Posted on 05/08/2014 2:09:24 AM PDT by kingattax
Yes, someone is actually tracking the hidden weight of all those pesky federal regulations. Here’s the startling news: it cost Americans $1.9 trillion last year to comply with myriad rules and protocols that are issued at the rate of 3,500 a year - this according to one Clyde Wayne Crews, vice president for policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute.
The regs are, in essence, like a hidden tax, he says.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
No wonder businesses flee this country. And put on top of that the corporate taxation.
I’ve written about this before. The company I worked for had to comply with a city, county, state and federal EPA. We were a small quantity generator with no real possibility of some huge industrial spill. Even so the company had to hire a specialist to deal with the EPA’s. His cost was almost certainly over $100k plus benefits. Each inspection was prepped for with a spit-polish cleaning, the cost of which probably ran into the thousands. We were modifying the plant and took several 55 gallon drums for temporary storage in a shed-like building that had stood there 25 years through dozens of hurricanes. One of the EPA inspectors made them rebuild the building to the toughest hurricane codes. Then he decided there had to be a lined ditch around it and a retention pond and all of this had to be done by certified contractors. So the company did all this at a cost equal to the cost of modifying the plant. (The shed was scheduled to be torn down and if the roof had been ripped off it was (at that time) too light to have damaged any of the 55 gallon drums, all of which were filled with water-based chemicals with a low toxicity.)
The worst inspection that I was part of involved what appeared to be a young girl somewhere between 18-20. She was paranoid that we were trying to pull something on her. By her expressions she’d never seen the inside of an industrial plant and she acted like she just knew we were lying to her. I’ve never seen management sweat so hard.
Then there’s government people who jerk you around just because they can. The company filed their initial environmental impact statement. (They were in an industrial park, not a forest.) The company decided not o build the entire parking lot when they built the plant as it would take years to ramp up to 350 employees. So when they decided to pave the remainder of the already approved parking lot the local government insisted on a second $50,000 environmental impact study. (Cost of the remaining paving was only $50,000, so they doubled it.)
If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. If it stops moving, subsidize it.
— RR on How Liberal Government Works
To be fair to big government liberals, a good $50B to $60B of those costs are worthwhile. Three percent productivity isn't bad by the standards of leftists.
Bookmark.
I suspect the number is low.
The EPA has forced small engine makers to put specialty screws on their equipment so the average owner of said equipment can’t fix it without buying high priced tools. All 2 stroke engines need to be adjusted because thats the way they are but now instead of the old slotted carburator screws they forced the manufacters to use a star slot with a lock cap so you need to take it to a dealer for 80 bucks an hour to adjust it to EPA standards [ the standards that make the machine run like crap]. And don’t get me started on the money I spend fixing ruined carbs from the Ethanol gas they force use to use. It eats up rubber and plastic parts and is a small engine killer.
It would take another two trillion to analyze all the regs, delete those that are harmful and add some that would be beneficial. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
In February we received a DOD MANDATE which is the EQUATES to of loss of FREEDOM that WE WILL PURCHASE ALL MEDICATIONS FROM 2 SOURCES, BASE DISPENSARY, WHICH GETS THEIR DRUGS OUT OF PENSACOLA, FL. OR THE SUCKY YUCKY NON TRUST WORTHY EXPRESS SCRIPTS, SIMPLY BECAUSE HUBBY IS A SENIOR MEDICARE AGE 20 RETIRED NAVY SCPO. ALL BRANCHES GOT THE SAME MESSAGE, AS DID ALL PRIVATE PHARMACIES. THE ONLY EXCEPTIONS IS A SHORT TERM SCRIPT. THIS WILL IMPACT SMALL FAMILY OWNED PHARMACIES BIG TIME. THIS PUTS BIG BUCKS IN THE HANDS OF 1 firm. Already running the Military health care prescription and medical end.
They are tied to Medicare, in fact provider only needs to bill Medicare and Medicare passes it on to TRICARE LIFE. The are admined out of the same offices.
TRICARE LIFE Retired Military over 65 just received this noticed, takes effect 4/14/2014!
DOD MANDATE is forcing us to use either Base whose drugs are limited by size of base and is not wheel chair or handicap friendly or Express Scripts MANDATED Tricare Life. starts this month. 4/14/14. Express Scripts is a sorry excuse of a provider. You never know if your order is right, what generic, what manufacture, or what country. All thrown up on your porch for the local thieves and meth makers to steal. Or Neighborhood kids to access.
YOU WILL LOSE YOUR PHARMACY THANKS TO NEW DOD BUDGET MANDATE!
This is a letter it went to ALL drug stores too. ALL MAINTENANCE DRUGS are drugs you take daily! NO WAY AROUND IT, SOME DRUGS, YOU TAKE TO TREAT A CONDITION BUT JUST USE AS NEEDED COME UNDER THIS, JUST BE WARNED ES IS NOT THE BEST ROUTE TO GO. READ THE COMMENTS BEFORE YOU DECIDE TO ALLOW THEM ACCESS TO YOUR BANK OR CREDIT CARD INFO.
Meet Express Scripts
Express Scripts Extortion Scheme Widens
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2009/09/express_scripts_breach.html
Express Scripts complaints
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/rx/express_scripts.html
ES Customer Service ranking
http://www.customerservicescoreboard.com/Express+Scripts
Express Scripts RIP OFF
https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/directory/express-scripts
ES buys out Medco
29 Billion
http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20120402/NEWS/304029961
Pentagon Outlines Increased Tricare Fee Proposal
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2014/03/05/pentagon-outlines-increased-tricare-fee-proposal.html?comp=7000023317828&rank=1
0bama to Force Military Families Away From Tricare ...By Tripling Their Fees. Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare.”
State Side Tricare Service Centers Closing April 1
http://m.military.com/daily-news/2014/01/14/stateside-tricare-service-centers-closing-april-1.html
Tricare PRIME
http://www.armytimes.com/article/20130802/BENEFITS06/308020011/DoD-silent-major-changes-Tricare-Prime
2 links
Starting Oct. 1, the Pentagon plans to reduce Tricare Prime service areas to within a 40-mile radius of active or former military installations, forcing 173,000 retirees and their family members to switch to Tricare Standard or seek a waiver if they live within 100 miles of an existing network.
The decision will affect retirees and their dependents in Prime, and those on Tricare Young Adult Prime. That totals 98,771 people in the Tricare South
Air Force MiCare
http://www.military.com/military-report/air-force-micare?ESRC=miltrep.nl
DoD silent on major changes to Tricare Prime
http://www.armytimes.com/article/20130802/BENEFITS06/308020011/DoD-silent-major-changes-Tricare-Prime
Proposed TRICARE FEE CHANGES
http://www.military.com/benefits/tricare/retiree/proposed-tricare-fee-changes.html
CBO: The military is getting squeezed for domestic spending cash
http://www.humanevents.com/2014/02/26/cbo-the-military-is-getting-squeezed-for-domestic-spending-cash/
My step daughter had a decent small car, the bio fuel caused the check engine light to come on because the catalytic converter is fouled by the crappy plant based big fuel. You just up plug the check engine, replug and you are set to go a few hundred miles more. Until it does it again. Since she is Midas’s IT geek for their local shop, they did it for her before she got a hybrid.
Tap the adjustment screw out and then replace it with a slotted one. Tune it for 300hp.
This is approaching 12% of GDP. Imagine if that money had been invested in wealth creation!
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