The Regulation BS

There was an editorial in my local newspaper complaining about how jobs can't be created because of too much regulation on employers, "Mountain of Regulation." While I am not an employer, considering the "mountain" that the author reports, it sounds a lot more like a molehill. He says his electrician refuses to hire an employee because of "regulatory and tax hassles." The author goes on to explain the regulations a prospective employer has to deal with. I have to believe that this was just a partial list, because frankly, I found the complaint ridiculous.

The author states that in hiring just one employee, an employer must fill out a whopping four forms, obtain worker's compensation insurance, calculate Fica tax (here, I'll help, my paycheck took out 5.8% after my 401k or 5.46% if before 401k - wow, that took me 2 minutes to figure out), and follow regulations such as paying above minimum wage, hiring someone above a certain age (i.e. not a child) and paying overtime (time and a half) for hourly employees working more than 8 hours a day or 40 hours a week. Wow, that's so hard. They have to keep their workplace safe. Somehow, I feel that if the author's electrician had enough work, or too much work, he'd be more than willing to be "burdened" with spending 30 minutes filling out a few forms and knowing a few rules so he could make a lot more money with an employee.

If an employer hires more than 10 employees, the author reports they have to put up posters about worker rights and keep records. I'm just flabbergasted at the burden. A few more employees and wow, they have to treat people, women, blacks, older people, all the same. Can't you just see the hassle to be a decent human being? But no, the author wants employers to have no regulations, to be "flexible." Presumably, this "flexibility" will allow the employer to pay workers as little as possible (hey, be happy you have a job), to not worry if their workplace injures an employee, to treat women, older people, non-white people differently than other employees. Wouldn't we all be so happy to have such "flexible" employers?

Maybe it is more complex to hire employees. But if the author wants to persuade people that these regulations are wrong, he needs to come up with more than let's pity the employer who has to follow the Civil Rights law and pay minimum wage. With the possible exception of some taxes, the vast majority of regulations are put in place to protect workers and consumers. Excuse me for wanting to eat food that isn't exposed to bacteria that requires a restaurant or food truck to be inspected by a health inspector. Excuse me for wanting my children to work in a place that follows worker safety laws.

So until you show me some real overly burdensome and irrelevant regulations, I'm going to support them and continue to believe that the only reason more jobs are not created is because us consumers are so overly burdened in our debts and low wages, that we don't have the money to eat out every night (or even every week) or run out and buy an old iPad, let alone the new iPad.