Has become the quasi official State Religion of America. Its theological propaganda is spewed over us from the bureaucracies of government, schools, media, politicians and the courts.
The only thing that is not entirely clear is the number of Progressives who are true believers in Gaia and her Earth Goddess rituals and the number who are simply using Environmentalist dogma to control the economy and the culture.
Wake up people. The Green Trojan Horse has be pulled through the gates in the "wall of separation between church and state".
R.L. Schaeferof CA9:55PM April 13, 2012
This is all very interesting. Yet the complexity of economic dynamics seems to be ignored. Where do compliance expenditures go? Cash flows associated with these exchanges do in fact cycle into the economy (domestic and global) - this is not an entirely bad outcome as far as economic growth indicators are concerned. Yes, some entity (or industry as a whole) is responsible for dealing with regulations, and yes, inefficient businesses (or industries) may well experience contractions in their labor force and output. But efficient and innovative businesses (or industries) typically expand. The notion that regulations create only dead costs and are inherently "job killing" is simply not true outright - there are systemic complexities that make teasing out the whole economy impacts of regulations (in labor markets as well as indicators of growth) difficult. Many environmental regulations have been responsible for spurring the improvement of the long term economic health of whole regions (ESA and the Pacific Northwest is an interesting example). Furthermore, the suggestion that regulators are "luddites" is to completely misunderstand the notion of innovation. Not only can regulatory pressure (real or anticipated) spur innovation toward mitigation but there are many examples of whole industries benefiting from widespread "innovation offsets" (cost reducing improvements to production as a result of environmental compliance). nevertheless, many industries (and individual businesses - particularly smaller ones with limited capital and challenging asset to debt ratios) do struggle mightily with regulation. This clearly not a simple issue. Still, the author as well as many of the posters here seem to believe otherwise.
Tinmantooof IA12:33AM December 09, 2011
Considering that my county had more code orange ozone days this year than ever, I was eager to see these ozone regulations go into effect. I can't count the days it is difficult for me to breath this year.
Ozone regulations like what the EPA wanted to implement would have made it easier to breath for all of us.
The big question is why are we still using these legacy technologies anyway? We should be moving rapidly forward with Thorium reactors, fusion reactors, solar and wind energies.
We should be moving forward rapidly with battery technologies and electric cars with a goal of phasing out combustion engine personal transportation by 2017.
This is going to cost jobs in legacy industries but new jobs will replace them and training can be made available for these new industries easily enough.
Bottom line - This was a nod to legacy tech holders and their already overstuffed purses at the expense of the health of the average citizen.
This retreat from ozone regulation cannot even be defended using the strictest neoliberal economic ideology because the benefit does not out weight the over all cost.
Al Broadmanof NC11:36PM September 03, 2011
Dr. Moench is obviously a leftist, being of the opinion that the make-work of forcing compliance with lower ozone standards will create jobs. Wrong. Money spent on compliance (and creating compliance jobs) is money that is NOT spent on more productive things (which creates more productive jobs).
The regulatory burden is right now CRUSHING our economy. We hefted more than we can carry and every guy knows what that means (well, every mensch knows, not necessarily every Moench). Once you start to buckle under too heavy a load, you have a very brief moment in which to get out from under the load or it is going to crush you all the way to the ground, and that's what we are facing collectively. We have GOT to pitch the load, not add to it as this charlatan prescribes.
Let me put it in doctor terms for the bad doctor. The host economy is faltering because the parasite that lives off of it (government), is sucking too much blood. Moench's answer is to strengthen the hold of the parasite, and have it suck more blood, and he claims this will strengthen the host. In this he is parroting Obama's insanely stupid idea of "spending=stimulus" mantra.
Obama (and Moench) don't recognize what is happening. They don't understand that the host economy is faltering under the burdens of government, and they insanely prescribe that the best thing for the host is to have the parasite suck more blood.
Alec Rawlsof CA11:48PM August 27, 2011
...your childlike faith in the Europeans is.....childlike. I guess you haven't noticed that Europe is in doo-doo, DEEP doo-doo, financially and fiscally.
I guess you also don't know that the reason businesses have a lot of cash is that they earned it. That they are it spending it is a symptom of the FUD that all America is living under, thanks to the Blue-Lipped God Emperor Boy King and his merry band of Luddites and Wreckers known as the EPA.
Anna Keppaof MD10:21PM August 27, 2011
Dr. Brian Moench of UT: if you really are a medical doctor, you should also be a rational human being. I fear you are not. If you were, you would understand cost/benefit ratios.
It does NO GOOD to impoverish the entire country so that a tiny number of people feel more comfortable.
I challenge you to offer a verifiable study that supports your argument. "Verifiable", and not just woozy claims about Manufacturers' Associations denying scientific results. IOW some hard evidence, not just some statistical guesswork, to support your case.
Has it occurred to you, sirrah, that life itself is filled with risks? I don't think so.
If it were left to me, idiots like you would not have medical licenses.
Anna Keppaof MD10:15PM August 27, 2011
Mr. Pyle:
Wow! It is hard to envision a more one sided, bias screed on the issue of environmental protection vs. jobs. You ignored or are unaware of the myriad of medical research articles published on the health impacts of ozone. Those who are the most aware of that information are the members of the scientific advisory committee to the EPA, the country's top notch medical scientists on these issues. They unanimously recommended stricter ozone standards. In fact, some studies suggest lung damage and numerous other health consequences at ozone concentrations one third of existing standards.
You are also guilty of blinding buying into the concept that cleaning up our air and water somehow hurts the economy and sacrifices jobs. Exactly the opposite is true according to every study that's ever been done by anyone other than the Manufacturers Alliance.
Dr. Brian Moenchof UT12:01PM August 27, 2011
Hello DeeToo of SC: Your article is an assumption that you have a right to tell a business what to do with their money. This discussion happens all the time. You always have to ask yourself, "would it be right if somebody told me what should be done with the money I earned?" It is their huge cash bundles. All of your arguments about Europe is based on Europeans making choices for themselves including whether they should save their earnings and how they want to be taxed. Why do you think it is o.k. for Europeans to make their own choices and for U.S. citizens to not have the same right under our constitutional system? In reality, I don't care what Europeans do. I care about how U.S. tax dollars are being used.
Michigan Markof MI12:09PM August 26, 2011
Probably a good time for all of us to learn the Environmentalist Creed - after all, Environmentalism is our official State Religion - Obama and Lisa Jackson the High Priest and Priestess.
"All forms of human endeavor - the existence of humans themselves - are a threat and insult to Nature. The only forms of acceptable interaction between man and Nature are; restoration, preservation, conservation and veneration. All must work out their salvation by toiling to reduce the size of their mark upon the Earth - whatever the cost in freedom, human life, wealth or time."
Welcome to our New Green World.
R.L. Schaeferof CA1:53PM August 25, 2011
The far right desires to cut social services and reitrement and medical care is not tightening screws too?
It seems it just depends on where your money comes from as to whether you think this "tightening" is too much. Seniors won't want to lose what they hav paid for for decades, parents with criticaly ill children and no insurance may want help with medical expenses, city commuters may way someone to fix the roads and bridges, the recently unemployed might want that assistance to continue, business keeps complaining that thye cannot afford to run their businesses in a responsible way - so they want to run them in an irresponsible way....and no one seems to want to pay employees a living wage any more.
How do companies and small businesses in Europe manage with all the regulations they have and taxes and fees? They PLAN and SAVE and don't try to run a business when they have no resources, they have the equivalents of Social Security, Medicare for all, their savings rates are double ours, they buy very little on credit so pay little interest, etc. Their economies are softer than in the past, but they would not consider eliminating the support systems that keep their citizens feeling secure. They spend a great deal on alternative energy and have eliminated much of the pollution that used to plague their rivers and air.
Business has been whining - yet they are sitting on huge cash bundles doing nothing with them. They claim uncertainty...well - if our forfathers a\had done nothing due to uncertainty - they surely never would have climbed into tiny boats to come here.
The business community needs to get a backbone and make it happen....The rest of us get to.
Reader Comments
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R.L. Schaefer of CA 9:55PM April 13, 2012
Tinmantoo of IA 12:33AM December 09, 2011
Al Broadman of NC 11:36PM September 03, 2011
Alec Rawls of CA 11:48PM August 27, 2011
Anna Keppa of MD 10:21PM August 27, 2011
Anna Keppa of MD 10:15PM August 27, 2011
Dr. Brian Moench of UT 12:01PM August 27, 2011
Michigan Mark of MI 12:09PM August 26, 2011
R.L. Schaefer of CA 1:53PM August 25, 2011
DeeToo of SC 1:23PM August 25, 2011