Sunday, August 21, 2011

Federal Government A to Z


Regulation Madness
Federal Government A to Z
Thank Goodness for Q
By Stephen L. Wilmeth


     Once again, let’s review the equation.  There is income of $2.17 trillion.  There are planned expenditures of $3.82 trillion.  National debt now equates to 100% of Gross National Product, and the current national debt is $14.29 trillion.  There is no budget, and we are reminded daily our destiny is predicated on hope and change.
     View from Slats
     It is a wonder that Agriculture remains the standard America can count on when it comes to the generation of revenues.  The industry is blessed with many factors.  We have wonderful middle latitude soils. We have aging, but fairly reliable irrigation infrastructure improvements and facilities.  We have immense opportunities of geographic spread of risk.  We have solid land grant institutional research strength.  We have great farm to market transportation.  We have the best equipment in the world.  We have the best input suppliers in the world.  We have great processing and value added facilities.  We have great, albeit aging farm managers and operators, and we still have a smidgeon of what Slats taught me the day he and I were down in the hole we had dug to expose my Nana’s sewage drain to her leach field.
     When we had finally routed out the roots that had clogged the drain, we sat there and watched the success of our handiwork go floating by.  There was time to reflect on the bigger issues and Slats was wise beyond my boyhood frame of reference. 
   “See, we’ve cleared the obstacles and those slugs can go on down the line.  We are free and clear now, boy,” he had offered.  “We can go and do other things.”
     I had asked him about his business knowing he controlled a big portion of the county’s sewage business.  He offered a glimpse into a business that on the surface may seem a bit offensive, but had its rewards.
     “Nobody stands over me and tells me what to do,” he reflected.  “I like that.”
    History would demonstrate that his private business was one of the best in the area.  He became wealthy doing work that few folks would tell him how to do  . . . and fewer yet would do themselves.
      The Agriculture similarity
     Agriculture is similar to Slats’ business.  Admittedly, it is more romantic, but the majority of the world now knows little about the industry and its daily stewardship.  Under most circumstances, there is not somebody standing over the shoulder of the farmer or rancher telling him what to do.  There is freedom, but that is changing. 
     American agriculture gained success long ago by freedom.  For an industry with such an undercurrent of science and research, the practice of Agriculture remains an elegant art form.  Advancements came from freedom of actions.  Without those freedoms, this industry will decline.
      The Federal disconnect
      This week on his bus tour, the President responded to a farmer’s plea to hold off on the rush to more regulation.  Those of us who silently applauded that farmer for making such a request also anticipated the president’s answer.  His dismissive response indicated he has little clue of the great divide between his world and ours.
     A quick review of the internet Ag communications this morning indicated that 40% of the headlines related in one way or another to government rules, regulations, and impact on the citizenry.  Examples included the recent estimate update from the USDA on the cotton crop.  That estimate elevates the crop by 550,000 bales.  That announcement has thrown the market into a frenzy based upon countering expectations that the drought in Texas has dramatically reduced that state’s crop which so impacts the national crop.
     There was an article warning ginners to be observant of new labor rules for their seasonal employees.  The Department of Labor would be policing and prosecuting violators of the rules.
     There was an article of how labor and immigration policies yet again have impacted labor intensive Ag operations.  On the finance side of the ledger, the Fed announcement of flat interest rates through 2013 prompts the need to evaluate how balance sheet adjustments must be made.
     For those making their living on federal lands, the disclosure of yet another Department of Interior end run on the Federal Lands Policy and Management Act’s plan to designate federal wilderness has been found.  In the most recent approach, a memo was discovered from the Secretary to the BLM Director instructing him to identify public lands that have broad support for protection.  Apparently, the instruction was spread only to select county commissions who don’t have the same perspective as do rural citizens. 
     There was also the announcement that DOJ was going to start differentiating the deportation of illegal immigrants.  The announcement was complete with a quote from Senator Dodd indicating that from the ranks of those illegals would be future doctors, teachers, and even senators.
    Finally, there was the announcement from the Department of Transportation that there would be no action taken on increased regulation of farm related transportation.  The Department recognized the response to their trial balloon on this subject was met with blistering negativity.  If it hadn’t . . . the schedule for policing action policy would have dispersed.   
      The Regulators
     Does anybody have any idea how many federal agencies, departments, corporations, foundations or other policing agencies there are?  There are nominally 584 that are listed in governmental reference sources.  Of those, there are no less than 147 that affect Agriculture one way or the other.
     That number has nothing to do with past or current legislation and the gargantuan impact of pending regulation and management mandates which emanates from such Congressional action.  The ‘rest of that story’ will only make the accelerating trend of the regulators more oppressive.
      The tedious Doomsayers
     A review of the list is an interesting process.  You can almost visualize how many of the basement level offices were established.  When some president couldn’t get information on how many miles of two track roads were in Cumberland County, he demanded that the Bureau of Transportation Statistics be established for some more immediate answers! 
    Likewise, since there was a James Madison National Fellowship Foundation there was sure room for the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation.  And, if there was going to be an administrator for details of county and city facts across the nation, there may as well be an administrator for data from each state. 
     It is only natural when the Rural Utilities Service was formed that every government employee there must have a clipboard.  It was also hard to deny the new boss the privilege of a government vehicle if the chief of the Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee got one.  After all, the Millennium Challenge Corporation CEO got one, too.
     It was also important that if an office was going to be charged with some responsibility he or she had to have some authority.  By the time the big environmental behemoths evolved (the likes of the EPA, USFWS, and others with their organic environmental legislation), regulation was moving into the realm of catastrophe prevention and mother earth salvation.  The clipboards had been thrown away and super computers were being capitalized and installed.  The grand discovery had blossomed.  If the world was to be saved from the private sector, government oversight was not only needed  . . . it was paramount.
     Chiefs and Indians
     Today, there are more employees in the Department of Agriculture than there are farmers and ranchers in our country.  When you add to that the number of employees in the Department of Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Institute of Peace the ratio of the remaining farmers and ranchers to federal employees could fit into a gooseneck trailer being pulled down the freeway against an endless stream of top of the line, blacked out government vehicles. 
     To put that it in the parlance that Slats could understood, there now exists even a government official who is an expert on bacterial detritus of sewage flow.  Now, that doesn’t imply that he or she could dig the hole to get to the pipe to make the measurement . . . Slats’ kin would have to do that, but  . . . they could instruct Slats in the proper method of how he is supposed to hold the shovel  . . . safely, and . . . well, there must be something else, or  . . . does that simply imply there is a need for yet another agency?
    
Stephen L. Wilmeth is a rancher from southern New Mexico.  “By the time I got to “Q” in the governmental indices I was discouraged.  It was a relief to see there was not a single agency under “Q”.  None, zero, nada . . . makes you wonder, though, how many Q’s might emerge from all the state, county, and local agencies that exist alongside the feds in order to keep the world a safe, orderly, and enlightened place to live.”

THE WESTERNER sez

The regulatory state under Obama is growing at an unbelievable rate. Consider the following:

° If the federal government's regulatory operation were a business, it would be one of the 50 biggest in the country in terms of revenues, and the third largest in terms of employees.

° Regulatory agencies have seen their combined budgets grow a healthy 16% since 2008, topping $54 billion, at a time when the overall economy grew a paltry 5%.

° Employment at the regulatory agencies has climbed 13% since Obama took office to more than 281,000, while private-sector jobs shrank by 5.6%.

° The Obama administration imposed 75 new major rules in its first 26 months, costing the private sector more than $40 billion.

° In July of this year alone, the Obama administration proposed 229 new regs and finalized 379 regs.

° Much more is on the way. The Federal Register notes that more than 4,200 regs are in the pipeline.

And finally,

° By 2008, the cost of complying with federal rules and regulations already exceeded $1.75 trillion a year, and small companies (where most of ag fits) spend 36% more per employee to comply with these rules than larger firms.

We need to bring back the clear cut...and clear cut the regulatory jungle we find ourselves in. Sharpen your axe for 2012.


Senator John Barrasso - 31 Days
Regulation Business, Jobs Booming Under Obama

3 comments:

El Diario Observer said...

2012!!!

Lookin' south to Catron County said...

Chance, correcto el Diario, but we need 2004 budget levels and regulation returns, too. Then we will agree with your !!

Anonymous said...

You folks know there is a farmer in the race now, and he is from Paint Creek. Anybody from Paint Creek understands the regulation mess. Come on, Rick!