Weakening government oversight results in workers being hurt, not hired

Originally published in the Reno Gazette Journal, 12/01/2011:

The idea that government regulations stifle job creation is as pervasive and dogmatic as the flat-Earth theory was in 15th century Europe. And it's just as wrong.

High standards hold reckless corporations accountable and help businesses succeed by doing the right thing. But corporations from BP to factory farms to the mining industry would shelve these basic values in the name of ever-increasing profits for their top executives. Our taking as gospel their narrative about government overreach is essential to ensuring the 1 percent retains its power. We're smarter than that.

Very few layoffs are caused by tougher rules to protect workers, the environment or consumers. The Bureau of Labor Statistics routinely asks executives the biggest reason why they lay off workers. Last year, only 0.3 percent blamed "government regulations/interventions." But 25 percent cited declining business demand.

Small businesses account for 65 percent of jobs in the US. Recently, McClatchy newspapers polled small-business owners throughout the country and asked them if excessive government regulations were preventing them from hiring more people. The results should make the Chamber of Commerce blush: "None of the business owners complained about regulation in their particular industries, and most seemed to welcome it."

Bruce Bartlett, an adviser to President Ronald Reagan and a Treasury official under President George H.W. Bush, said, "Regulatory uncertainty "» is a simple case of political opportunism, not a serious effort to deal with high unemployment."

Gov. Brian Sandoval recently asked the federal regulators to issue permits more quickly to largely foreign-owned multinational mining corporations. What would be eliminated from the permitting process to rush things along? Should we discontinue groundwater modeling that determines whether our precious water supplies are likely to be contaminated? Should we suspend the public's right to question or contribute meaningful insights into proposed mines, like those Eureka County officials, ranchers and other interested parties provided on a massive molybdenum mine that could have major impacts on schools, water and public infrastructure there?

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