Obama vs. Job Creation | Doug Bandow | Cato Institute: Commentary

Obama vs. Job Creation | Doug Bandow | Cato Institute: Commentary: "A number of steps could be taken to help slow the regulatory onslaught. The most important would be to withdraw government entirely from certain areas. For instance, Obamacare should be repealed. Washington has no business mandating what must be in health insurance plans and who should buy them. Too much of what Uncle Sam does is social engineering inappropriate in a free society.

Most everyone promotes "cost-benefit" analyses, but, warns Crews, "A problem with cost-benefit analysis, however, apart from it not being done and enforced, is that it largely amounts to agency self-policing. Agencies that perform audits of their own rules rarely admit that a rule's benefits do not justify the costs involved." At the very least such analyses should be carried out by a separate, independent agency.

Moreover, Crews suggests aiming more deeply, at improper delegation by Congress, which "should answer for the compliance costs — as well as benefits — of federal regulations." Regulations could require congressional assent before they go into effect. Rules also should automatically sunset unless Congress votes otherwise. Many authorizations likely would be perfunctory, but such a process would make it easier for future presidents and Congresses to review past federal actions."