Obama's EPA Regulatory Overreach in One Diagram

Under Obama, the EPA has disapproved state proposals at an astounding rate.   The number of regulatory disapprovals under Obama's first four years is greater than the number during the preceding 12 years combined.  Even more amazing is the number of times that the EPA has taken over state regulatory programs is eight times greater than that during the entire preceding 12 years (including four of those under Clinton).  The information was put together by the American Legislative Exchange Council.

The ALEC report documents the huge costs of the EPA's intervention and shows the trivial benefits produced by it.  Because the EPA has more mandates than it can handle, the EPA has replaced state participation with that of environmentalist groups like the Sierra Club.

"Voters pessimistic as Obama prepares for second inauguration"

Almost four years into a "recovery" and Americans are still uncertain about their economic future?

President Obama is entering his second term with many of the nation’s voters still pessimistic or unsure about their economic prospects, a new poll for The Hill has found. . . . 

Sixty percent say they do not expect to make major economic strides during Obama’s second term, compared to just 38 percent who expect to be better off in 2016.  

Despite the lingering pessimism about the trajectory of the nation’s economy, the poll does offer a silver lining for the president as he prepares to take the oath of office again — by a 2-to-1 margin, voters blame Congress, instead of him, for the nation’s woes. 

Fifty percent of those polled blamed Congress the most, compared to just 25 percent placing blame squarely at the feet of Obama. Another 10 percent apiece blamed voters and the media the most. . . .

Community College of Allegheny County slashes hours of 400 part-time workers to avoid Obamacare

Apparently it isn't just the "greedy" private for-profit companies that are cutting back employee hours.  The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has this story:

To Community College of Allegheny County's president, Alex Johnson, cutting hours for some 400 temporary part-time workers to avoid providing health insurance coverage for them under the impending Affordable Health Care Act is purely a cost-saving measure at a time the college faces a funding reduction. 

But to some of the employees affected, including 200 adjunct faculty members, the decision smacks of an attempt to circumvent the national health care legislation that goes into effect in January 2014. 

"It's kind of a double whammy for us because we are facing a legal requirement [under the new law] to get health care and if the college is reducing our hours, we don't have the money to pay for it," said Adam Davis, an adjunct professor who has taught biology at CCAC since 2005. 

Temporary part-time employees received an email notice from Mr. Johnson on Tuesday informing them that the new health care act defines full-time employees as those working 30 hours or more per week. 

As a result, the college as of Dec. 31 will reduce temporary part-time employee hours to 25 per week. For adjuncts, the workload limit will be reduced from 12 to 10 credits per semester. . . .

The coming regulatory explosion

Since July I have been warning about the coming onslaught of federal regulations.  Obama obviously didn't want these coming out during the campaign.  I believe that Obama has been delaying issuing new regulations until after the election.  From CNS News:

It’s Friday morning, and so far today, the Obama administration has posted 165 new regulations and notifications on its reguations.gov website. 

In the past 90 days, it has posted 6,125 regulations and notices – an average of 68 a day. 

The website allows visitors to find and comment on proposed regulations and related documents published by the U.S. federal government. "Help improve Federal regulations by submitting your comments," the website says. . . .

Remember Obama's claim about oil exploration during the Second Presidential debate that he was responsible for increased oil production.  Yet, immediately after the presidential debate we have this new regulation:

The Interior Department on Friday issued a final plan to close 1.6 million acres of federal land in the West originally slated for oil shale development. 

The proposed plan would fence off a majority of the initial blueprint laid out in the final days of the George W. Bush administration. It faces a 30-day protest period and a 60-day process to ensure it is consistent with local and state policies. After that, the department would render a decision for implementation. 

Related point: "The Top 3 Special Interests Expecting Favors During Obama’s Second Term," the payoffs to labor, environmental groups, and "green" energy companies. 

UPDATE: Finally, the WSJ gets up to speed on this point.  

Since Election Day, the Health and Human Services Department has submitted a raft of key health rules for White House review that it has been sitting on for months. . . . 

Financial services. According to a Davis-Polk analysis, only 133 or 33.4% of the 398 rule-makings the law firm estimates Dodd-Frank requires have been finalized. The law is ambiguous and other reviews suggest the figure could be closer to 500. As of November 1, some 132 rules haven't even been proposed, while the government has failed to meet 61% (or 144) of Dodd-Frank's legal deadlines. . . . 

Energy. In the lead-up to November, the Environmental Protection Agency stood down under White House pressure, delaying rules for ozone air quality and industrial boilers, and deferring carbon standards. Now EPA chief Lisa Jackson has the run of the place. . . . 

Economic potpourri. The National Labor Relations Board, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs are teaming up to rewrite employment, labor and workplace law. The FCC and the FTC are doing the same for the tech industry and Silicon Valley via investigations, audits and "oversight." The Agriculture Department is going after "illegally harvested plants." The Consumer Product Safety Commission has its eyes on . . . table saws. . . .

George McGovern explains why it is important for politicians to have some business background

Possibly this is something Mitt Romney should point to when Obama attacks him for being a businessman.  From the WSJ in 1992:

. . . In 1988, I invested most of the earnings from this lecture circuit acquiring the leasehold on Connecticut's Stratford Inn. Hotels, inns and restaurants have always held a special fascination for me. The Stratford Inn promised the realization of a longtime dream to own a combination hotel, restaurant and public conference facility--complete with an experienced manager and staff. 

In retrospect, I wish I had known more about the hazards and difficulties of such a business, especially during a recession of the kind that hit New England just as I was acquiring the inn's 43-year leasehold. I also wish that during the years I was in public office, I had had this firsthand experience about the difficulties business people face every day. That knowledge would have made me a better U.S. senator and a more understanding presidential contender. . . .

Democratic Businessman Steve Wynn, CEO of Wynn Resorts, again blasts Obama

Wynn might have been a loyal Democrat for many years, but he is holding nothing back in going after Obama (italics added).  From Real Clear Politics:

WYNN: I've created about 250,000 direct and indirect jobs according to the state of Nevada's measurement. If the number is 250,000, that's exactly 250,000 more than this president, who I'll be damned if I want to have him lecture me about small business and jobs. I'm a job creator. Guys like me are job creators and we don't like having a bulls-eye painted on our back.  

The president is trying to put himself between me and my employees. By class warfare, by deprecating and calling a group that makes money 'billionaires and millionaires who don't pay their share.' I gave 120% of my salary and bonus away last year to charities, as I do most years. I can't stand the idea of being demagogued, that is put down by a president who has never created any jobs and who doesn't even understand how the economy works. . . .

UPDATE: Wynn has continued to speak out on Obama.  CNSNews has this:

“I’m afraid of the president,” said Wynn.  “I have no idea what goofy idea, what crazy, anti-business program this administration will come up. I have no idea. And I have to tell you, Jon, that every business guy I know in the country is frightened of Barack Obama and the way he thinks.” . . .

CNBC has this:

"They're noticing in their homes...that their paychecks are shrinking in real time because of government irresponsibility and the management of this deficit," Wynn added. "It's killing the living standard of my employees, and that immediately affects their attitude at work." . . . 

So have Obama's regulations hurt the NYC financial industry?

So has Dodd-Frank and other Obama regulations hurt the financial industry?  Over the last year New York City's average weekly wages have dropped 6.3%.  But the biggest drop was borne by the financial industry.

Some news on the Economy: Small businesses angry with Obama and low wage jobs replacing higher paid ones

The National Federation of Independent Businesses and the National Association of Manufacturers has a new poll by Public Opinion Strategies that surveyed 800 small business owners and manufacturers.  Those surveyed were C-level decision makers at companies with between 2 and 499 employees.  Some of the key findings are:

Fifty-five percent of small business owners and manufacturers would not have started their businesses in today’s economy.

69 percent say President Obama’s regulatory policies have hurt their businesses

67 percent say there is too much uncertainty in the market today to expand, grow or hire new workers.

69 percent of small business owners and manufacturers say President Obama’s Executive Branch and regulatory policies have hurt American small businesses and manufacturers.

55 percent say they would not start a business today given what they know now and in the current environment.

54 percent say other countries like China and India are more supportive of their small businesses and manufacturers than the United States.

Since only 46 percent of poll participants are identified as Republicans, there are a lot of Democratic or Independent small business owners who are not to thrilled with Obama.

The findings were summarized this way:

“There is far too much uncertainty, too many burdensome regulations and too few policymakers willing to put aside their egos and fulfill their responsibilities to the American people,” said Jay Timmons, president of the National Association of Manufacturers, which commissioned the poll along with the National Federation of Independent Businesses. “To fix this problem, we need immediate action on pro-growth tax and regulatory policies that put manufacturers in the United States in a position to compete and succeed in an ever-more competitive global economy.” . . . 

“Instead of smoothing the way, our government continues to erect more barriers to growth through burdensome regulations that increase costs for small businesses and all Americans,” NFIB president Dan Danner said. . . .

More evidence that the new jobs are paying a lot less than the ones that were lost.  From the Chicago Sun Times:

The report, authored by Marc Doussard, assistant professor in the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s Department of Urban and Regional Planning, defines low-wage workers as those making $12 an hour or less. 

The report revealed the share of payroll employees ages 18 to 64 working in low-wage jobs rose from 23.8 percent in 2001 to 31.2 percent last year. That’s a more than a 30 percent rise in the proportion of such workers. 

Meanwhile the share of households with a low-wage earner that got all income from low-wage earnings rose from 45.7 percent to 56.7 percent. That’s evidence more people are relying more on those dollars to meet basic needs rather than for disposable income. . . . .

CEOs are lowering their predictions for the third quarter GDP.

Citing uncertainty over the impending “fiscal cliff” and lower demand overseas, an association of CEOs from top companies on Wednesday dropped its growth expectations for the third quarter to the lowest level since the middle of the Great Recession. 

The Business Roundtable lowered projections for sales, capital spending and hiring in its latest CEO Economic Outlook Survey to the lowest level since 2009. 

The fiscal cliff — an end-of-the-year deadline for a long-term budget deal between Republican and Democratic lawmakers — has businesses putting off hiring and spending decisions, because they don’t know what to expect in the coming months and years, said Jim McNerney, the CEO of Boeing who also heads the Business Roundtable. . . . 

Of course, the Q2 GDP number is now in at 1.254% annualized growth rate.  That is incredibly anemic for a "recovery" and shows that over the last few quarters the economy has been slowing down.  Durable goods orders has also fallen off a cliff (see the Dept of Commerce discussion here).

August durable goods orders plunged -13 percent.  The consensus was  -5.0 percent.  It's the biggest drop since January 2009.  Everyting except eletrical equipment orders showed declines. . . . 

More on the drop in household income:

o The August 2012 median annual household income of $50,678 was 5.7percent lower than the median of $53,718 in June 2009, the end of therecent recession and beginning of the “economic recovery.”
o The August 2012 median was 8.1 percent lower than the median of $55,131 in December 2007, the beginning month of the recession that occurred more than four years ago.
o The August 2012 median was 9.0 percent lower than the median of $55,688 in January 2000, the beginning of this statistical series. . . . 

Obama administration's policies responsible for shutting down hundreds of coal fired power plants

This so-called "war on energy" by the Obama administration is replacing cheaper energy with much more costly forms. From the Daily Caller:

“This is further evidence that EPA is waging a war on coal, and a war on affordable electricity prices and jobs. EPA continues to ignore the damage that its new regulations are causing to the U.S. economy and to states that depend on coal for jobs and affordable electricity,” said Mike Duncan, president and CEO of ACCCE, in a statement. However, ACCCE notes that EPA policies may have played a role more than 4,800 megawatts of announced closures not included on in their report which would bring total shutdowns to 241 coal generator in 30 states — more than 36,000 MW of electric generation or 11 percent of the U.S. coal fleet. The most affected states include Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina, which will see a combined 103 coal-fired generators shut down. . . .

Yet another ranking of competitiveness showing that the US has dropped dramatically over the last few years

From Fox News:

The United States’ reputation as home to one of the world’s freest economies continues to decline, according to an international report released Tuesday.The U.S. dropped to 18th worldwide, compared to 10th in 2008 and third from 1980 to 2000, the 2012 Economic Freedom of the World report found. The findings are based on information through 2010.
“The U.S. is on the wrong track,” said co-author James Gwartney, a Florida State University economics professor.
He says the 48-page report shows countries with the freest economies grew more rapidly and achieved higher income levels for citizens, while the United States' decade-plus course of government expansion, increased debt and regulation and other moves created a “system of crony capitalism.”
“The declining economic freedom rating of the U.S. provides confirmation of this trend,” Gwartney concludes.
The report, published in the United States by the libertarian-leaning Cato Institute think tank, again ranks Hong Kong first among 144 countries, followed by Singapore, New Zealand and Switzerland.
The U.S. also ranked behind Finland and Denmark – “two European welfare states,” the study authors also pointed out. . . .

Obama increases regulations by 7.4% during his first three years

This would imply that Obama could increase regulations by 10 percent or so since he became president.    That is pretty incredible given that Obama has only been president for 5% of the time since Roosevelt became president.  From CNSNews:

Over the past three years, the bound edition of the Code of Federal Regulations has increased by 11,327 pages – a 7.4 percent increase from Jan. 1, 2009 to Dec. 31, 2011. In 2009, the increase in the number of pages was the most over the last decade – 3.4 percent or 5,359 pages.
Over the past decade, the federal government has issued almost 38,000 new final rules, according to the draft of the 2011 annual report to Congress on federal regulations by the Office of Management and Budget. That brought the total at the end of 2011 to 169,301 pages.
That is more than double the number of pages needed to publish the regulations back in 1975 when the bound edition consisted of 71,244 pages. . . .
Randy Johnson, senior vice president of labor, immigration and employee benefits at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, distributed a handout of a Congressional Research Service analysis of a 2008 study commissioned by the Small Business Administration that estimated the annual compliance price for all federal regulations at $1.7 trillion that year.
Seventy percent of the regulations were economic, accounting for $1.236 trillion of the annual cost. The other regulations were, in order of cost, environment regulations ($281 billion), tax compliance ($160 billion) and occupational safety and health and homeland security ($75 billion). . . .

US's competitiveness ranking has slipped from 1st in 2008 to 7th in 2011

Unfortunately, the article doesn't mention where we were ranked number 1 by the World Economic Forum from 2004 to 2008.  From the Wall Street Journal:

Northern European countries topped the overall ranking of a global competitiveness report released Wednesday by the World Economic Forum, as the United States slipped for the fourth year in a row. . . . .
This year's survey showed the U.S. fell to seventh position from fifth in the global ranking but the country remains an innovation powerhouse and its markets work efficiently, the WEF said.
Switzerland took the top post for the fourth consecutive year, while Singapore remained in second position followed by Finland, overtaking Sweden which dropped to fourth place. . . .

See more on the WEF ranking here.  A copy of their latest report is available here.

The Heritage/WSJ rankings are available here: 2007 (p. 9), 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012.

Democrats' mindset: "The Government Is The Only Thing We All Belong To"

Washington's heavier hand in the tech business is changing who these companies have as directors

These directors would have previously been people who would know something about the tech business.  Now they are people who can help with government regulations.  This is just a measure of how much more involved the Federal government has gotten in tech businesses in just a few year period of time.  From the WSJ:

. . . The latest sign of the tightening Valley-Beltway connection came in June when local search service Yelp Inc. tapped former White House press secretary Robert Gibbs to join its board of directors. Online-payment company Square Inc. added former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers to its board last year. Other start-ups say they are hunting for similar board recruits.
 Political figures from former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to former Vice President Al Gore have been part of the Bay Area intelligentsia for years, often as advisers to large venture-capital firms or through university affiliations. Large tech companies such as Microsoft Corp., Google Inc. and Facebook Inc. have also staffed up on Washington insiders in recent years as regulatory scrutiny on them has intensified. Facebook added Erskine Bowles, former White House chief of staff, to its board last year.
Smaller companies are now getting in the game as they become tangled in policy issues ranging from privacy to antitrust to financial regulation.
"They are containing the threat early," says Dennis Carey, vice chairman of recruiting giant Korn/Ferry International. Mr. Carey says young tech companies are getting ahead of potential scrutiny partly to gain credibility with potential investors before an initial public offering. Mr. Carey says he has several assignments for companies looking to add someone with Washington experience to their boards, though he declined to name them. . . .

Obama's disapproval highest among Business Owners

It isn't too surprising that business owners so oppose Obama so intensely.  What is interesting is that manufacturing and production workers have the same percentages as managers and executives.  Is Obama really working to end class warfare?  From Gallup:

Although business owners represent just a small subset of the U.S. population, they are of course a critical component of the economy and overall economic optimism in the country. If business owners become more positive about Obama and his plans for the economy, that could potentially boost his approval ratings and broader U.S. economic confidence closer to the levels necessary for him to be well positioned for re-election. Conversely, further deterioration in his approval rating among business owners could certainly add to the perception that Obama is not doing enough to bolster small businesses in the country. . . .

Is the press protecting Obama?: Obama's controversial comments

Destructive Flash Mob at Walmart in Jacksonville Florida

Do these individuals realize that they will drive businesses out of minority neighborhoods? Many people will pay higher prices from this destruction. One wonders if Obama's rhetoric that businesses are these greedy people who haven't worked hard encourages this type of behavior. This Walmart was apparently just two miles from a house party that police had broken up earlier in the evening. A newspaper story is available here:

A huge house party broken up by police in a North Jacksonville subdivision didn't end there Saturday night as hundreds of young partygoers ignited a flash mob at the Lem Turner Road Walmart Supercenter.

They caused havoc that was recorded and posted on YouTube until Tuesday afternoon, while one person reported being shot during the party.

The Sheriff's Office said investigations into both are "active and ongoing." The shooting is being investigated by the aggravated battery unit detectives while patrol officers follow up on the Walmart incident.

Walmart spokeswoman Dianna Gee said she learned of the incident Saturday night, then spoke with the shift manager at the 12100 Lem Turner Road store. She said the YouTube video is being reviewed, and that the employees did as they were trained by steering clear of the chaos and calling police.

"The actions of these teenagers was deplorable and put at risk the safety of innocent bystanders, staff and customers," Gee said. "We are committed to assisting law enforcement in any way we can to identify the people responsible for the commotion, including acts of vandalism and thefts at the store." . . .

New Fox News piece: Obama needs a history lesson on business and the US

My newest piece starts this way:

According to President Obama, his administration has been pro-business, indeed one of the most pro-business administrations ever. Yet, on Friday, in Roanoke, Virginia, Obama admonished those opposed to higher taxes on business: "If you’ve got a business -- you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen."

What a slap in the face to all those Americans who built successful businesses. And Obama wonders why businesses are afraid to invest, when he uses such rhetoric.

Obama, during his presidency, regularly has called Wall Street executives “fat cats,” bondholders “speculators,” and accuses doctors of giving patients unnecessary and harmful surgery.

He has regularly blamed private companies rather than the government for the financial crisis. Indeed, the only blame he gives to the federal government is that there wasn’t enough regulation.

Even for liberal New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg Obama's attacks have at times been too much: “[Obama’s] bashing of Wall Street is something that should worry everybody.” . . .

President Obama: "If you’ve got a business -- you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen."

Transcript from a talk in Roanoke, Virginia on July 13, 2012:

So I’m going to reduce the deficit in a balanced way. We’ve already made a trillion dollars’ worth of cuts. We can make another trillion or trillion-two, and what we then do is ask for the wealthy to pay a little bit more. (Applause.) And, by the way, we’ve tried that before -- a guy named Bill Clinton did it. We created 23 million new jobs, turned a deficit into a surplus, and rich people did just fine. We created a lot of millionaires.
There are a lot of wealthy, successful Americans who agree with me -- because they want to give something back. They know they didn’t -- look, if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own. You didn’t get there on your own. I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out there. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something -- there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there. (Applause.)
If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business -- you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didn’t get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet. . . .

Someone should really educate Obama about the history of the United States. A lot of states in the US didn't have public education until the 1870s, and yet they had literacy rates around 96 percent. Public universities got started well after private universities did, and so the vast majority of our colleges were originally private. That even the subways in NYC were originally built and operated privately until government price controls (a 5 cent maximum fare) and "capturing" of existing private lines. You had private highways in the US up until 1916.

"Mechanics of President Obama's Proposal to Raise Taxes on the 'Rich'"

TaxProf has a nice collection of links on Obama's tax the rich proposals available here.

Possibly one of the more interesting points that he links to is from the Tax Foundation:

The president and his economic team tend to dismiss the impact that such as tax hike will have on business activity because only 2 or 3 percent of taxpayers with business income are taxed at the highest rates.

While this statistic is true, the more economically meaningful statistic is how much overall business income will be taxed at the highest rates. For example, Treasury data for 2007 indicates that 50 percent of all pass-through income is earned by taxpayers subject to the top two tax brackets of 33 percent and 35 percent. . . .

No matter how you cut the data, the fact is that hiking the top individual income tax rates would amount to one of the largest single tax increases on individually owned businesses in modern history and a threat to the long-term economic health of the nation.