Free Republic

I just knew something was going to go wrong. Even though I had my paperwork in hand, all 4,327 pieces of it – which I needed to prove that I was indeed an American, and did indeed have a driver’s license from Pennsylvania that was legit – I knew, somehow, when I got to the BMV – that being Bureau of Motor Vehicles as they call it here in Ohio – that it would not go smoothly. And I was correct. All I had to do was change my license over from PA to Ohio. That’s it. First, being the...

I recently began walking around my neighborhood carrying a bag and picking up animal waste. Which is to say, “we got a dog.” Or maybe she got us.It has been several years since we had a pet. And it’s not as easy to get, or keep, a dog as it used to be. Time was, you waited until a neighbor’s dog had puppies and you took one home. That’s how literary heroine Emily Elizabeth got Clifford the Big Red Dog, for example. Not anymore.Daisy is, of course, a “rescue dog.” Because every dog these days apparently has to be. And...

President Obama has overseen a dramatic expansion of the regulatory state that will outlast his time in the White House. The reach of the executive branch has advanced steadily on his watch, further solidifying the power of bureaucrats who churn out regulations that touch nearly every aspect of American life and business. Experts debate whether federal rulemaking has accelerated under Obama, but few dispute that Washington — for better or worse — is reaching deeper than ever before into the workings of society. “It would be difficult for anyone to pretend that this isn’t a high water mark in terms...

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) put out a press release today promoting the savings to consumers from Obamacare in 2012. The department claims that the average consumer receiving a refund will get about $100 as a result of rules on how insurers must spend premium dollars. The press release contains the following curious characterization of ineligible expenses health insurers might incur: Created through the Affordable Care Act, the rule requires insurers to spend at least 80 cents of every premium dollar on patient care and quality improvement. If they spend a higher amount on other expenses like...

Here are three things the Obama administration has done that you probably didn’t know about: Ever struggle with those accordion-style rubber sleeves on nozzles at the gas station? The sleeve—technically a “vapor recovery nozzle”—was required by the EPA to keep gasoline vapors from leaking into the air. But most cars and trucks now have technology that does the job better, so last year the EPA abolished the nozzle requirement. Because each sleeve-equipped nozzle can cost as much as $300, the change will save gas stations thousands of dollars. Ever apply for financial aid for a child heading for college? Until...

Fred Deluca, the founder of privately-held Subway Restaurants, said government regulations are hurting small businesses and that this environment has prevented entrepreneurs from creating value in the market. "If I started Subway today, Subway would not exist," Deluca told CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" Wednesday. (VIDEO AT LINK) Deluca said the environment for entrepreneurs in the U.S. has "continuously gotten worse because there are more and more regulations. It's tough for people to get into business, especially a small business." Effects of Obamacare The Subway founder pointed to a number of government regulations that are degrading the business environment for...

Calif. mayor charged for drunken fit over milkshake, report says (CBS) ATWATER, Calif. - Craig Mooneyham, who was filling in as mayor of Atwater, Calif., is accused of throwing a drunken fit over a $7 milkshake, CBS Sacramento reports. According to the station, witnesses say the mayor was so mad about having to pay $7 for a banana milkshake, he started cursing and nearly got into a fight. "He was just throwing the f-bombs and pretty much everything else," Liliana Gracian, an employee of Fosters Freeze, a fast-food chain, told the station. Mooneyham reportedly swore he was overcharged for extra...

The nation is in recession. Home foreclosures continue to wreck lives, unemployment (when counted honestly) remains in the mid-teens, business startups are in virtual retreat. But not to worry, the president and the leaders of Congress are working on an agreement to raise real taxes and maybe, just maybe, to cut the projected increase in future spending a bit. Ooh. What a relief. Have none of this nation’s leaders, and none of the mainstream media, ever taken an econ class? Haven’t they even played back their own speeches from as recently as a year ago? What on earth are they...

It’s been two weeks since Hurricane Sandy killed 113 people, wiped out portions of towns, and knocked out power to millions. It has also been two weeks since Barack Obama pledged, “No bureaucracy. No red tape.” However, according to multiple public and private sources, unions and union-related red tape are causing workers from out of state to be turned back, as well as workers contracted by FEMA, as well as tons of supplies, already in New York and New Jersey to sit idle—at a cost of millions to taxpayers. It has already been well publicized though the Daily Caller how...

Janet Sluizer knew she was taking a bit of a chance when she turned to Craigslist this summer to find a tenant for her apartment in the Mission.What she didn't expect was that she'd be spending thousands of dollars in a struggle to evict a roommate who she says hasn't paid rent beyond the first month. "This is a nightmare,"Sluizer said. It's a nightmare that landlord advocates say is all too common in SanFrancisco, where 64 percent of residents rent. .....According to [Janan]New[executive director of the San Francisco Apartment Association], a combination of confusing rent ordinances and an abundance of...

Representative Mike Kelly, speaking on the House floor today, managed something very rare in the history of the institution – he got a standing ovation. Applause is usually forbidden in the house, but Kelly‘s blistering attack on regulatory red tape and Washington’s culture of control was apparently so powerful that several of his fellow house members couldn’t resist showing their support, clapping, standing up and shouting “USA! USA! USA!” Would you applaud this way? See Kelly’s speech below and decide for yourself:

History may give Obama a few different monikers, but according to a well-known report by the Heritage Foundation, he may be best known as the Red Tape President. Facing an increasingly disenchanted electorate, the president who campaigned on hope seems to be fashioning a political noose created by his own red tape. Last year Obama chief of staff Bill Daley faced an angry crowd of manufacturers who complained that the red tape imposed by Obama’s regulatory policies was killing business and jobs, especially in manufacturing. Daley called the regulatory policies “indefensible,” and implied that relief was on the way. Several...

Federal regulators are keeping America from moving forward. From recent news stories, my colleagues at Engage America have calculated that federal red tape has squelched at least 779,203 potential jobs. If these positions were filled, today’s unemployment rate would fall from 8.2 percent to 7.7. While some of what regulators do is vital (such as preventing Americans from being poisoned by tap water or detonated by faulty automobile gas tanks), far more is costly, duplicative, or downright destructive. At worst, regulators who could call or visit citizens to help them obey the law instead order dynamic-entry raids — complete with...

To encourage innovation in Europe, policymakers should just keep out of the way, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has said. "I agree with the idea of streamlining and simplification. The only thing is that I would be much more extreme," he told EUobserver on Tuesday (8 May) on the sidelines of a conference in Brussels on EU innovation policy organized by global accounting firm Ernst & Young. "The most important thing that Europe needs to do to spur innovation is to eliminate barriers," he added. "To make it easier for investors and entrepreneurs to start businesses and to make it easier...

The Ten Scariest DMV Horror Stories There is a dark side to driving in the US, and it is known as the DMV. Listen to these ten tales of woe from Jalopnik readers and you'll get a taste of American bureaucracy at its worst. 10.) Counterfeiters get Mustang GTs Suggested By: frankiepoops What happened: Worst experience that I ever had was when the NY DMV decided that my title for my 1996 green Mustang was counterfeit, not the first time I registered it, but when I went back to put it back on the road after parking it for a...

Financial businesses — from banks to investment advisers — will spend 24 million hours a year to comply with the first 185 regulations to implement the Dodd Frank Act, according to the House of Representatives' Financial Services Committee.

Arlington, Va.—May the government force entrepreneurs to do useless things, like build extra rooms in their stores that they do not need and will never use, just to prove they are serious about their business? That issue is at the center of a major lawsuit filed today, January 19, 2012, in Minnesota State District Court by the Institute for Justice (IJ) on behalf of Verlin Stoll, the 27-year-old owner of Crescent Tide Funeral Home in Saint Paul.

Across the country, people seeking work in harmless occupations, including barbers, cosmetologists, dental hygienists, and even frog farmers, are forced to spend thousands of dollars and otherwise productive hours complying with regulations. The cost of state-imposed regulations in California alone was recently estimated at nearly $500 billion. Federal regulations have been estimated to cost $1.75 trillion per year, which is roughly 14 percent of total national income. All of these incredibly costly regulations slow economic activity and prevent the creation of jobs and wealth. Unfortunately, efforts to rein in excessive regulations have proven inadequate. The fundamental problem is that government...

Thanks to Illinois governor Pat Quinn and the Illinois legislature Illinois Loses Most Jobs in the Nation. In a trend that continues to worsen, more Illinoisans found themselves unemployed in the month of July. Illinois lost more jobs during the month of July than any other state in the nation. ... When it comes to putting people back to work, Illinois is going backwards. Since January, Illinois has dropped 89,000 people from its employment rolls. A combination of high taxes, overspending and red tape do nothing but chase away job creators and leave too many citizens without jobs. Springfield needs...

Oil: During the Age of Exploration, seafarers carefully guarded their maps of discovery to ward off plunderers. Incredibly, Exxon faces a similar kind of piracy against its big Gulf oil discovery, as regulators snatch at its permit. Make no mistake about it: American oil companies are operating in a great age of exploration comparable to the uncharted waters that Henry the Navigator, Christopher Columbus and Ferdinand Magellan sailed. Five hundred years after the Caribbean was explored, oil is being discovered in unheard-of quantities, 230 miles into the Gulf of Mexico in waters so deep its retrieval would have been impossible...