Rushing to get the regulations in so that they have matured before Bush leaves office, there is a big push to further deregulate important consumer and environmental safety rules. One would have thought the banking fiasco, unarguably allowed to evolve into a mushroom cloud directly by lack of government oversight, might have urged some caution. Probably, if your aim has always been to plunder the public coffers, then it is really time to throw caution to the wind.
The White House is working to enact a wide array of federal regulations, many of which would weaken government rules aimed at protecting consumers and the environment, before President Bush leaves office in January.
The new rules would be among the most controversial deregulatory steps of the Bush era and could be difficult for his successor to undo. Some would ease or lift existing constraints on private industry, including power plants, mines and farms.
Those and other regulations would help clear obstacles to some commercial ocean-fishing activities, ease controls on emissions of pollutants that contribute to global warming, relax drinking-water standards and lift a restriction on mountaintop coal mining.
Trusting in free enterprise to police itself in matters of essential services and consumer safety has proven time and time again to be a mistake with the taxpayer taking it in the shorts either way. Profit always raises its ugly head…
This from Maddow
