Sidebar: Buerkle Shining Brightly

When Darrell Issa, Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Regulations asked to hear from businesses regarding "existing and proposed regulations that have negatively impacted job growth”, he got quite a few responses.

• Requiring businesses to disclose CEO pay compared to what the typical worker is paid.  
• Rewarding whistleblowers for alerting the SEC about corporate fraud. 
•  Requiring companies to post notices informing workers of their rights under federal labor law. 
•  Limiting hazardous air pollutant emissions from industrial boilers and solid-waste incinerators. 
• Potentially protect drinking water from hydro-fracking.
• Requiring mining companies to disclose information about mine safety and health standards.

I admit I struggled to make the job-loss connection on a few of these, such as the CEO pay issue.  But then I learned that the Business Roundtable objected to this reg, stating not only would it be hard to determine the ratio, but that "It could potentially cause companies to take actions that result in less employment, such as outsourcing, to produce better ratios.”  

Right.