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QUOTE #1 One egregious result was that, inevitably, literally every thing either animal, vegetable, or mineral in the nation, was subjected to an incomprehensibly massive collection of ridiculous, even self-contradictory laws, the sheer mass of which is so voluminous that no single man can even lift it off of the ground.

QUOTE #2 There is no government regulation, no matter how plausible it initially appears, that will not eventually be applied by some bureaucrat in a way that defies common sense.

QUOTE #3 During the Second World War, raw materials soared 482%.

First of, thanks for posting this rant...there is a scary amount of truth in his musings. Now to the collection of quotes I have snipped out. As a veteran of the spotted owl wars, I currently serve as the prey base of numerous State and federal agencies. We are to the point here in California where the cost of acquiring and complying with timber harvest permits now equals or exceeds the value of the timber. This situation has all but collapsed California's timber industry, with many companies selling off their California lands and shifting their operations to more business friendly climates ... like New Zealand, Canada and Australia. So in my own limited experience in dealing with the one sixth of the work force that suckles at the government teat, I can tell you that regulating everything as stated in quote 1, inevitibly leads to the reality of quote 2.

My question to you Cicero (and others) is: given that excessive regulation has pushed commodity production off-shore, are we now in a situation in which we can't capitilize on increases in commodity prices? If regulation is preventing production, doesn't it stand to reason that reducing regulations is the only way out of the mess we are in? I find it odd that regulation ... especially environmental regulation... has become the third rail of american politics. To even question it is to invite criticism and personal attacks...and nobody wants to talk about it.

"...and nobody wants to talk about it."

I'm worn right down to the nub from talkin about it! Nobody wants to HEAR it! We all have a right to speak freely, but nobody has to listen!!!

To even question it is to invite criticism and personal attacks...and nobody wants to talk about it.

I guess this confirms it; I must be a nobody.

Thanks for the flag..Excellent piece..I even notice the mandatory "this is not Bush's fault" post early on...but HE is the president so it is HIS

What hit men in the article was this quote

But bonds is a slam-dunk. The official rate of inflation is at 2.5%, and there are some people, mostly those whose custodians only allow them access to crayons and blunted scissors, who even believe that lowball figure. Not me, personally, you understand, but others do

Now the liar in chief had the method of caculating inflation changed so that the cost of living raises to workers and retirees would not be as "high"

Removed (if I remember correctly) were all those things we REALLY use daily, monthly..like gas , electric , phone and groceries..they were replace with the REAL things that cause inflation..cell phones , computers, TV's..etc)

It was an obvious coverup of REAL inflation and no move has been made by the republicans to change it..

Now to your issue. The drop in the home grown commodity market is just one more shift of the american dollar out and making us more dependent on and competing with the world market..

This my friend is the New World Order..