Show THE VOICE OF BUSINESS Son fort of Consumer Protection Agency Ity Dy Richard L L. L Lesher Pres Chamber of Commerce of the United States Slates Along with the first crabgrass and dandelions of spring that hardy perennial the Agency for Consumer Advocacy bill bitt is popping up again This year the idea is to railroad it through Congress so fast that effective opposition wont won't have time to develop The ACA is an idea whose time has come and gone Since its proposal eight years ago- ago when in was called caned the Consumer Consumer Consumer Con Con- sumer Protection Agency Agency- there has been a revolution in consumer protection acts and regulatory reorganization These new developments include Include In in- clude the establishment of the Consumer Product Safety Commission the Federal Energy Agency the Occupational Occupational Oc Oc- Oc Safety and Health Administration the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Administration Administration Ad Ad- ministration the Environmental Environmental En En- Protection A Agency ency the Moss Magnuson-Moss Federal Trade Commission Improvements Act the Hart Hart- Scott Antitrust Improvements Act the Toxic Substances Control Act the Medical Devices Amendments of 1976 the Government in the Sunshine Sunshine Sunshine Sun Sun- shine Act the Freedom of Information Act Amendments and countless other consumer protection bills Consumer advocacy sounds like a great idea in the abstract It isn't until you get beneath the label that you learn what a bureaucratic farce the sponsors have in mind CONSIDER the following list of functions for Cor the agency to which I have added In parentheses the existing governmental body les ies responsible for the same function function tion Plead the consumers consumer's case within the government White WhiteHouse WhiteHouse House Consumer Advisor Improve the ways rules and regulations are made Commission Com Come mission on Federal Paperwork Office of Management and Budget General Accounting Office Aid Aid the President and Congress in Identifying inefficient inefficient government programs All of the above Help correct Inequities in those programs that are designed to protect consumers Consumer Advisor Paperwork Paperwork Paper Paper- work C Commission Ombudsmen Ombudsmen Om Om- and Consumer Advocates Advocates Ad Ad- in the various federal agencies and departments senators and representatives Help fight inflation by monitoring governmental actions that unnecessarily raise costs far fer consumers Council on Wage and Price Stability Litigate on behalf of consumers consumers con con- sumers in court Federal Trade Commission Justice Department Consumer Product Safety Commission others THE TilE TRUTH is the ACA would have nothing to do with individual consumers Rather it would function as a taxpayer taxpayer- financed mouthpiece and lawyer for self appointed consumer activists It is impossible to Improve upon former Senator Sam Ervins Ervin's caustic summation of the premise behind this proposal Because the bureaucracy has become too pervasive to enable consumers to appear before existing federal agencies it is proposed that Congress create yet another federal agency before which consumers also will not appear The ACA would also have license to interfere in the proceedings of other federal regulatory agencies which were themselves established to represent the consumer THESE OTHER agencies are not exactly speedy now It took rook the Federal Communications Commission 35 years to wrap up its running longest-running case By contrast the Interstate Commerce Commerce Com Com- merce Commission managed to approve the sale of the troubled Rock Island Railroad in only 12 years In the meantime unfortunately unfortunately unfortunately un un- un- un fortunately the railroad d went bankrupt The point is the consumer has an interest in promptness and economy in government action too Arguments that such an agency will start small are arean arean arean an insult to the intelligence of everyone who can remember when the whole government was small ALL government agencies start small The universal problem is they dont don't STAY that way very long |