Last Updated on Tuesday, 15 November 2011 03:09 Written by dbhalling Tuesday, 15 November 2011 03:09

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“Do Government Regulations Really Kill Jobs?” opinion November 14,2011 Washington Post by  Jia Lynn Lang, explores the concept that one industry’s losses on overbearing regulations are another industry’s  boon.  Leaving aside the Broken Window Fallacy introduced by Bastiat that’s been around over 160 years for the moment, let’s look into the brilliant mind of Roger Noll, an economics professor at Stanford and co-director of the university’s program on regulatory policy. “Some people identify with the beneficiaries, others identify with those who bear the cost, and no amount of argument is ever going to change their minds.”  This is a leading economist paid by a major university to come up with this explanation to downplay the absolute economic wreck the US regulation and tax policies have had on our country.  You cannot make this stuff up.  By “some people” identifying with the beneficiaries, is the esteemed professor suggesting parasites are interchangeable with producers?  Some will identify with thieves, others with the victims, according to the Stanford professor.  Since the author of this article has only plumbed the depths of a few “economists, ”  I’d like to introduce her to some basic facts in from a relatively short snapshot in History.

From 1998-2000, the US saw 4470 IPOs or Initial Public Offerings.  From 2001-2010, that number fell almost 4/5^th in ONE DECADE.  What the heck happened??  A little beauty  of a regulatory law, just under 60 pages, sponsored by legislators Sarbanes and Oxley in 2002.  What about that horrible tech bubble that caused the stock market to tumble in 2000?  That “bubble” was the strongest contributor to the U.S.’s position as the undisputed economic and technological leader of the world.  It resulted in disruptive technologies that changed the world and every one of our lives and is still doing so today.  Then we passed SOX.  This was supposed to stop bubbles from occurring.  Fast forward to 2008.  Well, there weren’t many IPOs for your money to invest in-which left real estate all by its lonesome.  Hmmm, that SOX sure did work on real estate.

Today, we are getting ready to face the regulatory tsunami of Dodd-Frank.  This nifty law is over 2300 pages.  What sane US company wants to stay on this island?

Well, it’s possible Sarbanes, Oxley, Dodd and Frank might cook up a new law to force them to stay here.  Slavery, 2012 style.