Why aren’t the people?

I really don’t know how much more of this stuff the people will take.  Have they all been acculturated to the “new normal,” the low-growth, no-growth American economy?  To a nation that burdens them and their children with debt that they must pay and pay and pay – even though it can never be repaid?

There was a time Americans could be confident that their children would be more prosperous than they were.  No wonder.  In the fifties and sixties the U.S. experienced an average annual GDP of more than 4 percent.  As government grew, that fell to about 3 percent in the seventies and eighties. 

These days we barely manage 2 percent growth.  (And even that requires you to believe the book-cooked numbers the State puts out.  Which you really shouldn’t.)

Our prosperity keeps getting sucked into the ravenous black hole of big government Republicans and Democrats.  

Yet even at this late stage the situation can be redeemed.  And I will tell you how.

For my book RED AND BLUE AND BROKE ALL OVER: Restoring America’s Free Economy I decided to show just how moronic – and how costly - the regulatory State and its bureaucrats have become.  So I turned to the Federal Register, the log book of the regulators’ interventionism, on just an average day as I wrote, to relate what I found.

I wasn’t searching for the most idiotic regulation, although what I found at random would be hard to beat.  I was just looking for something typical, so I picked the first entry on that day’s table of contents.   Here is an excerpt from that entry detailing a final rule-making about grapes from the Agricultural Marketing Service of the Department of Agriculture. It has to be read to be believed.

SUMMARY: This rule revises the requirements under the Export Grape and Plum Act. This rule changes the minimum bunch weight requirement for grapes exported to Japan, Europe, and Greenland from one-half pound to one-quarter pound. . . . This action was recommended by the California Grape and Tree Fruit League (League). . . .

Section 35.11 of the regulations establishes minimum size and quality requirements for export shipments of any variety of vinifera species table grapes. Currently, such grapes shipped to Japan, Europe, or Greenland must meet a minimum grade of U.S. Fancy Table as specified in the U.S. Standards for Grades of Table Grapes (U.S. Standards) (7CFR part 51, Sec. 51.880-51.992), with the additional requirement that bunches must each weigh at least one-half pound.

This final rule revises Sec. 35.11(a) of the order’s administrative rules and regulations by changing the minimum bunch weight requirement for grapes exported to Japan, Europe, and Greenland from one-half pound to one-quarter pound.

The entry goes on in this manner for a full three pages of eye-crossing, mind-numbing bureaucratic jargon.  Actually, at three pages it is a rather diminutive rule as these things go.  But finally we get to the heart of the matter, the reason for all the citing, revising, and specifying:

There has been an increasing retail demand for table grapes packaged in plastic clamshells, particularly for export markets. One of the most popular package sizes is the 500 gram (approximately 1.1 pounds) clamshell. However, shippers find it difficult to fit two larger (minimum one-half pound) grape bunches into the 500 gram clamshell. This change allows shippers to use smaller (minimum one-quarter pound) bunches to fill the smaller clamshell packages. This change offers shippers greater flexibility in packaging and allows them to pack a greater portion of the crop into the clamshell packages that are popular in the marketplace. The League believes this change positions shippers and exporters to better meet market demand while maintaining pack quality.

In lieu of asking where federal authority for the Export Grape and Plum Act originates, let us note only the obvious: that in a free economy grape growers, exporters, and shippers are quite capable of determining the bunch weights and package sizes the market demands.  If the market is clamoring for clamshells, why must a bunch of grape-growers get federal approval to do something about it?  If there is an “increasing retail demand” for “popular” packaging, why should meeting that demand require a ten-month process involving departments of tax-consuming bureaucrats with plum jobs?  Do you suppose either Chile or China, the world’s largest grape producer, demands that its producers endure prolonged processes before adapting to the simple packaging needs of its customers? 

Of course not.  The entire episode seems a little silly until you note that the cost of the federal regulatory load is probably close to 10 percent of U.S. GDP. 

That’s serious money.  It adds up to higher prices, reduced economic opportunity, and competitive disadvantage.  

But talk about a stimulus package!  Lift this regulatory load—do we really need federal agents snooping on Amish farmers for fear someone is drinking organic milk?—and watch an American Wirtschaftswunder, an “economic miracle.” And unlike the Republican and Democrat boondoggles, it wouldn’t explode the debt.

It’s hard for the American people in their slumber to assimilate the truth about elective foreign wars or the trampling of their Fourth Amendment rights, but the Competitive Enterprise Institute says regulatory costs amount to about $15,000 a year per household. 

That should be easy enough for the beleaguered American people to understand. 

The situation is revolting. 

It’s time the people were as well.  

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Charles Goyette is a New York Times bestselling author.  In 2013 – 14 he partnered with Ron Paul for twice- daily syndicated radio commentaries heard on 125 radio stations across the country. Charles is completing a new book on the global American empire, the State lies that have enabled it, and the impact it will have on American well-being.