Americans still waiting on Biden broadband plan; rural high-speed internet stuck in Dems’ red tape
Is most legislation just the expression of good intentions? What’s the point of legislatively allocating $42.5 billion if you’re not going to approve its allocation?
‘Residents in rural America are eager to access high-speed internet under a $42.5 billion federal modernization program, but not a single home or business has been connected to new broadband networks nearly three years after President Biden signed the funding into law, and no project will break ground until sometime next year.
‘Lawmakers and internet companies blame the slow rollout on burdensome requirements for obtaining the funds, including climate change mandates, preferences for hiring union workers and the requirement that eligible companies prioritize the employment of “justice-impacted” people with criminal records to install broadband equipment.’
Why We Can’t Have Nice Things, Part XXIV
Trying to solve multiple policy objectives with one policy instrument is the road to failure.
‘A big part of the problem is the piling on to any government program a host of progressive wish-list items including:
‘• Preference for hiring union workers, who are scarce in some rural areas.
‘• Requiring providers to prioritize “certain segments of the workforce, such as individuals with past criminal records,” when building broadband networks.
‘• Requiring eligible entities to “account not only for current [climate-related] risks but also for how the frequency, severity, and nature of these extreme events may plausibly evolve as our climate continues to change over the coming decades.”’
Surgeon General Murthy wants social media warning labels. Try telling that to Congress.
Bureaucracy grows in direct proportion to frustration with the legislative process and its built-in delay.
‘In addition to calling for a warning label, Murthy’s op-ed in The New York Times included a wish list of provisions for social media safety legislation — an issue that has frustrated advocates and many policymakers for years. Several attempts by Congress to draft legislation have foundered against the unwavering objections of the tech industry, as well as disagreements among policymakers about how strictly tech platforms should be regulated, and whether a federal law should preempt the myriad state laws that have now advanced.’
Do you really need to tell pharmacists to respect their customers? These people chose a career path involving in helping people qua human beings.
‘Mandatory ideological training has now come to the drugstore. In California, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, in order to keep their license, must study the latest in gender identity, colonialism, and white privilege. Such “cultural competency” courses are required by a state law that went into effect this year.’
California Says Don’t Keep on Truckin’
California wants to force train operators to use technology that doesn’t exist or isn’t safe. Because California is so influential and interconnected, they’re foisting this on the whole country.
‘The U.S. House last week held a hearing on the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) plan that would ban locomotives that are 23 years or older from running in the state after 2029, pending approval from the Environmental Protection Agency. Passenger trains would also have to operate in a “zero emission” configuration by 2030 and long-distance freight trains by 2035.
‘Chuck Baker, president of the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association, warned that CARB’s plan will harm its members, most of which are small businesses. Those that depend on short-line rail, he said, “will move out of California or just vanish.” Why should Congress and Americans in the other 49 states care?
‘Because CARB is railroading businesses across the country. Its regulations would bar two-thirds of the nation’s locomotive fleet from entering California. Since locomotives can’t be swapped at the state border, the rules in practice would affect trains far beyond the left coast. Zero-emission locomotives would require batteries six to 10 times bigger than those now available commercially, and smaller-battery locomotives have been prone to fires and explosions.’
The US abortion drugs regulation challenge has stalled, but it will return
The Supreme Court denied a legal challenge to the morning after pill. It won’t be the last skirmish around abortion and abortifacients.
‘This case was argued before the US Supreme Court earlier this year, and legal observers noted that the reaction of the justices (and the questions asked) made it look very unlikely for the plaintiffs to prevail. In fact, the entire case was just thrown out, based on the question of legal standing: to proceed, the anti-abortion physicians bringing the suit needed to show that they (or any physicians at all) stood in imminent danger of harm due to the FDA’s regulatory decisions. The court found they did not, especially considering the wide scope of conscience-based exemptions from having to perform abortion procedures in general. Almost no time was spent on the legality of the FDA’s regulations themselves.’
The $20 Billion ObamaCare Subsidy Fraud
People respond to incentives. The numbers from these government errors are so large and so frequent that they have become meaningless.
‘A new Paragon analysis estimates that five million enrollees are receiving health-insurance subsidies well above the amounts to which they are legally entitled. The subsidy amount is largely determined by income, so that brokers and insurers alike financially benefit if applicants misstate their incomes. The administration, seeking to inflate coverage numbers, has prioritized enrollment over the program’s integrity. That has fostered fraudulent spending, which we estimate at $20 billion in 2024.’
Germany's excessive bureaucracy drives self-employed abroad: IW
The wages of bureaucracy is decline. Another story about German pushback on bureaucracy. It is a luxury they can no longer afford. The emigration of skilled labor comes at a time of tremendous domestic shortages.
‘Some 36 percent of self-employed people in Germany are thinking about emigrating, according to a survey by the German Economic Institute (IW) published on Wednesday, with most citing "excessive bureaucracy" in Europe's largest economy.
‘Although there is a high demand for external specialists in Germany, 27 percent want to give up their self-employment altogether, according to the survey of 6,300 people. Among highly qualified IT specialists, the share was particularly large.’
How US lead regulations hurt Mexican babies
The iatrogenic consequences of good intentions, lead batter edition.
‘As the US recycled fewer lead batteries for cars, US exports of used batteries to Mexico increased and were used in Mexican battery recycling. However, with more battery recycling, Mexican plants created more lead emissions, resulting in a higher rate of low-birthweight babies among poor mothers who lived near those plants ‘
Sir Jim Ratcliffe insists over-regulation could ‘ruin’ Premier League
Regulators love success. Like the old saying goes, “Why do you rob banks? Because that’s where the money is.”
‘’ “The Premier League is probably the most successful sporting league in the world, certainly the most successful football league in the world,” said Ratcliffe, who is in charge of football operations at Old Trafford. “And we have this expression in northern England: ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’
“If you start interfering too much, bringing too much regulation in, then you finish up with the Manchester City issue, you finish up with the Everton issue, you finish up with the Nottingham Forest issue – on and on and on.”’
Preventing Terrorist Financing Through Regulation
Article in the regulatory review points to the difficulties in state regulation of cryptocurrency to prevent terrorist financing and suggests a self-regulatory regime instead.
‘Rather than state regulatory agencies struggling to monitor transactions between anonymous users located around the world, one international organization could oversee a system of self-regulation by cryptocurrency companies themselves, according to Fletcher, Corbet, and Larkin.
‘Under Fletcher, Corbet, and Larkin’s proposal, a company such as Bitcoin would regulate user activity through updated user contracts. A private, international organization would regulate cryptocurrency companies by requiring their user contracts meet certain standards for the company to receive accreditation, they posit. For example, these standards could address required disclosures, they argue, such as of the user’s identity.’