In a society that is struggling to create jobs and kick-start growth, what is a great way to help get things moving again?  I know!  Let’s implement MORE government regulations that will tie up productivity in government compliance, rather than in growth and productivity. 

A new analysis finds that added regulations just under Barack Obama are now estimated to be $488 billion.  That is additional regulations in less than four years.  According to White House data, this equates to 10.38 billion hours filling out federal paperwork.  Just this week we learned that 80 million of those compliance hours will be dedicated just to complying with ObamaCare.  And while we are on the topic of ObamaCare … did you hear the latest estimates on the penalties associated with Obama?  Congressional budget analysts have revised their numbers and determined that 6 million Americans will likely pay penalties under ObamaCare, and most of those people will be the precious middle class.  So much for Obama’s claim that he would never raise taxes on the middle class!

But back to regulations …

You bet that all of these regulations hurt businesses.  Earlier this week, a coal mining company announced that it is closing eight of its mines and eliminating 1,200 jobs.  The article mentions that these coal companies are having to look at their businesses and how they deal with an “entirely new reality.”  What’s that reality?  An Obama administration with an EPA empowered to fulfill Obama’s promise of bankrupting the coal industry.  Remember that one?  In 2008, “So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can; it's just that it will bankrupt them because they're going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that's being emitted.”  Wow, a promise he managed to fulfill!