The price that has been paid

The price that has been paid for our liberty and freedom has been diminished by those who have paid the least for it. When a people forget and thereby completely ignore the enormous cost, along with the adherent responsibility, of living in a land that was founded and built upon the precepts of freedom and liberty they shall surely be forfeited.  Today, we stand upon that precipice - a step further along this path that we are presently on and we shall without doubt fall headlong into the ravages of bondage. 

speed bumps and road blocks and hurdles, oh my......

in its truest sense here is the evidence of fiefdom building...and it is always the serfs who pay the greatest price.

The Regulatory State

May 5, 2014

It cost Americans a whopping $1.863 trillion to comply with federal regulations in 2013, more than the gross domestic product (GDP) of Canada, according to a new report from Clyde Wayne Crews, vice president for policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

Federal spending and deficits dominate the debate in Washington, but the costs of federal regulations reach hundreds of billions of dollars each year. And just as corporate taxes are passed on to consumers, so are regulatory compliance costs passed on to consumers and workers in the form of higher prices and lower wages.

The Competitive Enterprise Institute's annual report on the state of federal regulations highlights the significant impact of the regulatory state on the U.S. economy:

• The ratio of new regulations (issued by agencies) to new laws (passed by Congress) was at 51 in 2013. That is 51 new rules for every new law, equivalent to a new rule every 2.5 hours.
• Regulatory costs equate to $14,974 per household -- 23 percent of the average household income.
• The Federal Register last year had 79,311 pages, the fourth highest in history. The years with the highest number of pages in the Federal Register were 2010 and 2011, both under President Obama.
• The Departments of the Treasury, Commerce, Interior, Health and Human Services, Transportation, and the Environmental Protection Agency are responsible for 49.3 percent of all federal rules.
• Small businesses pay a disproportionate amount in regulatory costs compared to large firms. Businesses with less than 20 employees pay an average $10,585 in regulatory costs per employee, compared to $7,755 for businesses with 500 or more employees.
• U.S. regulatory costs exceed the GDPs of both Canada and Australia.

If U.S. federal regulation were a country, it would be the 10th largest economy in the world, ranked between India and Italy.

Source: Clyde Wayne Crews, "Ten Thousand Commandments 2014," Competitive Enterprise Institute, April 29, 2014.

Code of Federal Regulations Expanding

Code of Federal Regulations Expanding under Obama

March 26, 2014

The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) contains all of the permanent rules published by federal agencies in the Federal Register. Since 1975, the number of pages in the CFR has increased 146 percent, says Wayne Crews, vice president for policy and director of technology studies at the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

The CFR is different from the Federal Register, which contains material in addition to final rules (and contains more than 70,000 pages of material each year). There are 50 titles in the CFR, and its page count has only grown over the years, especially under President Obama.

• In 1960, the CFR had 22,877 pages across 68 volumes. At the end of 1976, it consisted of 133 volumes and 71,224 pages.
• At the end of President George W. Bush's second term in 2008, the number of pages in the CFR stood at 157,974.
• But at the end of 2013, the CFR had 175,496 pages -- a 146 percent increase since 1975.
• In his first five years in office, President Obama has added 17,522 pages of regulations -- that's an 11 percent increase in the size of the regulatory state and an average of 3,504 pages each year. President Bush's total eight years in office, on the other hand, resulted in a total of 2,490 pages each year.

While page counts are not a perfect way to gauge regulatory impact, it is clear that the greater government activity has hurt the private sector and employment.

Source: Wayne Crews, "New Data: Code of Federal Regulations Expanding, Faster Pace under Obama," Competitive Enterprise Institute, March 17, 2014.

quote for the week

Where the rule of law is ignored, ignorance of the law will rule…

continuing on the road to serfdom....

America's Dwindling Economic Freedom

January 15, 2014

World economic freedom has reached record levels, according to the 2014 Index of Economic Freedom, released by the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal. But after seven straight years of decline, the United States has dropped out of the top 10 most economically free countries, says Terry Miller, the director of the Center for International Trade and Economics at the Heritage Foundation.

For 20 years, the index has measured a nation's commitment to free enterprise on a scale of 0 to 100 by evaluating 10 categories, including fiscal soundness, government size and property rights.

• It's not hard to see why the United States is losing ground.
• Even marginal tax rates exceeding 43 percent cannot finance runaway government spending, which has caused the national debt to skyrocket.
• The Obama administration continues to shackle entire sectors of the economy with regulation, including health care, finance and energy.
• The intervention impedes both personal freedom and national prosperity.

But as the U.S. economy languishes, many countries are leaping ahead, thanks to policies that enhance economic freedom -- the same ones that made the U.S. economy the most powerful in the world.

• Hong Kong continues to dominate the list, followed by Singapore, Australia, Switzerland, New Zealand and Canada.
• These are the only countries to earn the index's "economically free" designation.
• Mauritius earned top honors among African countries and Chile excelled in Latin America.
• Despite the turmoil in the Middle East, several Gulf states, led by Bahrain, earned designation as "mostly free."

A realignment is under way in Europe, according to the index's findings.

• Eighteen European nations, including Germany, Sweden, Georgia and Poland, have reached new highs in economic freedom.
• By contrast, five others -- Greece, Italy, France, Cyprus and the United Kingdom -- registered scores lower than they received when the index started two decades ago.
• The most improved players are in Eastern Europe, including Estonia, Lithuania and the Czech Republic.

The United States and the United Kingdom, historically champions of free enterprise, have suffered the most pronounced declines. Both countries now fall in the "mostly free" category. Some of the worst performers are in Latin America, particularly Venezuela, Argentina, Ecuador and Bolivia.

Source: Terry Miller, "America's Dwindling Economic Freedom," Wall Street Journal, January 13, 2014. "2014 Index of Economic Freedom," Heritage Foundation, January 2014.

consider this....

What will be the breaking point in our country when our foundation of freedom completely breaks down?

A continuing shift is occurring in our country where a growing number of our citizens (at least the vocal ones along with those who vote - legally or not) appear to have no concern for freedom-limiting moves by our political leaders. Where talk of entertaining systems of socialism (progressivism) and Marxism (ultimately communism) are no longer considered freedom destroyers but 'equalizers'. How have we come so far in such a short time?

In most endeavors of life the 'party' stops when the money runs out (or when wisdom kicks in which seems to be rare!). With our federal government continuing to print the 'party' money at exponential speed, at what point do we spend the last available dollar? Or put another way, when does the federal leverage rubber band break? When that occurs our freedom, as we know it, will be severely tested.

For your ponderment:

When only a small number of 'elite' control all of the marbles, we the people will not be invited to join in the game. Control (power) begets more control and the more centralized control we allow the less freedom we shall all enjoy…until one day its gone!