Well, we can’t say he didn’t warn us. After the November 2010 elections when the President’s party lost control of the U.S. House, Barack Obama told America that where he can’t legislate, he will regulate. In the last year, he lived up to that pledge, and now he’s promising to do even more of it in 2012. With 2011 coming to a close and the President about to embark on an election year, he is unabashedly showing his cards and telling America that he’s going to enact his agenda, whether the legislative …
As the debate swirls around regulations and jobs, it is refreshing to hear a businessman weigh in on the issue. This week, the CEO of Darden Restaurants, Clarence Otis, Jr., wrote that the excessive burden of new regulation makes it “increasingly difficult for businesses to see why and where creating new jobs makes sense.” Otis heads the parent company of Olive Garden, Red Lobster, and LongHorn Steakhouse, so his experience creating jobs in the private sector is extensive. Unfortunately for Darden Restaurants and other businesses around the country, Otis notes …
Congress could move a step closer to rejecting the Federal Communications Commission’s plan to regulate the Internet this week when the Senate considers a resolution targeting the agency’s net neutrality rule. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) introduced the measure, S.J. Res. 6, to halt the FCC from implementing the regulation. The Congressional Review Act gives lawmakers the authority to overrule regulations from government agencies. Hutchison’s resolution simply states: “That Congress disapproves the rule submitted by the Federal Communications Commission relating to the matter of preserving the open Internet and broadband …
Steve Jobs, the late Apple founder and digital pioneer, told President Obama in a 2010 meeting that his anti-business attitude and enthusiasm for federal regulations could spell doom for his re-election bid, according to an upcoming biography of the iconic entrepreneur. Jobs specifically cited a number of impediments to job creation and future economic growth, including onerous business regulations and stubborn teachers’ unions preventing reform of the country’s education system. The Huffington Post, which obtained an advance copy of the book – titled “Steve Jobs” – said the man “seemed …
The soon-to-be-effective ban on traditional incandescent light bulbs creates more concerns than just the forceful shift of market shares; it also raises questions regarding individual freedom and even general well-being. Howard Brandston is a renowned lighting designer who has over 50 years of experience and an impressive project record: To date, he has designed over 2,500 projects, one of which was the 1984 relighting of the Statue of Liberty. When Brandston makes a statement about the relative quality of the two types of light, as he did in The New …
When Bank of America announced a new $5 debit card fee in late September (along with a slew of other banks), President Barack Obama condemned it, and yesterday some Democrat Members of Congress called on Attorney General Eric Holder to launch an investigation. Unfortunately, they’re setting their sights on the wrong target. Instead of taking banks to task for the new charges, they should focus their attention on the “Durbin Amendment” to the Dodd-Frank financial regulatory reform law, authored by Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL). This week, five House Democrats sent a letter to Holder …
Various organizations and media outlets have attempted to refute the notion that government policy is creating uncertainty and hindering economic growth. However, when properly analyzed, the uncertainty argument is a legitimate one. Critics of the uncertainty narrative say that businesses cite poor sales – or lack of demand – not taxes or regulations, as the biggest hindrance to growth. A recent blog argued that the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB)—the leading small business association—cited that over the past three years, a plurality of its members – 30 percent – …
The newly created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) took a step forward today to getting its first director, as the Senate Banking Committee voted 12–10 to confirm Richard Cordray in the post. Even before the vote, however, President Obama raised the stakes. Referring to Bank of America’s decision to impose a $5 debit card fees, he declared that “this is exactly why we need somebody whose sole job it is to prevent this kind of stuff from happening.” The White House later tried to back off the President’s threat of …
First they came for the donuts, and few dared to defend partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. Then they came for the soft drinks, declaring high-fructose corn syrup verboten. Now they’re after lima beans, peas, and corn, moving us ever closer to a national diet of tofu and kale. “They,” in this latest case of dietary despotism, is the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). As required by Congress, the agency recently proposed stricter nutrition standards for school-based breakfast and lunch programs. More than 98,000 elementary …
