The regulatory realm: where the most egregious assault on freedom & economic vitality happens

Mona Charen's current column at Townhall passes along a New York Times front-page story (you read that right) about how an apple orchard in upstate New York was visited by government inspectors in October.

[They] demand[ed] to see reams of paperwork to ensure that the farm was in compliance with immigration rules, OSHA guidelines, the Fair Labor Standards Act and other laws and regulations.

Over the course of the next several days, the family and staff had to devote about 40 hours to compiling 22 different kinds of records -- everything from vehicle registrations to insurance certificates to employee time sheets. The federal rules on ladder safety alone amount to thousands of words. "It's terribly disruptive," Ten Eyck complained.

She goes on to cite how the US fares in the World Bank's ease-of-doing-business stats (fell from third-best in 2009 to seventh-best in 2016). She also points out that the regulatory leviathan is not just a federal-level thing, that it permeates state and municipal realms as well, resulting in overlap and redundancy - not to mention that many more pointy-heads poking around in America's businesses.

I'm reminded of a delicious moment from my days at a manufacturing company years ago. The front-office people alerted the CEO that an OSHA inspector had come. The CEO went out to the lobby and told him he'd have to get a warrant. The OSHA inspector, actually a nice fellow, kind of nodded and grinned and said, "Of course, you realize that all this does is delay your inspection by a day."

The CEO said, "Yes, I understand that. We're just doing it because we can."