Posted by
I believe on Friday, July 20, 2007 3:20:31 PM
The Competitive Enterprise Institute recently released its Ten Thousand Commandments 2007: An annual snapshot of the Federal Regulatory State. Environmental, health, safety, and communication regulations increase costs for the American consumer and prohibit optimal economic growth.
Highlights from the study include:
Agencies spent $41 billion to administer and police the regulatory state last year
In the past eleven years, regulatory agencies issued over 48,000 rules.
The Department of Treasury, Agriculture, Interior, and Commerce, along with the EPA, account for 44% of the rules moving through the agenda pipeline
787 of the 4,052 regulations in the pipeline affect small businesses.
In 2006, the Federal Register contained 74,937 pages, up 1.4% from 2005’s 73,870 pages.
Agencies issued 3,718 rules in 2006, down 6% from the 3,943 rules issued in 2005
The detailed report covers all the basics, provides all the statistics, and even offers solutions for regulatory reform. Once again, the underlying theme in CEI’s report is “No Regulation without Representation.”
While the study most likely will not result in protestors dumping anything into the Boston harbor, author Clyde Wayne Crews Jr. insists that Congress take responsibility for regulatory reform. Congressional accountability begets transparency and will hold the government responsible for the future direction of the regulatory state.
cross posted on www.regwatch.org