Federal regulations impose a real cost on real people, and now we know what that cost is.
American Action Forum regulatory policy director Sam Batkins has estimated that regulatory red tape costs each American citizen $2,496 every year, according to the Washington Examiner. For most people, that’s a huge chunk of change, enough to fund a family vacation or start a new home renovation. And if that number is extrapolated throughout all 80 years of a person’s life, it grows to a whopping $199,680.
The worst part? The feds don't show any signs of slowing down.
According to the same report from the Washington Examiner, "President Obama has implemented more costly rules and swamped America with more federal red tape than any other administration, and now he has set another regulatory record: his team has filled 70,000 pages in the Federal Register faster than any other president."
Also, according to the AAF report, "The Obama administration has set several notable records in the regulatory world: 600 major regulations and counting, more than 10 billion hours of federal paperwork, and the costliest single year in regulation in recent history. It's time for another record: 101 unfunded regulatory mandates imposed on states, local governments, and businesses."
Some regulations, of course, are necessary and beneficial. But when it becomes unclear whether the benefits of federal red tape outweigh the extreme costs, the American people need to take a long, hard look at how so many regulations are put in place.
It all comes down to one thing: federal jurisdiction. If the feds have jurisdiction to regulate something, they’re going to regulate it. Power tends to fill as large a void as it can, and the Supreme Court has given the feds almost unlimited jurisdiction to regulate every area of our lives.
Fortunately, an Article V Convention of States can propose constitutional amendments that shrink federal jurisdiction. These amendments can clarify what the feds can regulate -- and, more importantly, what they can’t.
