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Show Dan Marriott 'Government' is possible inflation cause by Rep. Dan Marriott Most of us have recently found ourselves discussing rising prices and who may be responsible for them. After President Ford brought inflation down from over 10 percent per year to 6 percent, the White House has now decided that inflation in-flation is "stuck" at 6 percent. per-cent. More recently, Carter has recognized that inflation may become unstuck and start going up towards 8 to 10 percent, because his promises to balance the as increasing our gasoline bill by $3 billion because these newer cars are heavier and use more fuel. That comes to a total of about $10 billion a year to meet EPA requirements. The homeowner feels the effect. Regulatory requirements from federal, state and local governments add $2,000 a year to the average new house. The consumer feels the effect. The total cost of all this compliance was 63 billion dollars in 1976, or over $300 for every man, budget and put a ceiling on federal spending have been fueling the fires of inflation. The one thing that the federal government can do with great precision is create, accelerate and slow down inflation. The President's recent message on inflation gives hollow-sounding hollow-sounding lip service to handling inflation, while he turns around and hands us a $70 billion dollar deficit. These deficits might be more understandable in a depression. But this is the fourth straight year of prosperity, and we are still running up these budget-busting budget-busting deficits. Like you, I notice that food dollars are shrinking, that house down payments have gone out of reach for many young families, that costs of necessities have reduced the quality of life for us all. But instead of hacking at the effects of inflation, we need to fight the root causes. Government regulation has become a major growth industry in the federal government, one that is supported by the taxpayer. Federally required safety and environmental equipment equip-ment has increased the price of a new car about $600 a year since 1974. The total cost of that increase has been $7 billion a year, as well woman and child in the country. The investor feel the effect. ef-fect. Approximately $10 billion dollars a year of investment capital is spent complying with government-mandated government-mandated safety, environmental, en-vironmental, and bureaucratic regulations. Approximately one-fourth of the total invested in new business is lost from the productive chain of private industry through compliance. com-pliance. Such regulation makes American goods less competitive with goods produced abroad. It would be hard to overestimate the impact of government regulation on the cost of living and economy. Each year new proposals are made for expanding and beefing up these regulatory agencies. The hidden taxation of these regulatory agencies has become a major factor on the profitability of any business, and the disposable income of every family. It is time that we sent a message to Washington that we have had enough of promises of "Great Societies" and Utopias. It's time we took some reasonable action and began cutting down on the cause of inflation and over-taxation: government itself. |