Welcome to the June Made Local issue of NorthBay biz. Also included in this month’s issue is a Special Report on the Arts & Entertainment scene in the North Bay.
As promised, we continue to add new content to the magazine. This month, we debut a new feature, People You Should Know, and another new column, Live Wise. To author this new monthly column, we’ve recruited healthy living experts from the three major North Bay health organizations. Their commentary on good health practices, prevention, exercise, nutrition, stress management and maintaining a good work/life balance should prove insightful and beneficial as we all strive to live longer, healthier lives.
So please enjoy the stories, the new design and all the new features in the North Bay’s only locally owned, full-color, business publication—NorthBay biz. And please let us know what you think about the new version of the magazine.
Listen to just about any elected official and you’ll hear them assert how they only support policies that are in the “best interests” of their constituents. As if they’d actually say what they mostly do—rubber stamp a political agenda that supports party ideology catering to special interests and perpetuates their personal political power. If, occasionally, this pursuit of personal and party power actually coincides with the “best interests” of their constituents, it’s serendipitous.
There’s a reason a politician’s definition of our “best interests” keeps expanding—it’s used to justify the government’s encroachment on our liberty and freedom—rationalized as efforts to “protect” us because they really know, better than we do, what’s best for us. In effect, they’re simply creating more obstacles designed to keep us in our place—dependent on handouts. Ask yourself how the 50-year “war on poverty” is going. This centralized command and control philosophy of one-size-fits-all solutions is aimed at creating equal outcomes, all in the name of fairness. Once again, central planners are omnipotent and, if you dare disagree, well, it’s easy for the thought police to marginalize you by branding you some type of “hater.” Remember, today’s politicians can only be judged on their good intentions, not the actual results of their nanny-state schemes.
Let’s focus on a new report, released by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, called Ten Thousand Commandments. It’s an annual survey of the federal regulatory state. Federal spending last year topped $3.5 trillion. A monumental sum siphoned directly from individuals and business in the form of taxes with the shortfall being financed through additional debt. However, according to the new report, regulations imposed another $1.86 trillion of additional financial burden on the country. To put that number in perspective, Canada’s entire annual GDP is $1.82 trillion. India’s is $1.84 trillion. The costs associated with federal regulations are now greater than the GDP of all but nine countries in the world. To put these regulatory costs in better perspective, the $1.86 trillion is the equivalent of $14,974 of an additional (hidden) tax per household.
Big government doesn’t just have a spending problem, it has regulatory cost problem, too. If you think too many federal laws are being passed that hinder growth and economic revival, listen to this: Last year, Congress passed 72 new laws, while federal agencies issued 3,659 new regulations! That breaks down to more than 10 new regulations issued per day, or 305 per month. The 2013 federal register now contains 79,311 pages. When laws are passed in Congress, the process is subject to debate and hearings. And importantly, votes cast are a matter of public record and can be taken into account when voters arrive at the ballot box. Why legislate when you can have appointed bureaucrats, answerable to no one, further your political agenda by issuing regulations instead of laws—for which you can’t be held personally responsible?
So many thoughts—so little space remaining—let’s conclude with this gem. The new monthly jobs report came out this week and, according to the MSM consensus, and I’m paraphrasing here, “A Strong April Jobs Report Suggests Economy Roaring Back,” with the creation of 288,888 jobs. It was then reported that the unemployment rate dropped from 6.7 to 6.3 percent and is 1.2 percent lower than last year and the lowest since 2008. Wow, that’s great news. Too bad it’s not true.
Here’s what really happened. The jobless rate fell because more than 800,000 Americans dropped out of the labor force. They’re no longer included when calculating the unemployment rate. According to economist Dean Baker of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, “The drop in unemployment was entirely the result of 806,000 people leaving the labor force. Employment, as measured in the household survey, actually fell by 73,000.” So as we ramp up to the mid-term elections, it’s comforting to know that, according to the MSM, all our economic woes are finally on their way to dissipating. Remember to share this news with the millions of long-term unemployed on your way to the ballot box this November.
That’s it for now. Enjoy this month’s magazine.
