Consumer Law

Damn the Regulations, Full Speed Ahead!

By Joe Consumer

It?s official.  We are officially back to the Bush era!

One of our favorite PopTort themes is that consumers are kept safe from the havoc inflicted by corporate miscreants by both tough regulations and the deterrent effect of legal liability.  President George W. Bush did a great job turning federal regulatory agencies into apologists for corporate wrongdoing.  Take for example, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which we covered in 2009  when the Washington Post wrote, ?political appointees ordered the withdrawal of dozens of workplace health regulations, slow-rolled others, and altered the reach of its warnings and rules in response to industry pressure.? The result is a legacy of unregulation common to several health-protection agencies under Bush.?

We were hoping this would not also be the legacy of our new President, but it looks like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has finally had its way with him.  Today, the President took to the pages of the Wall Street Journal  announcing his new Executive Order that will lead to eliminating regulations whenever possible, it seems - like, for example, if businesses can argue that health and safety regulations will cost jobs.  Salon writes:

The argument for less regulation reads somewhat antithetically. Obama is quick to point out how regulation places "unreasonable burdens on business ? burdens that have stifled innovation and have had a chilling effect on growth and jobs." His executive order promises to eliminate "absurd and unnecessary paperwork requirements that waste time and money" as well as "avoid excessive, inconsistent and redundant regulation."

But in the same breath, he recognizes how a lack of government oversight nearly caused the next Great Depression.

But I know, everything IS about jobs now (thanks to a ruined economy caused by lack of regulation).  And if you don?t think jobs will be used as any excuse to endanger the public?s health and safety, take a look at the title for Thursday?s House Judiciary Committee hearing: Oversight Hearing on "Medical Liability Reform - Cutting Costs, Spurring Investment, Creating Jobs"  (Center for Justice & Democracy?s Ex. Dir. Joanne Doroshow will be testifying as the only witness for the D?s, by the way!)

I guess one could make the argument that a weakened tort system, which leads to more dangerous hospitals, will create the need for more prosthetics manufactures, physical therapists and round the clock nursing care.  But I?d rather not go there.

Full post as published by ThePopTort on January 18, 2011 (boomark / email).