Government Duties vs. Big Nanny Moralizing

Americans ruled by Bureaucrats:

Last week we saw a troubling new pattern: The Obama administration is embracing an “unreasonable” standard — pun not necessarily intended, but it fits — for deciding if it likes what private sector companies are doing.

The unreasonable standard is being applied to both private sector health insurers and companies that provide Internet service. But expect the White House to impose the standard on a lot more industries as the Obama blob continues to absorb every aspect of the economy.

What it means is that we are abandoning the rule of law for the rule by bureaucrats. Unelected officials have been given the power to fundamentally remake industries based on their political and value judgments.

Of course liberals are happy, because liberal bureaucrats are implementing a liberal agenda.

OUR OPINION: Finally, greenhouse gas emissions targeted

The Clean Air Act turned 40 this year, as did the Environmental Protection Agency, which was created to enforce that new law and others Congress adopted to reduce all types of pollution. But it has taken this many years for the EPA to begin flexing its regulatory muscles to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, the principle culprit linked to climate change.

For many years the agency claimed that the Clean Air Act didn’t authorize it to regulate carbon dioxide. But in 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the EPA was violating the act by wrongly declining to regulate emissions to control pollutants that cause global warming.

The court majority told the agency, then under the Bush administration, to reverse course and begin regulating these emissions. Nothing much happened until the Obama administration took charge, however.

Now the EPA is stepping up. Last week it released a timetable for issuing rules for emissions from new or refurbished power plants and new oil refineries, the nation’s top emitters of carbon dioxide. The proposed performance standards for power plants will be issued next July, with the final rules coming in May 2012. Proposed standards for oil refineries will be out next December and finalized in November 2012.

Rules for existing power plants and refineries won’t come until at least 2015, so though the agency has stepped up, it is a fairly small step.

Mike Bloomberg, big talk, no action

States’ Rights: Restoring the balance of power

We have all witnessed and felt firsthand the insatiable appetite of the government’s desire to control every aspect of our lives in the name of safety, security, border enforcement, health care, internet fairness, unemployment payouts, and education. They have imposed a type of nationalistic will upon the States and have justified their actions by declaring that the supremacy clause gives them unlimited authority over the States. This has only been made easier by funneling federal tax dollars to the States; buying their silence at the expense of liberty and freedom. With the election of Barack Obama and the Democratic super-majority he enjoyed during the last two years a new and aggressive round of government interference and expansion has sounded an alarm for many States.

Russ @ That’s Right: “But you know me, having been granted that opportunity, I’m on it like a Democrat to an earmark.”

Another case of zero-tolerance absurdity

[S]omething is fundamentally wrong with the system when a bag containing explosive materials has to actually explode in front of workers as it’s being loaded on a plane in order to be detected by airport security.

We are living in an un-developing country.

And the antidote to all the government bureaucrats running wild. Go back to the founders:

Look around, and examine history. The wealthiest countries have the most limited interference by government. They enjoy free markets, private property rights, a large middle class, societal improvement, cleaner environments, and the people enjoy life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

According to The Tax Foundation, Michigan ranks number 48 in corporate tax rates. Only Delaware (49) and New Hampshire (50) have higher corporate tax rates. And as an added bonus, Michigan is number 45 for unemployment insurance tax rate as well.

click for larger version

Click here to see the entire report.

Keep in mind that the Federal Government of the United States has the highest corporate tax rate in the world. The United States has corporate tax rates higher than Sweden, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Austria and Germany. The State of Michigan (corporate tax wise) is one of the most expensive places ON EARTH to do business.

Making matters worse, mix in the toxic combination of Obama’s draconian EPA and Jennifer Granholm’s green energy push (while forgoing the construction of actual power plants) that will significantly drive up electricity prices in the future.

Who would want to keep their business, let alone start one in Michigan?