Posted on 11/15/2012 6:09:04 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Sen. Harry Reid, in a floor speech Tuesday:
Republicans "have yet to produce a single shred of evidence that the regulations they hate so much do the broad economic harms they claim. That's because there is none," said Reid, the Senate majority leader from Nevada.
In a Senate speech, Reid said the Bureau of Labor Statistics has concluded "only a tiny fraction of layoffs have anything at all to do with tighter regulation."
"Last year, only three-tenths of 1 percent of people who lost their jobs were let go principally because of government regulation or intervention," Reid said. "On the other hand, a quarter of them were laid off because of lack of business.
The Heritage Foundation’s James Gattuso explains the statistic:
The numbers come from the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), which, in cooperation from state authorities, tracks mass layoffs, defined as layoffs of 50 or more workers for 31 days or more. In each case in which such a “mass layoff” is identified, state authorities interview the employers involved, asking them (among other things) the reason for the layoffs. For the third quarter, BLS reported that 0.3 percent of respondents listed “governmental regulations/intervention” as the reason…
It appears to be a simple process, but it’s actually quite tricky. The first problem is that economic hardship does not come with labels. Employers know if their costs are rising but not necessarily whether it is due to new burdens imposed on their suppliers or other factors. They may know that they didn’t get the capital they needed but not if it was because investors had better opportunities or because of government financial rules. They will know if demand has slumped, but it’s not so clear whether it was because their product is valued less by the marketplace or because government rules choked off demand from customers. The actual causes are likely to be mixed.
But even if government interviewers could identify with precision the reasons for mass layoffs, that would tell us little about why unemployment is so high. Mass layoffs are only part of the job loss picture—job losses don’t always come 50 or more at a time. Most small businesses don’t even have 50 employees.
But where Reid and others really miss the mark, however, is in assuming that job losses are the problem, rather than a lack of job creation. As argued by my colleague James Sherk, layoffs spiked early in the recession but then they fell sharply. Since late 2009, gross job losses in the economy have actually been below their pre-recession levels. In fact, in 2010 there were fewer gross job losses than any time since the government began tracking these figures in 1992. Unemployment remains high because the economy has not been creating jobs. Last September, for instance, employers hired only 4.2 million new workers—a million fewer monthly new hires than before the recession.
Let’s lay aside the fact that it is job creation that’s most of our problem and that all the layoffs we’ve been hearing about lately seem to be Obamacare regulation-related.
Sen. Harry Reid, meet the people you think don’t exist. A boutique, local, organic, artisan maker of cured meats is closing in Denver thanks to a USDA regulation that would require him to taint his all-natural, Old World methods for making his product in order to comply:
“In August, the USDA imposed additional requirements on Il Mondo Vecchio’s production methods. After two months of sharing information and collaboration back and forth between Il Mondo Vecchio and the USDA as well as various attempts to modify the production methods,” the owners announced, “Il Mondo Vecchio has determined that the impact of the regulatory requirements on dry cured sausage products was detrimental to the quality of the product and therefore, Mark and Gennaro are forced to close the[ir] doors.”
This conflict between modern regulations and traditional methods is something DeNittis thought for a time he could navigate.
“We adhere to Old World techniques of natural process while following New World regulations,” Il Mondo Vecchio’s website states.
When it comes to Old World methods, I think it would be hard to find a better example of a traditional, conscientious, sustainable, and local producer than Il Mondo Vecchio.
The product has, of course, never sickened anyone or faced any complaint, and Denver foodies will count it a loss to their community. This is, literally, the war on bacon.
And, one man’s dream, his livelihood, his community, and his employees are poorer for it. But by all means, keep piling them on, Harry.
of course he is bat s%#t crazy..
But he has a point.
Have they?
Have they made the case that they do?
Parade a bunch of small business owners in front of them. Ask them how much time and money they spend on compliance issues vs their actual business. Hand Reid a copy of economist Hernando de Soto’s book, “The Bell Jar” in which he looks at how the regulatory state in South America is holding back economic growth there.
I wish Reid would suffer Herod’s fate.
That this cretin got to lead the Senate shows how far this country has fallen.
sounds like a good idea. but the point of my post is that Reid is right. They have not done what you suggest.
One thing I just found out today at work is a nice little nugget tucked in the Dodd-Frank bill. They have classified gold, tungsten, and titanium as conflict metals. All our suppliers now have to certify that none of these metals are “conflict” metals. It is a huge compliance issue for us with all the wiring and pcbas
Retard.
No they don't tina. Cheaters do. Do a little bit of research on how he got re-elected. Obama learned from Reid.
Communist Enablers File.
Our senate Moron-in-Chief heard from.
I understand. I use copper wire day in and day out. My point was not that the regulations do not cripple business. They do.
My point was Reid said the republicans have provided no proof.
To that I say Reid is correct. They have not.
If you combined the brains of nanzi pelousy and hair-brained reid you’d be damned lucky to find two functional brain cells. Same with most libs.
Harry Reid has nothing to do with reality....
He does, however, serve to illustrate what is so aggravating about the left and the complicit media.
They can make the most outrageous claims, completely contrary to logic, experience, science, and the observable facts, and nobody ever calls them on it, in a public environment.
Bump
[insert low whistle here] Reid.............is certifiable.
The BLS statistics are probably correct, but Reid is not analyzing them correctly. While only a small percentage of job losses are a direct result of new regulations, here's the key point he missed: many of the jobs lost because of "lack of business" are lost when US companies cannot compete with competitors on the cost and price of their products because of the high overhead costs of regulatory compliance and are losing market share to competitors who are underpricing the company. This is how we lose millions of jobs to developing countries such as China, India, and Mexico. We lose them partly because of the high cost of regulation, which enables companies overseas to consistently underprice American companies and take our business and jobs. That's how most of the jobs are lost, because of market share lost to lower-cost competitors overseas, and this lost market share is that "lack of business" that Reid mentioned.
Now we don't want to repeal all of our workplace safety regulations and environmental regulations and become like China, where some companies have just dumped chemicals into farmland--chemicals which then ended up in the food supply. But we need to streamline regulations, eliminate unnecessary regulations and laws that are really designed entirely to enable lawsuits and give a fat political payback to trial lawyers, who are one of the democrat parties biggest financial backers. Harry and other democrats need to also consider the jobs that are never created because of people who decide not to start up their own business and hire some employees, because they don't want to deal with all the regulations, laws, and potential lawsuits. And believe me, I've talked to a lot of business people over the years and many, many people have decided to continue working for a corporation instead of starting their own business because they didn't want all the legal and regulatory hassles, regulatory costs, and stress resulting from all the laws and regulations in states like California. That regulatory burden on small businesses has cost us a lot of jobs over the years and will cause a continued slowdown in job creation if we don't cut back on the regulatory burden on American businesses.
Dirty Harry Reid had only one payroll job in his entire life.
He was a bagman for the Mob, picking up receipts from the brothels in Clark County, Nevada & bringing the money to the mob offices.
He has been a politician the rest of his adult life.
He doesn’t know even how to read a financial statement or a P/L sheet.
We are seeing the beginning of a huge change of employment in this country-—all due to the Liberals & Obama.
We are now getting the ‘change’ and there is no more ‘hope’ until Obama is gone.
Shame on Nevada.”””
Shame on Clark County——we hate Reid here in N Nevada.
Reid is a menace. Too bad he was allowed to paint Sharon Angle(sp?) as an “extremist nut job” in his last election bid. She could have won if she had more support.
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