s) conclusion in the matter of laws and institutions was that they perpetually subject to change for the benefit of humanity. ‘Nothing then,’ he told Major John Cartwright in 1824, ‘is unchangeable but the inherent and unalienable rights of man.’ ”

FDR believed that the government could serve to further the human rights of all of its citizens, as he outlined in his final State of the Union Address, that part of which is often referred to as FDR’s concept of “America’s Second Bill of Rights.” See link below:

http://www.fdrheritage.org/bill_of_rights.htm

=========================================================

I realize that my thoughts, above, are not consistent with those who are presently having a discussion about the role of government on this blog. I simply wanted to get my thoughts published for readers to consider another point-of-view regarding the role of government. I am not interested in debating others this evening on this issue; I simply desired a variant position to be presented.
Thank you.

md

July 22nd, 2012
6:08 pm

“It’s all about supply and demand along the resources it takes to meet that demand.”

It’s about much more than just supply and demand……it’s also about getting a good or service to market to meet that demand, and the costs associated with it.

Demand means absolutely nothing if there is no product to meet it.

And the reason our jobs have been going overseas in the past few decades is because that demand has been for the lowest priced good consumers can get their hands on……unfortunately, those prices can’t be met with the cost of labor in this country. So goods will continue to be made overseas where the cost of labor is a fraction of what it is here….or, the american consumer decides it wants to pay a little more to employe their neighbors……..

MarkV

July 22nd, 2012
6:11 pm

jezel @5:27 pm

“If the regulations hinder competition then we do not need them.

Yeah, I am sure the competition will get us clean air and water.

md

July 22nd, 2012
6:13 pm

” that governmental social programs which serve the general welfare or “common good” of the public, such as Social Security, Medicare (later established), public education, and the recent Affordable Health Act, aka Obamacare, do serve the American people’s best interest, and that these programs within government are reflections of government function at its highest level – by serving the human rights of all of its citizens.”

Since you don’t care to debate it, then I’ll just add my 2 cents:

And what good are the above mentioned programs if the cost of said programs becomes a burden too great to supply said programs and instead results in the opposite of the desired affects??

Simply put, if those programs bankrupt the nation, they’ve done much more harm than good.

MarkV

July 22nd, 2012
6:15 pm

md @6:08 pm

“Demand means absolutely nothing if there is no product to meet it.”

Talk about putting a cart in front of a horse. The product results from demand (either actually expressed or perceived), not the other way round.

md

July 22nd, 2012
6:20 pm

And the numbers, just in case one cares….62% of the budget currently goes just to entitlements….does not include aca.

40% of budget is currently borrowed……….

Dusty

July 22nd, 2012
6:23 pm

md @6:13

You were correct when you said “If those programs (government) bankrupt a nation, they’ve done much more harm than good”. Absolutely!

The trouble is, seems liberals cannot visualize a country going broke. It seems impossible for them. They cannot believe that the golden giveaways and costly containments can far outcost any amount of money this country can produce. Such an attitude suffocates us slowly but surely..

md

July 22nd, 2012
6:24 pm

“Talk about putting a cart in front of a horse. The product results from demand (either actually expressed or perceived), not the other way round.”

Not true…….

How did people even know they wanted an iphone until Jobs un-veiled it?

Same with the microwave oven…..and more products than I can count.

Products are put on the market every day, some make it and some don’t…..hence the invention of the info-mercial.

Uh Oh

July 22nd, 2012
6:25 pm

md

And it still is supply and demand. If you want to get technical about the details, so be it, however it is still supply and demand.

If there is not a current supply, some one, some company in some country will provide it. May not be on “demand”, but overall the demand will be met, one way or another

md

July 22nd, 2012
6:26 pm

“The trouble is, seems liberals cannot visualize a country going broke.”

I think a few might be capable now……the ones that live in San Bernadino, Mammoth Lakes, and Stockton……..if not, they truly do have their head in the sand.

Uh Oh

July 22nd, 2012
6:27 pm

“seems liberals cannot visualize a country going broke.”

Reagan and Bush Jr are not considered liberals. They loved to spend just like most in government including Democrats

You are dismissed for being biased and one sided in regards to a spending issues that has plagued the inner core of both parties for years.

md

July 22nd, 2012
6:29 pm

“but overall the demand will be met, one way or another”

Only if there exists the capacity to meet that demand.

Oil is finite…….we will never ever meet the demand if it outpaces supply.

Uh Oh

July 22nd, 2012
6:30 pm

md

You can live in an “if this, if that” world if you like.

Your choice

md

July 22nd, 2012
6:32 pm

“Reagan and Bush Jr are not considered liberals. They loved to spend just like most in government including Democrats”

This is what I call the spousal argument……both spouses complaining that the other ran up the credit card. The problem with that, is the balance is still due regardless………

It matters not how we got here, the spending has to stop.

Dusty

July 22nd, 2012
6:34 pm

UH OH 6:27

You are dismissed for trying to blame Bush for an Obama problem. Bush is not here running up a bigger debt. OBAMA IS.

Now go sit in the corner.

MarkV

July 22nd, 2012
6:34 pm

md @6:24 pm
“How did people even know they wanted an iphone until Jobs un-veiled it?
Same with the microwave oven…..and more products than I can count.”

That is exactly the “perceived demand” I wrote about. No company will make a product for which it does not expect a demand.

md

July 22nd, 2012
6:37 pm

“No company will make a product for which it does not expect a demand.”

Perceived demand has been the downfall of many a product………..it’s called an educated guess………

Uh Oh

July 22nd, 2012
6:38 pm

Dusty

Didn’t blame Bush for Obama. Obama is a Democrat. I included Democrats in my post as big spenders

I merely mentioned Reagan and Bush jr to show that the FACTS are both parties have been known to be big spenders.

If you can’t see that and are that blind, your problem and ignorance. Not mine

Mary Elizabeth

July 22nd, 2012
6:38 pm

Bear in mind that our Defense Budget is greater than the next 10 countries combined, including the Defense Budgets of Chinat and many European nations – in combination.

Also, bear in mind that the U.S. had a surplus in the year 2000, even with entitlements, (which do need long-range adjustment, but not through privatization of them). France has just lowered its Social Security age to 60 from 62, and in America we are considering raising our S.S. age from 66 to 70, yet the U.S. is still sending Defense Budget funding to France (which was originally designated for the purpose of defense against Russia during the Cold War, now a long past need). Some have even questioned if France may be able to lower its Social Security age because we are still sending defense funds to France – for long past defense needs.

The American people will have to prioritize their distribution of tax funds by their values, i.e. an out of proportion defense budget or a more equitable budget which can accommodate social programs for citizens. Perhaps a return to the Clinton tax rate will help. As mentioned, America did have a surplus in 2000.

MarkV

July 22nd, 2012
6:39 pm

There is always some tension between what can and should be done by the private sector, and what can and should be done by the government, and subject for a rational debate. The least helpful is spewing slogans about liberty, freedom of choice, socialism, communism, Marxism, etc.

In these debates it is usually forgotten that the subject is not a static issue that can be resolved by a dogma. Conditions change. A good example is space flight. In the advent of it, when the will of the people (through elected representatives) was to engage in it, there was no private company that could take on that task. Quite appropriately, the government did. Even then, we should remember, there was a substantial participation of the private sector, but the government was in charge. Now a private company has shown the resources and expertise to go into space. Good for them. The government’s role has been drawn back. If, however, we decide to go, for instance, to Mars, again it will be likely be a government project.

Uh Oh

July 22nd, 2012
6:40 pm

Dusty

It isn’t that you lack cognitive thinking skills and ability to see the entire picture. It is that you do not want to utilize them because you are afraid to get outside of your little partisan bubble. It makes you feel better and provides self esteem for you. It is ok. There are many on the left and right just like you

Mary Elizabeth

July 22nd, 2012
6:41 pm

Corrections: China, not Chinat. Clinton tax rates, not Clinton tax rate.

MarkV

July 22nd, 2012
6:42 pm

Wouldn’t it be nice if Dusty ever told us her recipe for getting the country out of debt she writes so much about?

Uh Oh

July 22nd, 2012
6:44 pm

MarkV

That would be too hard. The talking points remembered and regurgitated only provide so much.

Uh Oh

July 22nd, 2012
6:47 pm

Dusty

Think if it as a “comfort zone” that many on the right and left love to live in. Takes less thought and gives those who live in that world, warm and fuzzies

Dusty

July 22nd, 2012
6:51 pm

Well, I “perceive a demand” and dinner is ready!

In the meantime, I would like (demand) an invention that carries me downtown without rail, road, jet engines and does not reqire an ugly T-SPLOST thumbscrew to finance it. I am sure someone will perceive my demand and put something together quickly,

Just daydream long enough and someone will invent it. Happens every day on this blog! Why liberals invent the cure for bankruptcy every day. Invent more ways to spend money! And they do!

Dusty

July 22nd, 2012
6:56 pm

Mark V

Recipe: eat green figs. Rids you of all excesses!

I don’t have a reference for that.

Dusty

July 22nd, 2012
7:02 pm

OH , someone busted my bubble with babble. AAAAwwwww! How pontifical! Made me even more hungry!

Dinnertime! Chicken and dressing! I wonder if it is one of the 80 thousand chickens who once lived next door to Hillbilly D? Now that’s something to ponder!

MarkV

July 22nd, 2012
7:03 pm

Dusty @ 6:56 pm

I pick them up when they are ripe. Thanks, but no thanks. But don’t let me talk you out of doing it.

Dusty

July 22nd, 2012
8:37 pm

Well, dinner was deeeelicious……..

But I was just reading that a second Spanish region may seek government help. First it starts with a few cities (like in California). Then you end up with “regions” like they have in Spain. The Spanish are afraid they will go down like Greece, Portugal and Ireland.

But they are starting to cut expenses like HEALTHCARE ! They are realizing that the government cannot furnish more than the fundamentals when a country is in DEBT.

If only our liberal DEMOCRATS could get that fact in their heads. When a country is deep in debt, you must cut back to the fundamentals of governance. I hope we don’t have to get like Spain, etc. before realization sets in.

NO, healthcare if not a fundamental of government. It is an addition to government largess which is helpful but not a necessity because there are other forms of heathcare in the private sector.

Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right

July 22nd, 2012
8:49 pm

Mary Elizabeth, repeating the lie about a surplus during the Clinton years doesn’t earn you Brownie points. That was a politically generated accounting gimmick foisted on us by both sides of the aisle.

Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right

July 22nd, 2012
8:57 pm

And let’s get this nonsense out of the way regarding “the people can change their government based on their needs and desires at the time”.

They can’t.

In case you Civics 101 rejects missed it, it takes 2/3rds of the states to ratify an amendment to the constitution, and at that, it takes an act of Congress to even get it to the states.

“The people” don’t get to change squat.

Uh Oh

July 22nd, 2012
9:05 pm

“The people” don’t get to change squat.

And on that, we agree

Mary Elizabeth

July 22nd, 2012
9:12 pm

Abraham Lincoln, “The Gettyburg Address,” Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, November 19, 1863:

“It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

G Mare

July 22nd, 2012
10:37 pm

Mary Elizabeth, you said it, my dear, but too few seem to be listening. Reminds me of the song, “Where have all the flowers gone….”

MarkV

July 22nd, 2012
11:06 pm

This is becoming a comedy routine:

“And let’s get this nonsense out of the way regarding “the people can change their government based on their needs and desires at the time”.
They can’t.
In case you Civics 101 rejects missed it, it takes 2/3rds of the states to ratify an amendment to the constitution, and at that, it takes an act of Congress to even get it to the states.
The people” don’t get to change squat.”

So the xxx in the Congress who would get it to the states, and thee xxx that would approve it in 2/3rds of the states, are not people. They must be alien from outer space, or perhaps chimpanzees?
Has that person who wrote the above any sanity left?

G Mare

July 22nd, 2012
11:13 pm

Mark V, did you forget to take your meds? Your last post makes no sense. Maybe you could try a repost? Sorry, I am not trying to be snarky, but please try again.

MarkV

July 22nd, 2012
11:17 pm

We might reformulate the comedy argument submitted at 9:57 pm as follows

The people cannot change their government based on their needs and desires at the time, because people would have to do it according to the Constitution.

Laughter and applause, please.

MarkV

July 22nd, 2012
11:18 pm

G Mare @ 11:13 pm

Do you have any comprehension of the written word?

Dusty

July 23rd, 2012
12:12 am

Mark V

Must you be so incredibly rude? You might have a point if you didn’t bark like dog with rabies. Why do you do that? If you think your intellectual ability is infallible, then get off the blog and go to some genius center. You seem determined to be what is known as ugly. Is there a reason for that?

I think Tiberius is talking about the great difficulty and the number of people it would take to change anything about the Constitution and its amendments..It is a process almost impossible to complete which is probably why it was set up that way. No flip flops everyday because of the long, complicated procedures.. Tiberius has shown that it is almost impossible to meet all the requirements The Constitution rules.

You, MarkV on the other hand, say that no matter how difficult a procedure it is, a great number of people have to procede with it in a legal manner. Your point is that no matter how laborious or lengthy the process, it is instigated and carried out by citizens in various ways. You don’t mention the constrictions to the process.

Seems to me both of you have good reason for what you say. And G Mare was just aksing for more information, not insults.

Blogging is not set up for invectives. If you are trying to pass the “bar” on constitutional law I suggest you go elsewhere or either curb your “impassioned” comments here. You are capable of being pleasant. You have let it slip out a few times.

Techfan

July 23rd, 2012
5:35 am

Kyle, How about a link to the survey? The American Enterprise Institute seems to mention studies by Strategas frequently. When I try to find these study’s methods, questions, etc.. I keep running into the roadblock of Strategas being a subscription only service. You can claim a study shows anything you want, but when you won’t let people look at the study, you have no idea if they are telling the truth. When I found that Dan Clifton was a former employee of Grover Norquist, it made me even more suspect. I’d take the AEI blog with a large grain of salt.

N-GA

July 23rd, 2012
7:14 am

It is articles like this that put the exclamation point on “Bad Journalism!”. Once again we see someone taking a position without having any substance. Just once I would like to see a comprehensive article about specific regulations that should be eliminated! Were these small businesspersons asked “What regulations concern you the most?”? I suspect that the poll-taker avoided asking that question purposefully.

Kyle notes where the chart originated. But we know nothing about what defines a small business, how many were polled, what industries were represented.

And one must remember how people’s concerns change. For example, employees might think that wages are their biggest concern until a lay-off occurs. Suddenly job security is their biggest concern. In that 3-month graph it is interesting to note that “Sales” as a concern has dropped from 33% to about 21%. A HUGE improvement! Hey Kyle, would you conclude that Obama’s policies have helped small business revenues?

Mary Elizabeth

July 23rd, 2012
7:41 am

G Mare, 10:37 pm, July 22, 2012

I well understand why the people do not “hear,” because for three to four decades this nation has been stealthily being changed to serve the interests of the top 1%, and not the interests of the masses. The people have lost faith that their voices count. We must keep telling “the people” what has happened so that they, again, will see and will believe that they DO have the “inherent and unalienable” right, as Jefferson had written, as well as the power, to shape the kind of government which they desire which will “bring them happiness.”

I believe that the kind of government which will bring “the people” happiness will not be a government that serves primarily the interests of the top 1% of this nation. The people have been misled for decades, now. If the people think that Gov. Romney will look after their interests, and not mainly the interests of the top 1%, they continue to be misled. They are mistaken. However, the people do have another choice in November. I hope that they will choose wisely, not only for themselves, but for our great nation, designed to be a nation “of the people, by the people, and for the people,” themselves. Do not lose faith in this great nation.

JDW

July 23rd, 2012
7:53 am

@dusty…”Must you be so incredibly rude?”

You think mark is rude…have you read that trash Tiberius spouts. As for the people changing government…it clearly happens often…if it did not our government would look the same as it did say 50years ago and it clearly does not. Should the people desire change it will happen…why the Cons are trying their best right not…they just don’t appeal to enough people.

MarkV

July 23rd, 2012
7:55 am

Dusty @12:12 am

Dusty,

You would have a point, if the person in question was not Tiberius, one whose rudeness has few matches on this blog. And you have just demonstrated your hypocrisy, in criticizing me, and never Tiberius. As for G Mare @11:13 pm, I have little patience with people, who instead of “asking for more information,” do it in an insulting way (“Mark V, did you forget to take your meds?”)

As for you argument that Tiberius was “talking about the great difficulty and the number of people it would take to change anything about the Constitution and its amendments,” please tell me that you understand the word cannot, as opposed to doing something difficult. There is nothing impossible about meeting “all the requirements The Constitution rule.” It has been done 27 times.

Actually, I suspect that Tiberius had in mind an inane argument that it would be not “people,” but representative of the people who would make it happen, and I do not have patience with that kind of stupidity either.

MarkV

July 23rd, 2012
9:30 am

Dusty @12:12 am

Dusty,

A few more comments. As I have written already, your double standard (a better word than hypocrisy here) is quite appalling, as is your mischaracterization.

What you call “so incredibly rude” was my calling what Tiberius had written “a comedy routine”: and “comedy argument.” And you preach to me about blogging not being set up “for invectives.” Invective? Then what do you call your own sarcasm about my thinking that my intellectual ability was infallible, about my “impassioned” comments, your suggestions about me trying to pass the “bar?” I wonder if you realize how insulting many of your posts are.

One does not have to posses any unordinary knowledge of the Constitution to know that people can, by the difficult but possible process of amendments, change anything in the Constitution. The US is a representative democracy, and people have the power to make decisions. According to the Constitution.

brad

July 23rd, 2012
9:42 am

The right has come to believe that the only path to change is “exercising their Second Amendment rights”.

Dusty

July 23rd, 2012
10:00 am

Enter your comments here

Doug B

July 23rd, 2012
10:09 am

Of course people are worried about regulation. The republican party and it’s propaganda machine, Fox news, is constantly telling them they should be.

I run 2 small businesses. Regulation doesn’t concern me a bit. I bet if you phrased the question differently, like, “what were your biggest problems in the past 12 months?”, you’d get a very different response.

JamVet

July 23rd, 2012
10:10 am

This morning’s big steaming cup of irony:

Must you be so incredibly rude?

Yet, she has spent at least five years of being incredibly rude. And if she had an ounce of dignity, she would freely admit it. (She won’t.) I and many others have witnessed and been the recipient of her endless, unprovoked personal insults on at least two different AJC forums.

Enjoy your witty insult fests here, Dusty.

As ye sow, so shall ye reap.

Toodles…

Dusty

July 23rd, 2012
10:31 am

Sooo..it seems when liberals are subject to their own type of criticism they become very sensitive and tender. MarkV suggests that “a comedy routine” is more insulting than calling someone “stupid”. He cannot realize that his usual routine of “putting people down” is more insulting than saying something is “funny, a comedy”.

Tiberiuis does disagree frequently with liberals. He backs his arguments with factual references. Many liberals use “Bush did it!” as a reference. Mary Elizabeth uses Jefferson and the Gettysburg Address as her much repeated references and her anti-war/defense material… N GA moved to N GA so he could complain about it and the people in a Republican state. Other liberals whine about Kyle saying “you did not give enough material as back ground” even though he lists all his material.

You folks are born complainers and you are backing a presidential candidate who is running this country “into the ground”. He makes a nice speech. Raises a mountain of debt.

Cry me a river, dear folks. You are not a sweet talking bunch. Learn how to debate without invectives (vehement denunciations). You reap what you sow so don’t complain so loudly when it hits you.

Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed

July 23rd, 2012
10:38 am

Nice to see MarkV finally get it.

JDW, not so much.

Uh oh

July 23rd, 2012
10:41 am

“it seems when liberals are subject to their own type of criticism they become very sensitive and tender”

Mama. He hit me 1st.

Everyone have a great day

Mary Elizabeth

July 23rd, 2012
10:42 am

In response to brad’s post at 9:42 am:
——————————————————————

“Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.” The words of Jesus, recorded in St. Matthew 5:9

“Love never fails.” The words of St. Paul, recorded in his first letter to the Corinthians, I Corinthians 13:8

Dusty

July 23rd, 2012
10:45 am

AmVet is here. My advice to readers: “Hold your nose!”

Uh oh

July 23rd, 2012
10:48 am

“Learn how to debate without invectives”

AmVet is here. My advice to readers: “Hold your nose!”

Some need to heed their own advice, but do carry on

Take care

Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed

July 23rd, 2012
10:58 am

And back on topic, from the Heritage Foundation:

“In total, The Heritage Foundation has calculated that the Obama administration adopted 106 major regulations in its first three years. That’s nearly four times the 28 major regulations adopted in the first three years of the Bush administration. Those regulations came at a cost of $8.1 billion, compared to the $46 billion imposed under Obama by the same point in his presidency.”

For you libs out there, this boils down to:

Bush: 28 major regulations costing businesses $8.1 billion
Obama: 106 major regulations costing businesses $46 billion.

Do ya get it now?

MarkV

July 23rd, 2012
11:06 am

Dusty @10:31 am

Not surprisingly, Dusty continues in her usual style – avoiding answering any specific points made by the person whose post she is responding to.

As well as just showing a total confusion of her mind, as shown by the following:

“MarkV suggests that “a comedy routine” is more insulting than calling someone “stupid”.”

Really? And where did I suggest that?

md

July 23rd, 2012
11:11 am

“I run 2 small businesses. Regulation doesn’t concern me a bit. I bet if you phrased the question differently, like, “what were your biggest problems in the past 12 months?”, you’d get a very different response.”

Ok Doug…..then what concerns you? Then we’ll backtrack to see if any regulations are involved.

gm

July 23rd, 2012
11:15 am

We should just let business run wild like the Bush years and have another meltdown, CEO’s are making record profits under Obama, why should we go back?

I wonder what would have happen if the Colorodo shooter had been a muslim, I bet he would have been called a inside terrorist by Bachman, Limbaugh, these idiots are so busy stereotype muslims and people of color but the real killing that have killed more Americans in this country have been white males””””

md

July 23rd, 2012
11:23 am

“We should just let business run wild like the Bush years and have another meltdown, CEO’s are making record profits under Obama, why should we go back?”

As I’ve said before, would one prefer to try to tame a wild horse or ride a dead one?

And please do remember to include the word “some” in that talking point about ceo’s…..folks on the left have a terrible tendency to leave it out. Just an fyi, but a “majority” of corps are NOT sitting on record profits……but that doesn’t sound as threatening does it?

md

July 23rd, 2012
11:25 am

Think Bernanke would prefer to be worrying about slowing an economy down or finding more magic bullets in his arsenal trying to get it going??

md

July 23rd, 2012
11:36 am

“The 70 U.S.-based companies studied hold $1.2 trillion in profits around the world. GE and Pfizer have built up the most money outside the U.S., with $102 billion and $63 billion respectively, according to securities filings. Apple Inc. (AAPL), Google Inc. (GOOG) and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) were among the companies that increased their accumulated overseas profits by more than 40 percent in 2011.

As U.S.-based companies expand globally, they keep profits overseas, legally out of the reach of the Internal Revenue Service. Lawmakers from both political parties point to the stockpiling as a symptom of a failed corporate tax system, even while they remain deadlocked over whether the U.S. should impose higher or lower taxes on its companies’ global profits. ”

Just an fyi, but “regulations” are keeping that money from entering our system. Think it would be beneficial to our economy to have an extra trillion floating around to be used as capital and TAXED. Instead, 3.5 years of……….nothing.

MrLiberty

July 23rd, 2012
11:37 am

Massive regulation and government intervention into the marketplace and uncertainty. These are the same things that made the first Depression last as long as it did. Then FDR died and so did most of his misguided policies, 10 million men came home to work productive jobs and the private sector was freed up from having to pay for war. The solution in 1945 is as clear today as it was then. End the wars, bring the troops home, slash government spending, release the free market to do what it does best. Unfortunately neither Obama nor Romney have any of that on their agenda.

stands for decibels

July 23rd, 2012
11:45 am

Let’s assume that the study cited was in fact a legitimate exercise and not merely a sort of sophisticated push poll

You’re a lot more charitable than I am.

I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...

July 23rd, 2012
11:53 am

Two-thirds of likely voters say the weak economy is Washington’s fault, and more blame President Obama than anybody else, according to a new poll for The Hill.

It found that 66 percent believe paltry job growth and slow economic recovery is the result of bad policy.

That’s not hard to figure out.

md

July 23rd, 2012
12:07 pm

“Lawmakers from both political parties point to the stockpiling as a symptom of a failed corporate tax system, even while they remain deadlocked over whether the U.S. should impose higher or lower taxes on its companies’ global profits.”

And need I mention which “side” wants which? And which stance is keeping the money offshore??

Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed

July 23rd, 2012
12:09 pm

Off topic, but why would the NCAA take away Paterno’s (and Penn State’s) wins for something which happened off the football field?

Seems a bit petty to me.

More important, how do you undo wins? Do the teams on the other side automatically have their losses reversed as well?

The dumbing down of America continues unabated.

gm

July 23rd, 2012
12:38 pm

Tiberius – pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed

This is about character, the man knew for years that his assistant coach was messing with little boys and said nothing, when will you idiots get it? this is bigger then football, I wonder would you people feel that way if it was your kid?
I guess football fans suppose to care about wins over kids safety?

Dirty Dawg

July 23rd, 2012
12:47 pm

Earlier I had asked, ‘Where’s the beef?’, in reference to the ‘real’ cost of government regs versus the ‘perception’, or ‘worries’ about the cost of regs. Looking back and doing a little checking shows that the costs, according to the most recent study data, was from 2008 and showed that those grew by over 50% between ‘00 and ‘08…more than twice the rate compared to the previous four years…wonder which Party was in the White House during those years? And furthermore, wonder why Kyle failed to make that point in his piece…then again, I know why and have grown to expect to expect it from the right-wing thought machine.

stands for decibels

July 23rd, 2012
12:49 pm

I guess football fans suppose to care about wins over kids safety?

that football fans would elevate the importance of an unpaid NFL farm league to some kind of superstar status in the first place should tell you all you need to know.

but as to your specific question–if fans cared about kids’ safety, they wouldn’t have them playing a “sport” that involves potentially concussive injuries on every single play.

md

July 23rd, 2012
12:54 pm

“This is about character, the man knew for years that his assistant coach was messing with little boys and said nothing, when will you idiots get it? ”

Yet, those that actually played on the team had nothing to do with either action…..merely guilt by association.

Would you prefer to be punished if your ceo got caught with his hand in the cookie jar or would you prefer he suffered for his own actions?

Carol

July 23rd, 2012
12:58 pm

Small business, talk about generalities. Didn’t I hear recently that Paris Hilton was considered a small business? Anyway, I really was expecting to get some meat and potatoes from the chart and article. All I got was the same garbage that the Repubs have been spewing for three years.

No specifics. Let’s be honest, if you are a business period, don’t you make projections based on a number of scenarios? And are the unexpected part of the game. For instance, do you project the possibility that the supplier of one of the key components of your product may increase their price by 15% or do you wring your hands and go out of business because of it? Do you close up shop and call it a day because a business similar to yours opens a mile away, or do you come up with creative ways to make a distinction?

All of this talk about uncertainties, regulations, etc. is BS. Any skilled business person projects and plans for some unexpected events. How in the heck do you think IBM, Coke, Home Depot stay in business?

getalife

July 23rd, 2012
1:12 pm

Same ole failed ideology when loopholes like the insider trading bill by canotor are the norm.

“John McCain and Mitt Romney share a secret. It’s 23 years of Mitt’s tax returns.”Aol

Show us willard.

Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed

July 23rd, 2012
1:14 pm

gm, in case you haven’t noticed, the man is DEAD. Don’t think this will mean anything to him, or change the way he behaves.

Second, I can’t stand college football, so you’re wrong about me again. Where I grew up we cared more about creating captains of industry than captains of the football team.

And if it were my kid, I’d go after the perpetrator, as they did.

I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...

July 23rd, 2012
1:19 pm

Haven’t heard any fresh new stupidity emerge from the mouth of the choom gang leader as of 1:20 Eastern.

Did he take the day off?

md

July 23rd, 2012
1:30 pm

“Any skilled business person projects and plans for some unexpected events.”

Which is why trillions are currently out of circulation……guess they did their planning huh?

Bruno

July 23rd, 2012
1:30 pm

Skip

July 23rd, 2012
1:32 pm

Is Kyle on vacation?

Bruno

July 23rd, 2012
1:35 pm

And if it were my kid, I’d go after the perpetrator, as they did.

What puzzles me is how the crimes, if true, went on for so many years without even one kid saying something to their parents, teachers, or others.

Bruno

July 23rd, 2012
1:39 pm

Any thoughts here from the bloggers, left or right, about the appropriateness of Obama getting so involved with the Colorado shootings?? Maybe it’s just the statistician in me speaking, but the fact is that more than 100 people die on average every day from firearms, and a similar number from car accidents. Why aren’t their stories equally important??

Bruno

July 23rd, 2012
1:41 pm

Also, per the earlier discussion about blog insults: There’s a big difference between insulting someone’s position and insulting that person as a human being.

Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed

July 23rd, 2012
1:47 pm

Re: your 1:39 Bruno, I have no doubt that Obama cares about the people affected by this tragedy, but at the same time, I have no doubt he’s playing it for the votes as an added benefit.

Everything is political with him.

From the Center

July 23rd, 2012
1:48 pm

Bruno, IMHO both Mr. Obama and Mr. Romney have handled that situation appropriately. Cheers

Thulsa Doom

July 23rd, 2012
2:29 pm

“about the appropriateness of Obama getting so involved with the Colorado shootings??”

As Rahm Emanuel said “never let a good crisis go to waste”. Or a good photo op or a good chance to show off some compassion in this case. Takes the people’s minds off of the economy.

“Maybe it’s just the statistician in me speaking, but the fact is that more than 100 people die on average every day from firearms, and a similar number from car accidents. Why aren’t their stories equally important??”

You’re looking at it from the rational perspective. But the media and tv love anything that evokes emotion, fear, etc and anything which sensationalizes. You know the old byline- if it bleeds it leads as in leads the front page or leads off the newscast.

I think its 15,000 people a year get murdered here in the U.S. alone which comes out to an average of 41 people a day getting murdered.

I don’t want to diminish the tragedy in Colorado this week but in the big picture of things its just a day with a little bit bigger blip on the radar with 12 more dead. People may find that a heartless statement but what I find heartless is all the drama over one terrible incident as opposed to being upset over daily murders and crime that occur every day. I believe on St. Pattie’s day weekend a few of months ago there were 47 shootings in one weekend in Chicago alone. But that didn’t make much news of course.

This reminds me of the complaining I do about “missing white girl syndrome” every time a beautiful white women like a Natalee Holloway goes missing. It gets plastered all over the news for months on end and is just a waste of time and print or air space. Again. Not to diminish her death or anyone else but what makes her death any more important than a nameless young black woman that gets abducted that few people know or care about? Nothing. Except that the media just chooses to harp on it and sensationalize it because she was young, beautiful, and white.

Same with the whole OJ trial years back. Other than the families of the victims and the family of the accused why should anyone give a sheet about OJ’s innocence or guilt? And why did people- particularly the black community invest so much emotional energy into one trial? When the verdict was read an auditorium backed with a throng of students at a local HBCU went wildly crazy in celebration? When benefit did they possibly get? – Especially considering that many of them knew in the back of their minds that in all likelihood the man was guilty.

Sadly we are just a nation that thrives on sensationalism and are sadly devoid of rational thinking on the spoonfed garbage that the media delivers to us.

Thulsa Doom

July 23rd, 2012
2:31 pm

Bruno, BTW great to see you again.

Bruno

July 23rd, 2012
3:02 pm

Bruno, BTW great to see you again.

Likewise, Doom. Staying very busy with both work and the GF, so not much time to blog. We’re both going to start college next fall, having to start preparing now. We’ve been studying a few hours each night.

Just love that girl……

ODD OWL

July 23rd, 2012
4:08 pm

What regulations ??? i dare anyone to name one regulation that hamper small businesses, passed by the Democrat controlled Congress and signed into law by President Obama… Small businesses have one problem, no customers… Right wing Republican small business owners scape goat and blame President Obama and the Democrats because they have very little business savy and no customers…

md

July 23rd, 2012
4:25 pm

” i dare anyone to name one regulation that hamper small businesses”

Right off the top of my head….credit card rates…..both for the customer and the business.

Thank you

July 23rd, 2012
4:29 pm

Mitt Romney says President Barack Obama’s decision to meet with the families of victims of the Colorado shooting was “the right thing.”

The Republican presidential candidate spoke to donors in San Francisco Sunday night at roughly the same time Obama consoled grieving families in Aurora, Colo. A gunman opened fire in a crowded movie theater there early Friday, killing 12 and wounding scores more.

Romney said he appreciates the president’s actions Sunday. And he generally avoided partisan attacks, declining to go after Obama by name “in keeping with the seriousness of the day.”

ODD OWL

July 24th, 2012
1:11 am

Credit card rates have been high as hell for the last 30 years… The results of Reagan deregulating the banks, which caused all the problems we have today…

vortex100

July 24th, 2012
6:14 am

Remember, 75-80% of regulations affecting small business are local and state regulations, not federal regulation, which usually affect large, global companies. There is little to nothing President Obama can do about local and state regulations, which makes the point of this entire article moot.

bu2

July 25th, 2012
11:54 am

The Obama administration reversed the Bush administration’s cost-benefit rules on mass transit projects and added economic development as a criteria (usually fictional). So he increases rules on business, but makes it easier for government agencies to do what they want with federal $ even if it doesn’t make any sense. Thus you have the TSPLOST project list. That needs to be voted down.

(now can you people quit hijacking EVERY thread to talk about Obama).