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Red Tape Rising


Washington, June 15, 2011 -

The crushing burden of more and more regulations from Washington (400 new rule-makings due to the Dodd-Frank Act alone) has led one columnist to conclude that if the United States enters another depression, “the likely reason will be new financial rules.”
If through ineptitude and inattention the federal government imposes a regulatory structure that crushes our financial system, not only our jobs and prosperity are threatened, but even our national strength and sovereignty.

The Dodd-Frank Act passed last year increases government control over the economy to an unprecedented degree, with hundreds of new regulations.  Americans realize that too many federal government regulations are a greater threat to our economy than too few.  The results of a recent Resurgent Republic poll find:

By a margin of 55 to 36 percent, voters are more concerned that the federal government has too many regulations that will hurt the economy, rather than too few regulations to hold private business accountable.

The growing concern Americans have about regulations comes at the same time the Obama Administration is dramatically increasing the number of regulations being imposed on America’s job creators:

Based on data from the Government Accountability Office, an unprecedented 43 major new regulations were imposed by Washington [in FY2010].  And based on reports from government regulators themselves, the total cost of these new rules topped $26.5 billion, far more than any other year for which records are available.  These costs will affect Americans in many ways, raising the price of the cars they buy and the food they eat, while destroying an untold number of jobs.

It should be noted that this report did not include the hundreds of new Dodd-Frank regulations that were “in the pipeline” at the time the report was written.

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