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Show Government Overreduction is Seen as Threat to Free Enterprise Ovcrregulation of American business and industry has . brought widespread fears that - American free enterprise is losing much of its freedom, and that the power of decision is being taken from business and placed in the hands of government bureaucrats, according ac-cording to Utah Foundation. In a research report released this week, the Foundation, the private, non-profit public service ser-vice agency, called attention to the proliferation of Federal regulatory agencies in recent years and to the lack of accountability of those making and enforcing the new regulations. regula-tions. "Many observers in government, govern-ment, in business, and among lay citizens feel that the most frightening aspect of the mass of government regulation is that it is drawn up and enforced by appointees and employees of government agencies who are not directly responsible to the American people through any established estab-lished channel," the Foundation Founda-tion report notes. "Many feel that the regulators are not even indirectly responsible to the people. They appear to be immune to firm control by the people's elected representatives representa-tives in either the legislative or executive branches of government. govern-ment. Agencies of the executive execu-tive branch of goverment are usurping the legislative function func-tion by writing rules and regulations that expand on or even differ from--the laws enacted by Congress." Concern over government regulation of American life is not restricted to businessmen and aroused private citizens, the Foundation points out. Many people in the executive and legislative branches of government share concern. President Ford estimates that the cost to the American consumer of unnecessary and wasteful government regulation regula-tion amounts to $130 billion a year, an average of S2.000 for every American family. Senator Hubert Humphrey, a noted liberal, has questioned whether bureaucrats' regulations regula-tions implement the laws or rather serve to impede or obstruct them. He publicly called for periodic reviews of "the rules and regulations of each department" of government, govern-ment, and for "an economic impact study or evaluation of every rule and regulation and of every piece of legislation we pass." Regulation of American business and industry dates back nearly 90 years. The Interstate Commerce Commission Commis-sion was authorized in 1887. More than forty years later, the Federal Power Commission Commis-sion was instituted, in 1930. Four more regulatory giants were created in the depression years, between 1934 and 1938: the Federal Communications Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Maritime Commission, Com-mission, and the Civil Aeronautics Aero-nautics Board. These agencies regulate specific industries of national scope and vital importance to the economy. Their twin objectives are to safeguard the public interest and to watch over the welfare of the regulated industries themselves. Within the past decade there have appeared a large number of additional Federal regulatory agencies "which do not fit into the classic pattern established by the Interstate Commerce Commission," the Foundation points out. They are not concerned with the totality of any single industry, but only with the specific segment of operations which falls under their jurisdiction. In the words of a noted American economist, "this limitation can result in a total lack of concern over the effects of their actions on the company or industry as a whole. ...matters such as productivity, pro-ductivity, economic growth, employment, effect on over-all living standards, inflationary impacts, may be ignored." Among the new generation of Federal regulatory agencies are the Environmental Protection Protec-tion Agency, the Equal Employment Em-ployment Opportunity Commission, Com-mission, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Administra-tion, the Consumer Product Safety Administration, and others. Americans concerned with the dangers of overregulation generally do not quarrel with the objectives of the new regulatory agencies and are aware that many of the programs have produced substantial sub-stantial benefits, the Foundation Founda-tion notes. They do question the propriety of "placing avowed partisans in positions where clear headed objectivity is imperative for the making of sound decision, and where unsound decisions are a threat to our entire economy." Some specific objections brought against government regulators-which the Foundation Founda-tion illustrates with recorded examples-are that the regulatory regula-tory agencies: -Fail to balance benefits against cost. -Issue regulations that conflict con-flict with one another. -Deliberately misrepresent facts that challenge their own views. Impose an unreasonable burden of paperwork on American industry. -Take arbitrary and unreasonable unreas-onable actions that may do irreparable harm to innocent parties. --Concentrate on trivia and technicalities to the exclusion of common sense. |