Is Race a Significant Contributer to Obama Hate?

[Imran Siddiqui]

Lol. Its not as if the more complex the regulation the higher the costs to determine compliance.

I work for the government. Let's be honest, most employers don't really do all that much to determine compliance with new regulations - they go online to see what some guy wrote on his blog about it or they let their CPA or whoever else tell them if there are any changes (and if they don't have a CPA or Third Party Administrator they usually just don't care until they are being told they are doing wrong).

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

I work for the government. Let's be honest, most employers don't really do all that much to determine compliance with new regulations - they go online to see what some guy wrote on his blog about it or they let their CPA or whoever else tell them if there are any changes (and if they don't have a CPA or Third Party Administrator they usually just don't care until they are being told they are doing wrong).

I work for the private sector. Lets be honest, confusion regarding the extent of regulations, to whom and if they apply, the extent to which they will be enforced all create levels of doubt that ultimately manifest themselves in uncertainty and unwillingnesss to make business critical decisions every day. So its not only the accelerating number of regulations causing issue, equally important is the lack of clarity and applicability of the regs. Afterall, whole unproductive rent seeking industries exist merely to understand the implications of regulations. (In essence your CPA and Third Party Administrator examples)

To be clear my first read on this was to simply say that your first sentence said it all, and that your mindset as a government employee shows a natural antipathy and stereotype of the private sector. That said I decided to tone down my response.

[rah]

Ogie, my initial thought was the same as yours and I started typing a response but then figured that with that mind set, nothing I said was going to change his mind.

And yes that there are consultants out there who's only job is explaining how government regulations apply to certain industries tends to validate your opinion over his.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Well, to be honest, as a government regulator, do I have some anti-pathy towards private sector? On some aspects. Most people try to do what is right, but may not know. But plenty are robbing their employees blind and the regulations are the only things that keep them in check (we sue those people based on those regulations - without them they get away with highway robbery. Heck, there are times they get away with highway robbery anyway because the regulations can't touch certain exemptions that businesses decided to put in laws - that, btw, is the reason some laws are so thick - all the exemptions).

[Imran Siddiqui]

And yes that there are consultants out there who's only job is explaining how government regulations apply to certain industries tends to validate your opinion over his.

Those consultants are more in the job of explaining how to AVOID government regulations .

[Jon Miller]

I think there should be a word limit to every law.

JM

[rah]

Those consultants are more in the job of explaining how to AVOID government regulations .

And if the regulations weren't so damn complicated, maybe avoidance wouldn't be so easy to do or take an expert to figure it out. Either way, there's an expense associated with overly complex regulations. This doesn't even include the other cost to the public. Wasted time inserting/debating all of the overly complex features that protect our lawmaker's pet contributors.

Again, your attitude about the whole thing just reinforces Ogie's comments.

[Imran Siddiqui]

One of the reasons they ARE so complicated, however, is because to minimize every possible loophole, or because of lobbying to put them in there under the statutory exemptions. And then, of course, the exemptions must be but in narrowly because you can't let everyone drive a truck through that loophole.

[rah]

One of the reasons, yep, but mostly just like the tax code, protecting those that pay them off.

[DaShi]

That and all the competition from Singapore, Hong Kong, and New Zealand, the only three countries easier to do business in than the US in 2011.

[giblets]

I'm surprised that Heraclitus voted no. I though that he thought the US was going to torn apart by racial strife at some point...?

[Imran Siddiqui]

Only because the blackies are going to do it