We are all aware that government bureaucrats have written literally tens of thousands of rules and regulations, none of which were passed by a vote of the Congress, and signed by the President. This, to me, makes them unconstitutional. The tens of thousands of rules and regulations, have made it virtually impossible to start a business, build a house or other building, hire help, manufacture anything, grow something, mine something, or do any for-profit venture. America is ’hog tied,’ when it comes to doing any of the previously mentioned things, and of course, our economy is at a standstill, and going backwards even. As has been mentioned in the previous column, the medicrats have written over 11 MILLION pages of rules and regulations for Obamacare, and they’re still at it. Building codes, plumbing codes, and electrical codes, have been enlarged and made complex beyond all reason. The old ’Square D’ breakers, are no longer acceptable if you want to re-wire, just as an example. “New” breakers, which are expensive, are now required. It hasn’t always been this way. Let me explain.
Telephones
In 1934, FDR and his Democrats, passed the ’Communications Act of 1934.’ What this did, was to create the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which was to “Implement and regulate all interstate activities of the telephone companies.” The telephone companies then, were maybe a hundred “Bell” companies, and of course this was a telephone cartel. Long distance cost a fortune, to put it mildly. I remember it all, and it was so bad, and such a monopoly, that everyone took for granted, that telephones were run by various “Bell” companies, were expensive, controlled by government, and rates set by government. This was supposed to make sure everyone had a phone, couldn’t be overcharged, or something like that. Today, we can’t imagine a telephone system as stupid, expensive, and ridiculous as that, but it was the law of the land, and telephone regulation was a fact. All regulated in favor of AT&T, who owned the various “Bell” companies. The stock symbol for AT&T was a simple “T.” The FCC decided which “Baby Bell” could operate in what area, and what rates it could charge. Everything about telephones was regulated by government, who saw to it that “T” made lots of money with their government sponsored and controlled telephone cartel.
Huge technological developments in the 1970’s, promised incredible savings, if allowed to be put into operation. Competitors would have to be allowed to hook on to the AT&T system’s wires, since there were no satellites then. Would AT&T willingly allow competition? Would they rent space on their wires? Of course not, and the FCC backed them. In 1984, under Reagan, the courts forced AT&T to sell of their “Baby Bells.” AT&T still controlled most of the long distance, but not all, since they no longer controlled the “Baby Bells.” Competition reared its ugly head, and the now independent Bells, allowed MCI and Sprint to compete with AT&T for long distance. Guess what happened? Much lower long distance rates, and much better service. Ten years later, the pressure was on to break up the Baby Bell’s monopolies. In other words, he local phone service should be open to anyone who can compete. The Baby Bells said that they had the wiring in place to millions of homes and businesses, and they owned the wire, and weren’t about to rent it out. A couple of years later, it was discovered that the wire was paid for by the entities served, and belonged to them, not the Baby Bells. This brought on the “Telecommunications Act of 1996,” under a Republican Congress, and signed into law by Bill Clinton.
This opened the doors to competition, not only in telephones, but cable TV. America’s free enterprise system, then began to work, as freedom of the marketplace will always do, when freed from government bureaucrats, regulations, and gobbledygook. Today, you can get telephone service for a few bucks a month, and of course cell phones, tablets, and all sorts of stuff is now in fierce competition, with rates going lower, and service is great, Cell phone towers are everywhere, and telephone service can be obtained without wires, everywhere. See how things work, when they are DEREGULATED? Why then, do we have hundreds of thousands of regulations on everything, which, of course, has caused our economy to stagnate? All these regulations and rules, even if they could be waded through, make building something, or starting something far too expensive, time consuming, and maddening.
Transportation
Transportation is one of the essentials of an economy. Railroads, airlines, taxicabs, trucks, or busses, are the backbone of our economy. It was absurdly regulated since 1887, when the Interstate Commerce Act was passed. Every facet of transportation was regulated by the federal government. Bureaucrats decided who could move people or things, how much they could charge, what territories they could operate in, how fast the could travel, how much they could pay their employees, and the list was endless. Costs were astronomical. Territories were owned, routes were owned, and the owners could abolish or prohibit any competition legally. Want to buy a truck and haul freight? Good luck Charlie! You’d have to get all sorts of licenses and permissions, besides answering to the party that ’owned’ the territory. Competition was virtually zero, and all the employees were usually Teamsters. It cost a fortune to ship anything, or go anywhere!
The Airline Deregulation Act was passed in 1978, and we then had lovely low cost air travel, with competition between the airlines, and lots of new lines formed. Those who couldn’t compete, either sold out or disappeared. The Motor Carrier Act was passed in 1980, which freed the truckers from regulation, and there are now hundreds of thousands of tractor trailers on the highways every day, all competing with each other for service and price. Unionized truckers are almost extinct, and truck shipping prices have never been so low. As an side, the government building of the Interstate Highway System, at huge taxpayer expense, allowed truckers to ride on them free, which has hurt the railroads who pay property taxes on every foot of track they own. Truckers pay a small gallon charge on diesel, but it doesn’t begin to cover the damage an 85,000 pound truck does. If government hadn’t built the interstate system, destroying thousands of businesses, and let each state compete with their own roads, there would be fewer trucks, and more freight trains. Before the interstates, we were energy self sufficient, and our air was a lot cleaner. Pennsylvania, Ohio Indiana, and Kansas, had already built their own toll roads, and if the interstate system hadn’t been built at taxpayer expense, all states would have built toll roads, and truckers would be far less competitive, thanks to government eliminating competition on one hand, and creating it on the other, with interstates, which made fuel consumption and air terrible . Railroads can haul freight at a fraction of the cost of trucks, but trucks use the interstates free, and railroads pay taxes on and maintain their roads at big expense.
In 1976, the “Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act” was passed, which de-regulated a bit, and allowed the formation of “Conrail.” The Pennsylvania and New York Central Railroads, had already merged to form the Penn-Central. The Penn Central and six other smaller eastern ones weren’t doing all that good either, so in 1976, the act combined all of them into Conrail. That de-regulation helped a lot, and the federal government subsidized Conrail until 1980, at which point it became self-sufficient. Harry Truman (The buck stops here), looked at the union dominated cartels on transport, and decided that it was absurd. The result was “The Staggers Act of 1980.” The Staggers Act, named after Congressman Harley Staggers, allowed all forms of transport to compete, and took the lid off of railroad and other forms of transport that might be regulated by government. Railroads were free to get rid of money losing passenger trains, which had been killed by the interstates and de-regulated airlines. Railroad freight charges became competitive, and freight charges became 51% cheaper. Competition is wonderful! Mergers took place, and as an example, Conrail was bought by what became the CSX corporation. You see their commercials on TV at times.
All this de-regulation, has resulted in far lower prices for everything we buy and use. It has hurt small businesses, I know, but that may be the price of freedom of the marketplace, and I wouldn’t go back to the old way for love or money. Amazon has hurt bookstores, E-bay has opened up new avenues to buy stuff cheap and at competitive prices, The internet has hurt the post office, and Craig’s List has hurt newspaper advertising. Chain stores have hurt individual businesses and restaurants. Improved auto technology has hurt the small garage owner, and modern electronics has hurt the TV repair businesses. Would you want government to step in and regulate retail businesses? Can you imagine the cost of merchandise, and the limited, variety if government regulated businesses, and what they have already deregulated? That would be a horror story. I hope they don’t get around to doing that! Unregulated business, results in large variety, competitive prices, and convenience. Government is to destroying 7% of our national wealth with Obamacare. It was passed without a single Republican vote, and all their predictions are now coming true, and more so every day. Regulating anything in the marketplace, kills it! If Republicans play it right, they can destroy the Democrats in the next election. We can hope anyway.