Look out: De-regulation can be de-structive

Bill Knight column for Thurs., Fri., or Sat., March 8, 9 or 10, 2018

In December, the Federal Communications Commission started steps to dismantle the “Net Neutrality” rule, and earlier that month in a White House stunt, President Donald Trump promised to cut federal regulations to 1960 levels. In Trump’s February State of the Union address, he took credit for eradicating rules supposedly interfering with business and promised to kill proposed rules. For example, his administration is recommending rolling back a 2011 regulation clarifying the Fair Labor Standards Act that tips are the property of the wait staff, et. al. who earn them, not their employers.

Look out.

Government regulations aren’t new, nor even dated to Teddy Roosevelt and other progressive Republicans who helped enact the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, the Food and Drug Administration, etc. The nation’s Founders approved a Second Amendment o the Bill of Rights, for instance that starts off stating, “a well-REGULATED militia…”

Trump has claimed, “In our drive to make Washington accountable, we have eliminated more regulations in our first year than any administration in the history of our country.”

Besides another example of Oval Office Exaggeration, that makes no sense. Accountability without limits is like checks without balances.

Returning to 1960’s business climate would mean removing effective and popular regulations enacted in the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act, the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Also, in 1960 there was no Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Department of Energy, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Mine Safety and Health Administration, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or Office of Energy & Renewable Energy. And that was before the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, and the Environmental Protection Agency.

If regulations protect air and water, safety and health, roads and relationships between corporations and consumers, then removing them may mean short-term gains in profits but long-term threats to regular Americans.

Consequences could be dirtier air or water, financial shenanigans, dangerous bridges or buildings – all so companies can plan with fewer rules to follow, few permits to acquire, and fewer environmental-impact studies to show the effect of a development, and maybe make a few more bucks.

So, powerful companies can pay internet companies to have premium access to users, squeezing out smaller competitors; big banks can avoid accountability enforced by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB); and Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency can back off enforcing regulations that curtail polluters.

Look out.

Well-managed and properly enforced regulations aren’t tools to hinder the economy, but ways to help make it profitable while also protecting workers, consumers and taxpayers from corporations’ overreaching and uncontrolled growth.

Some states’ attorneys general are stepping up and stepping in to advocate for the public, especially concerning the CFPB and Net Neutrality. But it’s a challenge, and most of us still face threats.

If deregulating rules established for the good of most everyday people, what next? Dump the rules on seat belts or motorcycle helmets? Forget about restrictions on child labor or building codes? Ignore regulations preventing quack potions and elixirs or licensing attorneys?

Look out.