Surely 24,000,000 man hours of time spent complying with government regulations will stimulate the economy, right? According to a report by the GOP Conference,
The Committee [House Committee on Financial Services] calculates that from the 185 rules written (of the 400 rules required by the 2,300 page law), it will take more than 24,000,000 (yes, million) man hours to comply with the regulations. For more details, go here.
This regulatory burden means businesses will now be spending 24,000,000 man-hours complying with government regulations (and this is only some of the regulations in Dodd-Frank); hours that could be invested in business pursuits that might actually stimulate the economy. No one, other than perhaps federal regulators, will find compliance to be stimulative.
This is really only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the regulatory burden this administration and the Democrats have inflicted on American businesses. The Heritage foundation published a major report in 2011 entitled “Red Tape Rising: A 2011 Mid-Year Report.” I recommend reading the entire report, but the bottom line is,
Following a record year of rulemaking, the Obama Administration is continuing to unleash more costly red tape. In the first six months of the 2011 fiscal year, 15 major regulations were issued, with annual costs exceeding $5.8 billion and one-time implementation costs approaching $6.5 billion. No major rulemaking actions were taken to reduce regulatory burdens during this period. Overall, the Obama Administration imposed 75 new major regulations from January 2009 to mid-FY 2011, with annual costs of $38 billion
Coupled with having the highest corporate tax rate in the developed world, these regulatory burdens emanating from the alphabet soup of government agencies makes it increasingly difficult for businesses to operate profitably in the U.S. Sadly, the Obama Administration has chosen to effectively do nothing to reduce this regulatory burden or tax burden. It is little wonder the economy is sputtering.
















