Obama’s Regulatory Tyranny Stifles Economic Growth

The Obama Administration has imposed new regulatory tyranny costing $46 billion annually, with nearly $11 billion more in one-time implementation costs. That is about five times the cost of regulations imposed during the first three years of President George W. Bush’s administration, but the burden is even higher. The unbridled regulatory orgy perpetrated over the past three years helps explain why the economic recovery has been so slow and job creation so anemic.

In January 2011, Obama said that “rules have gotten out of balance” and “have a chilling effect on growth and jobs.” And he’s right. Where the President breaks with reality is his words. In fact, to hear Obama tell the story, you would think he’s a champion of slashing red tape and that his Administration has set its sights on slashing overregulation.

Case in point, just two months ago, in his 2012 State of the Union address, President Obama claimed that “I’ve approved fewer regulations in the first three years of my presidency than my Republican predecessor did in his.” But looking at the sheer number of regulations doesn’t truthfully tell the story. While it’s true that the Obama Administration approved 10,215 regulations in its first three years, just slightly less than Bush’s 10,674, it’s important to look at what those regulations are and their impact on the American people and industry, and how their costs have vastly overshadowed those of the prior administration.

Over just the last year, the Obama Administration has added 32 regulations that together impose more than $10 billion in annual costs and $6.6 billion in one-time implementation costs. Those regulations include mandates covering a broad range of activities and products, ranging from refrigerators and freezers to clothes driers to air conditioners, limits on automotive emissions, employer requirements for posting federal labor rules, product labeling, health plan eligibility under ObamaCare, and higher minimum wages for foreign workers. The most expensive regulation came from the Environmental Protection Agency, which added five major rules at a cost of more than $4 billion annually.

In much the same way that high taxes hamper investment and innovation, escalating regulatory costs undermine the American economy.

But regulations are not just a problem for businesses. American workers and their families have been hit hard by the persistent lack of job creation that results, in part, from regulatory excess. Meanwhile, regulatory costs are passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices and limited product choices.

On top of the thousands of regulations the Obama Administration has already implemented — costing America billions of dollars — more are on the way, promising to continue to drag down the economy and hamper job growth.

Until right-thinking leadership replaces the “Lyin’ King” Obama and takes action to get this regulatory burden under control, we will be subjected to more of the same as the President continues his agenda to destroy the greatest republic ever from within.

***Ed Randazzo, is a nationally syndicated author. He has been a conservative activist and consultant for over 30 years and is currently the Chief News Editor of Life and Liberty Media***

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