Tons of Regs

As illustrated in this video by American Action Forum President Doug Holtz-Eakin, federal regulations weigh too much, and cost businesses billions in compliance costs.  What’s depressing for American job creators is that the video displays just a fraction of the weight regulations already impose.

At our current pace, we can expect more than $100 billion in new compliance costs alone for 2011, and approximately 80,000 pages of paper that the Federal Register produces every year. (One wonders whether the “Paperwork Reduction Act” even still exists.)

EPA’s work is just one example of the avalanche of regulations.  According to EPA’s recent cost estimates for its pricey regulations, it will impose approximately $153 billion in compliance costs on businesses.  What do those costs translate into for some Americans?

Lost jobs, lots of them.  EPA has stated that more than 56,600 Americans can expect to lose their job as a result of onerous new regulations.  The Wall Street Journal was quick to highlight these figures in today’s paper.

The Journal writes, “The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, normally a White House union ally, says the rule will destroy 50,000 jobs and another 200,000 down the supply chain.  That’s more jobs lost than if Boeing went bust.”

EPA is just one reason why we need to get the costs, and weight, of federal regulations under control.  Hundreds of pounds of paper smashing down into the ground might provide a nice illustration, but the impact can be felt in more than just decibels.  These are lost jobs, firms that can’t expand, and higher costs that are simply passed on to average consumers and taxpayers.

As our video demonstrates, there is just too much built into the regulatory inertia that continues to hold down American growth.