Did you know you know you were disabled? Start collecting your disability check NOW!

News Flash! Government regulations are STRANGLING the U.S. economy. According to the Small Business Administration, total regulatory costs amount to about $1.75 trillion annually, nearly twice as much as all individual income taxes collected last year.

The government admits there are 4200 new rules or revisions already in the pipeline.
Why do we need 4200 new rules? Why?

In their book, “Red Tape Rising: Obama-Era Regulation at the Three Year Mark”, James Gattuso and Diane Katz detail how the Obama Administration has imposed new regulations costing $46 billion annually, with nearly $11 billion more in one-time implementation costs. That is about five times the cost of regulations imposed during the first three years of President George W. Bush’s administration, but the burden is even higher.

In January 2011, President Obama said that “rules have gotten out of balance” and “have a chilling effect on growth and jobs.” And Obama's right. But that's as far as he goes, and where he breaks with reality is his pledge for a get-tough policy on overregulation and a comprehensive review of regulations imposed by Washington.

In fact, as you listen to President Obama tell the story, you would think he’s a champion of slashing red tape and that his Administration has set its sights on slashing over-regulation. Obama's 10,215 regulations enacted in his first three years in office have greatly added to the drag on the U.S. economy as well as loss of jobs. BTW,  I am no friend of the Bush administration and their added regulations. Bush did not reign in the EPA, the Interior Dept, the Army Corps of Engineers, or OSHA.  So in that sense, I consider Bush a failure when it comes to cutting government red tape.

Do you have chronic back pain? File a claim and start
collecting disability. Is this a great country, or what?!

Here's an example of the idiocy of federal regulations. The Americans with Disabilities Act (Thank-you George Bush Sr. for burdening us with this albatross!) in 2008 vastly expanded the definition of disability to include: 

• people with diabetes (most of western Kentucky)
• depression (most of the U.S)
• heart disease
• difficulty standing, sitting, reaching, lifting, bending, reading, concentrating

This list pretty much includes most of the U.S. Did you know you were disabled? What are you doing at work reading this? Don't you know there is a disability claim that you could be making and you could be sitting at home enjoying those monthly disability checks. 

The new regulations that were enacted in 2008 require contractors with more than 50 employees to document the specific reason why each disabled applicant was not hired. Every contractor is REQUIRED to have a quota of 7% disabled.

The Associated General Contractors of America, a construction industry lobby, has long complaiend that many construction craft positions are inherently unsuited and too perilous for physically disabled applicants. But the government usually scorns common sense.

In 1994, the U.S. govt. penalized and barred Kentucky's Commonwealth Aluminum Corp from federal contracts for REFUSING TO HIRE applicants with SERIOUS BACK INJURIES (in caps, because if I were speaking to you in person, I'd be screaming this out loud so you wouldn't miss the point!). The following year, the U.S. Govt punished Jack Kelley Trucking in Amarillo, Texas for refusing to hire a man who suffered from uncontrollable epileptic seizures to drive a truck full of hazardous waste!

This is our government and its stupid regulations which lack any common sense whatsoever and drive up the cost of doing business $1.75 trillion annually!

Just a reminder that in November, if you vote for Obama, you're voting for more regulations, political-correctness, less common sense, and fewer jobs because of regulation strangulation. If you consider the Internet as a vast frontier of freedom, watch out. Obama wants to regulate the Internet as well. Obama never met a regulation he didn't like.

If you vote for Romney, you are voting for the candidate who has promised to cut regulation on day 1. I believe he will do that, but we need a Republican house and senate made up of radicals like Marco Rubio, Rand Paul and the soon to be elected, Ted Cruz (from Texas) who will help to hold Romney's feet to the fire because I don't think he planning to cut out all the foolishness like what we have here in the ADA, as well as EPA, etc. We have thousands of regulations that need to be SUNSET-ED, and revisited one-by-one to determine if they are truly necessary and what their impact is on the U.S. economy and job creation!

What would you say if someone built a ballpark in your town and the Feds wouldn't let you use it?

For months now, I've wanted to do a series of posts on regulations. Do you realize how all these federal regulations are strangling our economy as well as raising the cost of doing business on a daily basis. 

For my first post of 3 in this series, I want you to consider the words of Congressman Mike Kelly, a Pennsylvania Republican, who received a standing ovation from the other members of Congress when he spoke in the House of Representatives last Thursday. Now, this is so extraordinary because no applause is allowed for members of Congress.

Rep. Mike Kelly began his speech by holding up a stack of paper: 11,000 pages of lending requirements and he's on the warpath about how regulation is killing jobs in his district. 

Here's what fired Mike up with righteous anger:

Someone built a ballpark in his district, a Little League ballpark, and federal regulators came in and wouldn't open it. They wouldn't allow it to open. On the day they were going to play the first game, the little kids are all there about to have their first baseball game, and the federal regulators said, "Nope, you can't open it because the mirrors in the men's room were a quarter of an inch too low on the wall."

Here's what Kelly said on the floor of Congress:

KELLY: We renovated a ballpark in my hometown. A guy named Tom Bernadowski -- veteran -- [spent a] couple million dollars to renovate our ballpark. The day we were gonna open up, I got a call at the dealership. It said, "Mike, would you come down?" I said, "Why? What's going on?" He said, "We're having trouble with the occupancy permit." So I went down to see it. I said, "What's the problem?" He said, "Well, here. Come in the men's room. Let me show you what the problem is." I said, "We have 1,500 people want to come see the opening ball game tonight." "Yep, but we've got a major problem. You see the mirrors in the restroom are a quarter of an inch too low."

HOUSE: (smattering of laughter)

KELLY: "So you can't possibly open that ballpark!"

KELLY: So you want to know the price of regulation? You want to talk about the thousands and thousands of pages that we put on the back of the job creators? You want to talk about creating jobs in America? When you want to see a nation that doesn't want to participate but wants to dominate in the world market, then let them rise! Take the heavy boot off the throat of America's job creators and let them breathe!

HOUSE: (cheers and applause)

KELLY: The jobs we are talking about are not red jobs or blue jobs. They are red, white, and blue jobs. They are not Democrat jobs or Republican jobs or independent jobs or Libertarian jobs. They are American jobs!

KELLY: We are so out of touch with the American people. And you know what all this does? It adds layer after layer after layer of cost. And that cost is ultimately paid for by the American consumer. You want to have more revenues, then let the tide rise for all boats! Let us be able to not only survive, but to thrive. I urge all my colleagues, on both sides of the aisle. This is not a left or right issue. This is an American issue. I urge you to rise today and vote for HR-4078, and let's let America get back to work! With that, I yield back.

HOUSE: (cheers and applause)

ACTING SPEAKER: (banging gavel)

HOUSE: USA! USA!

ACTING SPEAKER: (banging gavel)

HOUSE: USA! USA!

Why We Couldn't Build The Golden Gate Bridge Today

Here's what President Obama has said about China:

"China is making investments in the future...they're making investments in infrastructure...we USED to  have the best infrastructure in the world...had the best roads, the best airports, the best ports, the best highways, the best internet service, now we're second, we're third, we're fifteenth, we're twenty-first, we can't win that way...listen, Abraham Lincoln helped build the  intercontinental railroad in the middle of the Civil War..." 

Golden Gate Bridge, built in 4 yrs (1933-1937)

Once again, we have the President of the United States "running down" the U.S. in comparison to China. 

I believe in American exceptionalism. I believe in American ingenuity--just look at Apple and the new iPad. I believe that we can do whatever we set our minds to do as a nation.

• We built the Golden Gate Bridge in just over 4 yrs (from 1933-1937) and 11 men died during its construction.
• We built the Hoover Dam in five years (1930-1935) and an estimated 112 deaths occurred which included a drowning as well as heat-related deaths. The Hoover Dam provides water to over 25-million people in the Southwest.
• The Panama Canal was built in 10 yrs (from 1904-1914).
• The Brooklyn Bridge was built in 13 yrs. At the time, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world (from 1870-1883).

Hoover Dam, built in 5 yrs (from 1930 - 1935)

But, having said that, here's why we could not accomplish these same feats today in the same amount of time, and why China can run circles around us as far as building bridges, highways, etc.:

1. EPA (The Environmental Protection Agency)
2. ESA (The Endangered Species' Act)
3. Army Core of Engineers
4. Labor Unions
5. Federal regulations (otherwise known as "red tape")
6. OSHA (Occupational, Safety, Health Administration)

These are the 6 culprits which comprise the reason why we CANNOT compete with the Chinese. 

Panama Canal built in 10 yrs (from 1904 - 1914)

We could NOT build the Golden Gate Bridge now in less than 30 yrs because of regulations, required studies, endangered species, labor unions. Again, the Golden Gate Bridge in all probability could NOT be built today because it would be cost prohibitive due to federal & state regulations. Also, it would be studied to death by the Army Core of Engineers and if there happened to be a nest of endangered eagles at the proposed site, the entire project would have to be relocated (like how are you going to relocate a bridge. It needs to cross exactly where it has been planned).

Brooklyn Bridge built in 13 yrs. (1870-1883)

The Hoover Dam could NOT be built today because of endangered species act, the Army Core of Engineers (a bunch of environmental-whackos) who care more about endangered fish, snails, rats, owls than they do about the progress and well-being of our nation, and the added expense of union labor along with thousands of pages of regulations which would make this cost-prohibitive. Also, the moment one person was killed or seriously injured, the entire project would be shut down for safety evaluations and fines. 

So keep all this in mind the next time you hear our President praising China and deriding America as second, third, or fifteenth to the rest of the world in its infrastructure.

OSHA: The Death of Common Sense and Then Some...

Imagine for a moment that someone with a great reputation like Mother Theresa comes into your community and wants to renovate several dilapidated buildings to house the homeless. In effect, get the homeless off the street and help turn their lives around. Wouldn't you think that your city would pull out all the stops to help make this happen?

Well, if you're New York City, and if the person that came to town was Mother Theresa, you'd be WRONG!

Phillip Howard in his book, "The Death of Common Sense" talks of a charitable fund run by the organization with which Mother Theresa was involved. They bought a number of dilapidated structures from the city of New York and sought to renovate them for the homeless. However, when it came time to open them, the city decided that the three-story structures required the installation of elevators at $100,000 per building. The charity did not have the funds to install the elevators and so the homeless were denied clean, warm housing in the interests of not forcing them to endure the evils of walking up a flight of stairs.

In "The Death of Common Sense," Howard talks at length of one firm which has now accepted the fines levied by OSHA as an expense of doing business since it is not humanly possible to comply with all of the requirements. In order to protect its workers, it instead implemented a "Safety First" campaign of its own imploring common sense while OSHA inspectors chose to concentrate on tape measures showing banisters to be installed at 44" from the floor rather than the 48" required by law.

There are tales of OSHA determining that bricks are a hazardous substance -- not because someone might hit you over the head with one, but because if one is sawed in half, the dust particles might be inhaled.

OSHA imposes an incredible paperwork burden on U.S. business. In 1994, seven of the top ten most frequent OSHA citations were related to paperwork. OSHA has perfected the government “make-work” scheme—generate a paper blizzard of regulations and then fine businesses for not complying.


OSHA had cited small businesses for neglecting to consider as "hazardous" such substances as sand, gravel, dishwashing liquid, liquid paper, water, and oxygen. A small businessman in Florida, for example, was cited for failing to place a "Do Not Drink" warning on a bottle of dishwashing liquid. And an Indiana contractor was "astonished" when he learned that he was to receive a citation for falling to list a common household window cleaner on his MSDS.

Here are a few examples of stupid OSHA regulations:

• Plastic gas cans can be used on manufacturing work sites, but not on construction sites, even if they have been approved by local fire marshals.
• OSHA only allows for radiation signs with purple letters on a yellow background, while the Department of Transportation calls for black on yellow.
• OSHA requires that work-site first-aid kits be approved by a physician.
• Dentists estimate that OSHA regulations add $10. to the teeth cleaning bill and $15-17 to the typical cavity filling. 
• Brad Arft, director of training for Gold Cross Ambulance Service in Appleton, Wisconsin, notes that while these and other new requirements may not add to response or treatment time, they do "add time to start patient care when the potential exists for exposure" to blood and other body fluids. And again, a record of every washing of hands and changing of rubber gloves must be kept for 30 years after the employee has left the company. Failure to comply with that and other standards could result in a fine of up to $70,000, while any employee who violates the rules for a fourth time is subject to automatic dismissal.

The Denver Business Journal estimates that businesses spend $33 billion yearly to comply with OSHA safety standards. 

OSHA is another example of a government that is out of control where one size fits all and the government trying to protect us from any kind of risk, even if it makes it harder for businesses to stay in business.  
OSHA is punishing employer’s verses creating common sense policies that promote prevention.