Obama's Regulatory Expansion Saps Business Growth

While the economy shrinks faster than the president's approval ratings, at least Barrack Obama can boast of growth in one area: regulatory agencies.  Under his leadership, the federal regulatory regime has intruded into nearly every aspect of the lives of individuals and of American business.

Since 2008, the annual budgets of federal agencies have skyrocketed 15 percent, while the economy stumbles along with Gross Domestic Product  (GDP) growth of less than two percent this year.  The annual taxpayer bill for this regulatory excess tops $54 billion.

Payrolls at federal regulatory agencies have increased 13 percent since Obama moved into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.  That's a net addition of 281,000 government jobs.  Meanwhile, private-sector job growth has dwindled since 2008, even with microscopic gains this year.

The Progressive Policy Institute studied the issue and found that in a one-year period federal regulatory jobs rose faster than either private or government payrolls.  This shameless expansion has gone unnoticed by most Americans because the mainstream media has covered up the issue to protect the president.

With so many new employees on the federal dole, they are discovering more ways to punish business.  In one single month this year, regulators unfurled 379 new rules that will cost businesses more than $9.5 billion, according to the Heritage Foundation.

In the Obama Administration's first 26 months, the foundation counted 75 new major rules that saddled businesses with $40 billion in additional expenses.  Of course, those costs are ultimately passed on to unwary consumers, who always blame businesses for price hikes instead of the real culprit, federal excess.

A study last year by the Small Business Administration estimated that the annual price tag of complying with federal rules and regulations was a staggering $1.75 trillion.  Small firms have suffered most.  Research revealed that these companies spend 38 percent more per employee than large firms on federal regulatory compliance.

Unfortunately, Washington agencies are just getting warmed up.  The Federal Register estimates that there are more than 4,200 new regulations in the government pipeline.  And there is no end in sight because legislation passed by the Democrat controlled Congress the last two years created more superfluous agencies.

For example, the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is hiring at a frenzied pace.  The agency, spawned by the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010, plans to add 1,200 people based in Washington with satellite offices in New York, Chicago and San Francisco.

The bureau has opened its doors for business, despite not having a director.  The president has nominated former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray to the post.  However, his appointment must be confirmed by the Senate.

Republicans and businesses plan to oppose the nomination as a way of neutering the agency.  In signalling its opposition, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce warned that the new agency is a "potent threat to the price and availability of credit" for businesses and consumers.

That warning will go unheeded by a White House unconcerned about the harm federal regulations are causing the economy.  Obama and his team of Big Government advocates keep dreaming up new ways to burden businesses and cripple economic expansion. 

This from a president who claims he is preoccupied with creating jobs.  Based on the evidence, Barrack Obama's idea of job growth involves enlarging the federal bureaucracy at the expense of the private sector, while sticking taxpayers with  the bill.