Filed under: Domestic Policy, News of the Weird, Politics, Statism | Tags: Credit Card Companies, Moms Need Co-signers, Regulation and Red Tape
Oh dear, those wise elites in government really don’t think the ordinary folk who pay their salaries are very bright. They are so anxious to protect us from ourselves. Lawmakers apparently believe that Visa, Mastercard and Discover and might not have the incentive to properly manage their own credit risk. If not aided by new regulations from Congress, people might run up more debt than they could repay — like the elected officials who have run up the national tab by$1.2 trillion just this year.
The Federal Reserve Board has issued the specific regulations called for in the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act (CARD). I love the way the acronym comes first, then they figure out the name. The name is a little odd for a regulation that prohibits private companies from acting independently.
Federal Reserve Governor Elizabeth Duke declared the new rules to be a milestone in the effort to ensure that consumers who rely on credit cards are treated fairly.
It’s that old bugaboo “consequences.” The law is widely interpreted as prohibiting millions of stay-at-home-moms, and stay-at-home-dads from obtaining credit cards of their own. The “ability to pay” regulation requires credit card applicants to have an independent source of income to open an account or else find a co-signer.
(a) General rule. (1)(i) Consideration of ability to pay. A card issuer must not open a credit card account for a consumer…unless the card issuer considers the ability of the consumer to make the required minimum periodic payments under the terms of the account based on the consumer’s income or assets and current obligations.
(ii) Reasonable policies and procedures. Card issuers must establish and maintain reasonable written policies and procedures to consider a consumer’s income or assets and current obligations…It would be unreasonable for a card issuer to…issue a credit card to a consumer who does not have any income.
Homemakers actually do most of the household purchases, and over 45,000 of them have signed a petition of protest that has gone to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. It’s really special being regarded as incompetent.
Filed under: Economy, Progressivism, Capitalism, Statism, The United States | Tags: Federal Jobs Programs, Incompetent, Free the Private Sector
President Obama is worried about unemployment. He keeps bragging that his administration has created 4 million jobs in the last two years, numbers that are dwarfed by the 88,319,000 Americans who have given up looking, and given up hope.
A big part of the problem is that Obama believes that his administration created those jobs, and that jobs are actually created by government training programs. “There are no fewer than 49 federal job training programs administered by nine agencies that cost taxpayers some $14.5 billion in 2010. A General Accountability Office performance audit in 2011 looked at fiscal year 2009 and determined that ‘only 5 of the 47 programs have had impact studies that assess whether the program is responsible for improved employment outcomes,’”according to the Wall Street Journal.
Of the five programs studied, the positive effect “tended to be small, inconclusive, or restricted to short-term impacts.” A 2011 Department of Labor study found that the benefits of job training under one of the most extensive efforts, the 1998 Workforce Investment Act, “were small or nonexistent.”
GAO reports in the 1990s, in 2000 and in 2003 had similar conclusions, finding that multiple programs duplicated efforts, ran up costs and produced few benefits. The reports did little to stem mission creep.
From 2003 to 2009, Congress added three more programs and spending rose by $5 billion. Don’t laugh, but two more programs have been added since, though spending is down slightly because of the end of the 2009 stimulus.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) defines “Green Jobs” as 1. jobs in businesses that produce goods or provide services that benefit the environment or conserve natural resources or 2. jobs in which workers’ duties involve making their establishments production processes more environmentally friendly or use fewer natural resources.
So lawnmower salesmen and sprinkler salesmen would count as “green jobs,”nurserymen, city street sweepers, smoke jumpers, farmers, I’m not being creative enough here—the official definitions are so broad and nonspecific that almost anything could be included.
The BlueGreen Alliance is an advocacy group that combines labor unions and environmentalists — which received a $6 million job-training grant from the stimulus. In spite of having spent nearly $3 million so far, the Alliance has only placed 16 workers in jobs that lasted longer than six months. Why do they insist on government programs?
Free up the private sector, and see how job creation is properly and profitably done.
Filed under: Capitalism, Democrat Corruption, Economy, Election 2012, Liberalism, Politics, Progressivism, Statism | Tags: Economic Damage, Kills Business and Jobs, Overregulation
American businessmen complain about government regulation. President Obama is quite sure that they are mistaken, but he is a progressive and regulating comes as naturally as breathing. “During Obama’s first three years, 105 major federal regulations added more than $46 billion per year in new costs for Americans. This is more than four times the number and more than five times the cost — of the major regulations issued by George W. Bush during his first three years,” according to a study by the Heritage Foundation.
In January 2011, President Obama announced —with much fanfare — a new get-tough policy on overregulation. He acknowledged that “rules have gotten out of balance” and have had a chilling effect on growth and jobs. He pledged a comprehensive review. But the flow of regulation continued with 32 new major regulations in 2011 that increased regulatory costs by almost $10 billion annually along with another $6.6 billion in one-time implementation costs. Mr. Obama cites removing the regulation that designated a spill of farm milk as a hazardous oil spill, as a major accomplishment. But that seems to be the only one.
Dodd-Frank and ObamaCare add hundreds of new regulations. Neither Congress nor the Administration keeps track of the total number and cost of regulation. During 2011 the administration completed a total of 3,611 rulemaking proceedings according to the GAO, of which 79 were classified as major — meaning that each had an expected economic impact of at least $100 million per year. Thirty-two of those put new limits or mandates on private sector activity. Only five major actions decreased regulatory burdens.
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In an environment where increased regulation is considered to be a public good, states and municipalities do their share of regulating. The Institute for Justice explains in the following video how licensing can restrict the entrance to many occupations. In many cases, it’s just bureaucratic busybodying, in others those already in an occupation hope to cut back on the competition by making it harder to work in their field. It’s quite a racket. And very hard on those who just want to establish a small business, but can’t afford the required licensing regulations.
There was quite a bit of publicity a while back about hair-braiding in the African-American community. It is really an art, and takes long practice, with beautiful results. Beauticians, however, took exception to people without a beautician’s license taking away what might have been some of their business. Beauty schools are expensive, take quite some time and don’t teach that kind of hair-braiding. They teach hair cutting and curling, coloring and tinting —that sort of thing, which the hair braiders don’t do. I don’t know how it turned out, nor in what states it was a problem, but I hope the hair braiders won.
In Washington state, Interior Designers have fought a battle to disqualify anyone from being called an Interior Designer, who hasn’t had the requisite schooling and passed certifying examinations. It has been on the ballot twice and lost both times, but they will keep trying to eliminate the competition.
Emergency Medical Technicians save lives with their training and skills. It seems absurd that licensing requirements for many simpler jobs should be so much more costly and involve more time..
It is not the nature of governments at any level to remove or repeal regulation. They’re there to make law, not get rid of old, unworkable or unwieldy regulation. It is going to take citizen involvement and a lot of pressure to help make it happen. The statist web of controlling regulations and requirements can eventually paralyze a society. That is what has happened to Europe. The free market that would save Europe is never tried because the vast web of governance is too entrenched to relinquish control.
Filed under: Domestic Policy, Economy, Freedom, Law, Statism, Taxes | Tags: Compulsive DoGooders, Opposed to Liberty, Regulation and Red Tape
The Stamp Act of 1765 was a was a tax that the British Parliament imposed on their colonies in British America. Printed materials such as magazines, legal documents, newspapers had to be produced on stamped paper made in London that carried an embossed revenue stamp. The tax had to be paid in valid British currency, not in Colonial paper money, and its purpose was to help pay for the British troops stationed in America.
The British government thought that the colonies were the prime beneficiaries of the military presence and should pay at least a portion of the expense. It was a last-straw of sorts, and both colonists and British Parliament got their respective backs up. Protests, opposition, even from British merchants and manufacturers. The Act was repealed, but Parliament emphasized their power in a series of new taxes and regulations also opposed by the colonists. Well, we know where that led.
Massachusetts, unfamiliar with their own history, has decided to outlaw school bake sales. Out with the cupcakes and cookies. No selling tasty goodies to make a bit of money for the benefit of the kids. Some bureaucrat thinks there are too many calories. No holiday parties, no celebrations, no door-to-door candy sales, and no goodies at football games. Parents are angry.
New York City’s Nanny Bloomberg has ordered homeless shelters to refuse any donated food that isn’t nutritionally “assessed.” He would rather see the homeless go hungry than eat officially unapproved food. City hall says that it cannot analyze food that organizations have been donating for years, so the shelters must turn the food away. A new document from the bureaucracy dictates serving sized, salt, fat and calorie limits, fiber minimums and condiment recommendations. Many of the city’s churches and synagogues would drop off freshly cooked surplus food from church events.
Bloomberg has already banned smoking in all commercial locales and the serving of trans fats in all city restaurants — though no one has found trans fats unhealthy.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has been tasked with devising stricter regulation of appliance labels. The agency intends to prohibit manufacturers from hanging yellow EnergyGuide labels from clothes washers, dishwashers and refrigerators. Instead adhesive labels will be required. The labels must be attached by the manufacturer, be easily removable with just water, but of significant adhesive so they will stick until the purchases removes them (size, adhesiveness, paper weight, and peel adhesion capacity are all specified). They haven’t decided whether to require “QR” codes that can be read by a smartphone.
This is all because the Government Accountability Office conducted surveillance at 30 stores in 2007, and 26% of the products had no EnergyGuide label. I believe I have read elsewhere that the EnergyGuide labels are largely hooey, but the labels must be there. U.S. Customs and Border Protection are proposing to turn away imports of any consumer products and industrial equipment that do not have the proper labeling.
Governor Christine Gregoire (D-WA) has decided that physicians should be required to prescribe generic drugs, and if they wanted to prescribe brand name drugs would have to go through a lengthy procedure to get permission.She does, I believe, have a law degree — she was Attorney General before winning the governor’s office, but as far as I know, no medical training whatsoever.
Liberals do these things for your own good, you see. They know what is best. They don’t think you are very smart or you would be doing these good things for yourself. It’s compulsive. When they give you all the good things that they bestow in order to win your vote, those things cost money. So in order to cut costs, they have to force you to follow their guidelines.
If you look at Obama’s “Life of Julia” and consider all the “beneficial things” that Obama has done for Julia in that light, Julia’s life doesn’t look quite so attractive — if you found it attractive in any way. If Julia doesn’t take advantage of the good works, you can bet that some bureaucrat will see that she does.
Democrats are perpetually discontented. They don’t like things the way they are, they want something different. They form their committees and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) so they have a larger voice in order to try to fix everything according to their lights. Liberty is not on their agenda. For Obama, leaving the individual citizen alone —without government help —is inconceivable. Yet this is a deep misunderstanding of the American people. America was founded by people trying to escape government regulation and government interference in their lives. We are a people hostile to committees and bureaus and bureaucrats.
The first thing a bunch of Democrats do is form a committee.
Filed under: Domestic Policy, Education, Health Care, Progressivism, Statism, Taxes | Tags: Dependent on Government, Government Can Take Away, Whatever Governent Gives
The Obama campaign came up with “The Life of Julia” to extoll all the wonderful things that Obama was doing for an ordinary woman throughout her life, by making her completely dependent on the government.
Republicans had a wonderful time mocking this scenario that was so ripe for parody and ridicule. Google has 2,700.000 entries just for the last 4 days.
One of the best was The Life of Zachary, her son, compiled by Nicole Gelinas of City Journal— imagining how the next generation will fare in the Obama administration’s scenario. Enjoy.
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Filed under: Communism, Economy, History, Politics, Statism | Tags: 100 Million Dead, Absolute Power Corrupts, Ignorance of History
Professor C.Bradley Thompson speaks on “Why Marxism?” Why, indeed? Every time it has been tried, it ends with the government slaughtering its own people. They start off with Utopian dreams and end up with 100 million dead, ruined economies, desperate people and an assortment of concentration camps, reeducation camps and gulags. What possible appeal can there be? Ignorance of history, no understanding of consequences and a yearning for absolute power.
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Filed under: Democrat Corruption, Domestic Policy, Health Care, Law, News the Media Doesn't Want You to Hear, Politics, Statism | Tags: Naive and Arrogant, Obama's Implementing It Anyway, The Affordable Care Act
The Obama administration is not going to await the Supreme Court decision on whether the Affordable Care Act should stand. They are busy at work to ensure that the president’s health care law is implemented. The White House has allocated half a billion dollars to the IRS to put ObamaCare in place. The Hill reports that :
The Obama administration is quietly diverting roughly $500 million to the IRS to help implement the president’s healthcare law.
The money is only part of the IRS’s total implementation spending, and it is being provided outside the normal appropriations process. The tax agency is responsible for several key provisions of the new law, including the unpopular individual mandate.
The Hill also reports that the White House is spending other funding allocated under ObamaCare.
The law contains dozens of targeted appropriations to implement specific provisions. It also gave the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) a $1 billion implementation fund, to use as it sees fit. Republicans have called it a “slush fund.”
HHS plans to drain the entire fund by September — before the presidential election, and more than a year before most of the healthcare law takes effect. Roughly half of that money will ultimately go to the IRS.
HHS has transferred almost $200 million to the IRS over the past two years and plans to transfer more than $300 million this year, according to figures provided by a congressional aide.
How does the money get spent? There are all sorts of new taxes and fees in ObamaCare, and the IRS is responsible for collecting those as well as for enforcing the mandate. The IRS wants to hire 300 new employees next year, and has requested funding for another 537 new employees to administer ObamaCare’s new subsidies for low-and-middle income individuals to purchase insurance.
HHS plans 133 new ObamaCare-related rules as of last fall. Rulemaking related to ObamaCare legislation concerns more than 150 federal agencies, bureaus and commissions. Rules are changing faster than regulators can write them down. Administrators have granted nearly 2,000 waivers to the new regulations, and the long-term care program CLASS, has been dropped as unworkable.
Obama has demonstrated over and over that he has no respect for the Constitution, nor for the separation of powers. He considers the Court and Congress to be impediments to his plans that must be conquered. He has no intention of meekly obeying direction. He is the One, and he intends to get his way.
Filed under: Capitalism, Economy, Energy, Europe, Junk Science, Liberalism, Statism | Tags: Collapsing Solar Industry, European Carbon Market, Rising Energy Bills: Collapsing Solar
The carbon market in Europe — cap-and-trade — is in freefall. The prices of emissions allowances, which award the holder the right to emit carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, have fallen to a record low this week, down 11% from the beginning of the year, They now trade at less than one-fourth of their July 2008 value. Hopes that other nations would fall in line with the EU program have been dashed, and there is no global consensus.
Recession on the continent has cut back on emissions, and the prolonged economic slump casts doubt on whether the EU can continue to bolster prices on the carbon exchange. Carbon dioxide is not a pollutant. Life on earth flourished for hundreds of millions of years at much higher levels than we have at present. We are currently near the bottom end of the scale, not the top. Greenhouses regularly keep their CO2 levels around 1000 ppm. Plants grow better at higher levels, and are more resistant to drought.
IPCC supporters have been frustrated at the lack of computer-predicted warming, though there has been some warming , perhaps about 0.8 degrees Celsius, since the end of the Little Ice Age in the early 1800s, but the timing of the warming suggests that a tangible amount of the warming comes from natural causes and has nothing to do with factories or SUVs.
Germany decided last year to slash the market prices it forces utilities to pay for renewable energy sources, and to cut the subsidies that have locked German taxpayers into €100 billion in handouts to the solar industry. The Germans, being a northern race, have had a long love affair with the sun, but there are limits. They have found that their heavily insulated houses are featuring more mold and mildew. Germany produces nearly half of the world supply of solar energy.
The green manufacturing that was supposed to be the planet’s salvation is just as susceptible to low-cost competition as other industries. Instead of creating a sustainable comparative advantage, German subsidies invited competition, and the rivalry that is now putting their solar industry out of business.
Italy is taking notice and are cutting back on ‘excessive” subsidies for solar and wind power. The Obama administration has shown no signs of such good sense, but we may have lucked out. Solar Trust last year received a conditional commitment for a $2.1 billion loan from the Department of Energy, but declared itself insolvent after its German parent Solar Millennium filed for bankruptcy in March, and Q-Cells, another German solar company filed for bankruptcy this week. Solarhybrid, and Solon went out of business earlier, and according to one analyst, more bankruptcies are on the horizon. Consumers can expect a $260 hike in their energy bills.
The administration’s recovery.gov website lists five pages of other solar projects, with current and future loans worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Even after the Solyndra debacle and all the other bankruptcies, Washington boosters still insist that these projects are the key to America’s economic and energy future. They just believe.
The belief in “renewable energy” is religious in nature, and not susceptible to contrary information. Solar and wind remain beautiful dreams with no more substance than a rainbow. And the dream of cheap, unlimited power from “natural” sources is like chasing the end of the rainbow looking for the pot of gold.
Filed under: Democrat Corruption, Election 2012, Liberalism, Politics, Progressivism, Statism | Tags: Associated Press, Demagoguery, President Barack Obama
Obama delivered a luncheon speech today to the Associated Press. It was so absolutely dreadful that you just have to laugh.
Obviously the White House is in full panic mode after the president’s perfectly awful week last week. It hadn’t occurred to them that it was possible that ObamaCare could possibly be struck down. Nobody expected Obama to be selling out the country in a whispered conversation caught by a hot mic. And the president’s budget request was shot down without even a single Democrat vote.
Obama has railed against the Supreme Court, reminding them that they must observe precedent and not go ruling against him. Now he’s taking on Paul Ryan’s Path to Prosperity. The nasty Republicans are threatening to “spend $4.6 trillion on lower tax rates.” This reveals the president’s mindset. Allowing people to keep more of their own hard-earned money is “spending.” Government taking more of the peoples’ hard-earned money to spend on current government enthusiasms is “investing.”
“Investments in clean energy technologies that are helping us reduce our dependence on foreign oil would be cut by nearly a fifth. ” Be still my beating heart! A fifth is not nearly enough. All our clean energy technologies are not reducing dependence on foreign oil one whit. Our “clean energy” technologies are wind and solar which make small amounts of electricity, Foreign oil gets refined into gasoline for transportation. There is no reason for us to be dependent on foreign oil. We have plenty of our own. Perennial lie.
Medicare and Social Security are both on a path to destruction. Both programs were devised in the expectation that rising birthrates would always supply the country with a larger crop of young workers to support the old folks when they reached the age for Social Security and Medicare. And the great increase in the number of babies following World War II made that seem like a good bet.
But the Baby Boom was followed by the baby bust. Now the 76 million Baby Boomers are reaching retirement age, and Medicare is already running in the red. The very first Boomers began retiring last year, and their numbers will increase dramatically every year until 2025. Boomers represent 26% of the American population.
Democrats’ approach is to pretend all is well and accuse the Republicans of “trying to end Social Security and Medicare as we know them.” It’s not easy to totally ignore 26% of the population, but Democrats are working on it. If we address the problems now, we can save the programs. As Paul Ryan says:
For four years the President has refused to honestly confront the most predictable economic crisis in our history. Instead, he has accelerated the nation toward this looming debt-fueled crisis with reckless budgets, always accompanied by partisan speeches that seek to divide the nation in order to distract from his legacy of broken promises. If he thinks there is no political price to pay for this total abdication of leadership, he is due for a rude awakening.
The president says early in his speech “So I believe deeply that the free market is the greatest force for economic progress in human history.” which he immediately modifies by saying that “through government, we should do together what we cannot do as well for ourselves.”He falls back on what seems to be his campaign theme: “Or are we better off when everyone gets a fair shot, and everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same rules.”
Consider that last statement. How does that work? How do you give everyone ‘a fair shot?’ Much as Obama wants to imply that government can guarantee that everyone be treated equally — it can’t be done. The Soviets claimed they were going to do that and ended up killing 25 million of their own people. How do you insure that everyone does their fair share, make all those slackards work harder? And everyone play by the same rules? You cannot say that on the one hand and then demand that the rich who pay most of the taxes pay even more. It’s a contradiction in terms. We have the most progressive tax system in the OECD. Pretty, persuasive propaganda, but complete nonsense.
Obama even hauls out the old canard about “trickle-down” economics — the name Democrats gave to Supply-Side economics, the successful program that gave the country nearly 30 years of prosperity. Or don’t you remember 20% interest rates? Obama said “In this country, broad-based prosperity has never trickled down from the success of a wealthy few.” I wonder if he ever had any class in economics.
When free people are able to keep more of their own money the result is prosperity. Government has never made anyone prosperous —except for those favored few who are rewarded by government “investment” in their programs, like the millions that have just happened to flow to Obama’s bundlers who have an interest in those renewable clean energy companies that Obama is “investing” taxpayer money in. I would urge you to buy John Steele Gordon’s An Empire of Wealth, a book that should be in everyone’s library. It is an economic history of American prosperity, and an exciting, rewarding read.
Here’s the transcript of the President’s worst speech ever. You really should read it to understand the depth of his demagoguery, and what we can expect in the upcoming campaign. Guy Benson takes on the speech and inserts a few uncomfortable facts that Mr. Obama would prefer to ignore.
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Filed under: Capitalism, Democrat Corruption, Economy, Energy, Junk Science, Politics, Statism | Tags: Chasing Rainbows., Environmental Protection Agency, Junk Science
President Obama was speaking in Ohio a couple of weeks ago on one of his many campaign swings, and he said quite specifically:
We also need to keep investing in clean energy like wind power and solar power.
And as long as I’m President, we are going to keep on making those investments. I am not going to cede the wind and solar and advanced battery industries to countries like China and Germany that are making those investments. I want those technologies developed and manufactured here in Ohio, here in the Midwest, here in America. (Applause.) By American workers. That’s the future we want.
The president has picked three industries and is arguing for an industrial policy to subsidize them — in part, just because other countries are subsidizing them. This is the same president who argues that we must remove such subsidies from our tax code. If he wants to subsidize wind and solar power because he wants to accelerate the development of carbon-free alternatives, then he should make that argument. These edicts bypass the legislative process, but Obama has little interest in the legislative process unless it backs him on whatever he wants to do. Without their cooperation, he’ll just do it on his own. He’s president. Who’s going to stop him?
Germany, in the meantime, is cutting their subsidies for solar energy. Their solar cell manufacturing companies are going bankrupt, and Germany is turning to coal for energy. The Germans are paranoid about nuclear energy, though the French, next door, are committed to nuclear energy. Obama, on the other hand, is not only not up on what other countries are doing, but he simply does not change his mind:
If someone wants to build a new coal-fired power plant they can, but it will bankrupt them because they will be charged a huge sum for all the greenhouse gas that’s being emitted.
Candidate Barack Obama, 2008
We were warned. This week the out-of-control bureaucrats at the EPA announced a set of proposed rules designed to target greenhouse gas emissions. If enacted, these rules will essentially destroy the coal industry. Under the proposed rules, new power plants will be required to emit no more than 1.000 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt hour of electricity. Coal plants average 1,768 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt. Natural gas plants already meet this requirement, but if a utility wants to burn coal for electricity, it will need to install carbon capture technology— which is very expensive.
The EPA stresses that the new rules would apply only to new plants, but nobody believes that. David Doniger, climate program policy director at the Natural Resources Defense Council notes that the Clean Air Act will undoubtedly make it inevitable that the EPA will tackle existing coal-fired plants. Mr. Doniger promises “We look forward to reaching an agreement with EPA on a schedule for completing the standard for new sources and developing standards for existing sources. Excuse me, but who elected the Natural Resources Defense Council to have any voice in official policy? And the American people have no voice?
Isn’t this the very same Barack Obama who was out on the campaign trail bragging about his “all of the above” energy policy, because people are upset with high gas prices? The “all of the above” claim was clearly a lie. But there is an enormous problem here. Coal-fired power plants produce 45 percent of our electricity. These EPA standards effectively bans new coal-fired plants, and will lead to higher energy costs as the country is forced to switch to natural gas for base-lead supply. Coal is our cheapest energy source, and the United States is the “Saudi Arabia” of coal.
The big problem is that the EPA seems determined to shut down coal plants first, assuming that Obama’s new green energy will replace it. That will not happen. Both wind and solar require 24/7 backup from a regular power plant. Manufacturing states like Michigan are particularly dependent on coal, with 70 percent of the state’s electricity needs coming from coal. Carbon capture technology is still ‘under development.’ Expensive and not available. The natural gas industry is historically very volatile. The natural gas industry has discovered vast new resources in the U.S. but that exploration is coming under assault from the EPA.
This misguided ideological thrust is heading into unknown territory of brownouts and blackouts. Our need for energy in increasing at the same time that Obama is waging war on cheap available fossil fuels. The lack of any significant warming for over a decade makes it more difficult for the warmists to demonize CO2. CO2 is not, contrary to EPA claims, a pollutant. Life on earth has flourished for hundreds of millions of years at much higher CO2 levels than we see today. Increasing CO2 levels would be a net benefit, because plants grow better and are more resistant to drought at higher CO2 levels. Nations that have plentiful supplies of cheap, abundant fossil fuels are far more prosperous and healthy than those without.
The administration has decreed that by 2020 — in just eight years—we are to get 30% of our electricity from “renewable resources.” The current amount that we get in total pow from renewable resources is just 8.2%. So the nation that is the world powerhouse of cheap, abundant fossil fuels — oil, natural gas and coal — is supposed to dump those and depend on windmills and solar shingles that cannot exist without huge governmental subsidy and full time backup by—fossil fuel power plants.
That makes sense only if you are a failed president who needs the backing of the big environmental organizations like the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Sierra Club and the others who are all awash in money.
Filed under: Domestic Policy, Fun n Games, Law, Liberalism, Politics, Progressivism, Statism | Tags: Big Government Failure, Government Red Tape, Regulation
The heavy hand of Big Government has descended upon swimming pools. The Justice Department has deemed to regulate all pools in the mindless effort to be “fair” — this time to the disabled, to make sure they have access, even to those things to which they have no wish to have access. The DOJ says this will cost $ 1 billion over each of the next 15 years. Here’s Heritage’s brief description.
The new rules require (for the first time) that swimming pools, wading pools, and spas—some 300,000 of them—be made “accessible” for the disabled. But the folks who actually own the pools have no say in how to comply. On the contrary, the government dictates every detail (e.g., “A transfer space of 60 inches minimum by 60 inches minimum with a slope not steeper than 1:48 shall be provided at the base of the transfer platform surface and shall be centered along a 24 inch minimum side of the transfer platform.”)
These regulations were published on September 15, 2010, after a rulemaking that stretched six years. Shortly thereafter, manufacturers began furious production of the various components needed to retrofit pools. Hotels and the like were racing to meet the compliance deadline despite lacking clarity on key elements of the regulation.
The regulators clearly have no comprehension of the nature of swimming pools. Your typical municipal pool serves many purposes. Swim lessons for kids, and for all ages. Competition swimming for swim teams, competition diving. Lap swimming for swimmers who want exercise. Water exercise classes. Red Cross safety swimming lessons from beginner through life saving. Water ballet. All that before you get down to ordinary swimming which involves exercise, play, cooling off, teaching babies to swim.
The city where I live in the Pacific Northwest has a population of just over 122,000, lots of parks, nestled between two lakes. It has one indoor city swimming pool that serves multiple populations, including all of the above. It is usually crowded, busy, and heavily chlorinated. The times that you can use it depend on your particular need.
A number of years ago, a group of citizens who had disabled members requested facilities for the disabled. The building housing the pool was enlarged to accommodate another pool, and a special pool was built with gentle ramps. The pool is shallow, probably 4 feet in the deep part, with good hand rails. The water is kept at a warmer temperature than the active pool. Cost was high with the new building. redesigned facilities and redesigned parking lot.
The city also has a YMCA, a number of private swim clubs, and in recent years a proliferation of health clubs, many of which have pools for members. There is some pressure on the city to build another city pool, as the existing one is really too busy.
Even the pool specially built for the disabled serves many purposes: there’s a baby swim class for mothers and babies, and a water movement class, aside from whatever classes they have for the disabled. It is a nice pool, and well designed for its uses. The rules would require the city to retrofit the other pool, unused by the disabled.
The disabled can move more easily in warm water, and can move in ways that they cannot outside the pool. Regular use is therapeutic. What they do not need is to be in a crowded swimming pool with all sorts of swimmers and splashers. My grandmother was badly crippled with arthritis, but could swim (slowly with a gentle side stroke of sorts) in warm water and it was very beneficial.
Some 120 regulations taking effect in the past year require enhanced accommodations for disabled individuals at 65 different types of public and private facilities—encompassing 7 million privately owned sites and 80,000 units of state and local government—including stadiums; convention centers; auditoriums; airport terminals; public parking facilities; theaters and concert halls; jails; prisons; bowling alleys; fishing piers; amusement parks; hotels, motels, and spas; restaurants; stores; health care clinics; and office buildings (to name a few).
Pools were required to be in compliance by March 12, 2012. But the DOJ came up with another rule about how lifts were to be attached to pool decks that meant that many pools that had retrofitted had to do it over, so they got a 60 day extension.
There are hot spring pools throughout the Rocky Mountain West that are were open to the public. Retrofitting as the DOJ demands is probably more than they can afford.There are several books available listing hot springs in the West with pictures and facilities described. The vast majority will probably have to shut down. The vast majority have probably never had a disabled customer — because they are not “disabled accessible” or because there is no interest? I don’t know the answer to that.
I do know that the kind of facilities that truly serve the needs of a disabled person require more than a lift. They require a little intelligence from the rulemakers. and some understanding of the nature of swimming pools. One rule for all may be “fair” from the view of the rulemakers, and devastating to the people.
