Category: Public Policy & Government Regulation

Government Regulation Does Not Fly; nor should it.

Posted on by Ladmann

Another example of lack of productive government regulation is the Federal Aviation Administration [FAA]. You might believe that traveling at 30,000 feet above the earth deserves some guidance. You would think that maintaining the best quality personnel, technology and funding would be minimum expectations.

How does the FAA measure up?

  • Air Missions system [NOTAM] was installed 30 years ago with no upgrades planned for another 6 years. [i]
  • FAA’s NextGen Project is 10 years behind schedule.
  • No funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act passed by Congress 2 years ago.
  • 77% of critical air traffic control facilities are staffed below FAA’s 85% threshold. [85%??????]
  • 22% of total air traffic controllers are trainees. [ii]

So much for the government benefit of technology, personnel, and funding.

Yet according to the FAA website, “Today, the major capital programs under development in the FAA are on track…” [iii]

How about privatization of air traffic control [ATC]? Several countries have successfully implemented privatization: Canada [iv], United Kingdom [v], France, Germany, Australia, and New Zealand [vi].

 

 

[i] Corrupt software introduced by contractors took down FAA system, officials say (nbcnews.com)

[ii] More Airline Regulations? Regulation, The Cato Review of Business and Government; Fall 2023, Vol. 46, No.3, pg.4.

[iii] Technology | Federal Aviation Administration (faa.gov)

[iv] Q&A: The pros and cons of privatizing air traffic control | AP News

[v] Delta Report 1.29

[vi] Privatization of ATC – The Pros and Cons | (airinsight.com)

The Administrative State Out of Control

Posted on by Ladmann

I have previously published my concerns regarding the US administrative state [1]. The amount of control over our behavior continues to increase, which decreases our amount of freedom.

The total number of pages in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) as of 2021 = 188,343 [2]. The number of regulations/personal “restrictions” [3] [4] “…increased to 1,089,462 by 2022.” [5]

“…Executive agencies publish 3,000 to 4,500 new rules per year, and these regulations have a substantial impact on the American economy. Compounding the problem, courts have ratified that presidential power grab by enacting a series of judge-made rules that require federal courts to defer to the decisions of executive agencies.” [6]

 

[1] See my March 2018 article, “Government Regulation = Lawsuits & Loss of Freedom”.

[2] 2022_Cfr_Page_Breakdown.pdf (federalregister.gov)

[3] A new and more sophisticated measure of federal regulation, devised by economists at George Mason University’s Mercatus Center, consists in counting the number of CFR “restrictions” indicated by the keywords “shall,” “must,” “may not,” “required,” and “prohibited.”

[4] Was Trump a Deregulator? | Cato Institute

[5] Ibid.; 2022_Cfr_Page_Breakdown.pdf (federalregister.gov).

[6] Opinion | Overturning ‘Chevron’ Can Help Rebalance the Constitutional Order – The New York Times (nytimes.com)

 

EU Law Against Misinformation

Posted on by Ladmann

EU Law Against Misinformation

The European Union has passed a new digital information law designed to provide restrictions against misinformation and terrorist comments and hate speech. The new law would also impact on some sort of online ads.

… “The law, called the Digital Services Act, is intended to address social media’s societal harms by requiring companies to more aggressively police their platforms for illicit content or risk billions of dollars in fines. Tech companies would be compelled to set up new policies and procedures to remove flagged hate speech, terrorist propaganda and other material defined as illegal by countries within the European Union….” [i]

When European Union countries have the power to define what opinion, speech and thought is illegal, how is this different from what Putin is doing in Russia?

 

[i] Satariano, Adam; E.U. Takes Aim at Social Media’s Harms with Landmark New Law; NY Times, Technology, 4/22/2022.

Government; COVID Collapse

Posted on by Ladmann
  • Government is often the only arbitrator between functioning society and anarchy. That being stated, government is often the lowest common denominator of positive and socially beneficial actions.
  • COVID-19 pandemic as the latest and currently the most obvious example, worldwide, regardless of specific structure of government.
  • All governments have chosen the path of less preparedness for a pandemic, regardless of previous warnings.
  • Additionally, virtually all governments have chosen to over react and shut down entire economies, causing extreme economic and social upheaval.
  • These series of no action followed by over reaction from governments has once again resulted in the most vulnerable, the poor and elderly, those most needing government support and protection, being the most seriously impacted.

We Want More Government Healthcare Spending? Really?

Posted on by Ladmann

US population from 1900-2016 increased from 76.1m to 324.3m = +326%. [https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/population]

Healthcare expenses as a % or GDP increased from .24% to 8% = +3,100% or almost 10x as much. [https://www.usgovernmentspending.com/healthcare_spending].

This increase is due primarily to government waste and interference with the health care profession and political promises that we can not afford. Since 1960 government health care spending = apprx. 1% GDP. By 2010s spending had increased to apprx. 5.7% GDP = +470% [ https://www.usgovernmentspending.com/healthcare_spending].

In 2013 the U.S. spent 17.1% of its total GDP on healthcare, 50% more than the second highest spending country, France (11.6%).[^ Squires, David; Anderson, Chloe. “U.S. Health Care from a Global Perspective”].

Government spending has allowed unaffordable increases in health care costs. This is sold to us as access to health care. Really?