Couldn’t Help But Notice (062007)
Bainbridge, commenting on Sarbanes-Oxley compliance costs (HT Instapundit; also covered at Boring Made Dull), reveals a cost overrun for the ages:
The chief regulatory culprit is SOX section 404, which requires both management and the company’s outside auditors to annually assess the firm’s internal controls over financial disclosures. The Securities and Exchange Commission initially estimated that section 404 compliance would require only 383 staff hours per company per year.
….. a Financial Executives International survey of 321 companies, however, ….. projected expenditures of 35,000 staff hours — almost 100 times the SEC’s estimate.
Sometimes I’m amazed that the economy can grow at all.
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Maybe this Congress can succeed in their apparent attempt to stop the economy from growing with this economy-stifling tax increase:
Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., said the taxes on the large oil companies — most of the provisions exempt smaller producers — “will almost certainly lead to gas price increases” as oil companies pass on the added cost. “You can’t raise taxes … by $29 billion and not expect gas prices to increase,” he said.
The American Petroleum Institute, the oil company trade group, said in a statement that the taxes “will discourage new domestic production, discourage new investments in refinery capacity and would lead to the loss of good-paying U.S. jobs.”
On-target commentary on this impending fiasco can also be found at Captain Ed’s place and at Red State.
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This Long Overdue Supreme Court Ruling (HT to Sticky Notes for original news notice) came down last week:
WASHINGTON — In a setback for organized labor, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday that states may bar public employee unions from using compulsory dues for political purposes unless individuals give their explicit approval.
Before the “conservative court” crybabies let loose — The decision was unanimous.
IBD wonders: “Now the question is, will the unions obey the ruling?”
Conservatives are crowing about the ruling’s protection, but it really shields any union member who wants to decide where his or her political dollars go — including nowhere. For example, I could envision quite a few Teamsters withholding contributions from a local that supports candidates who are against drilling in ANWR, or antiwar workers not wanting to contribute to a union drive to give to the campaign of Hillary Clinton, who voted for the war at crunch time.
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Globalarmists are going to have to re-”Orient” their thinking. It turns out that this long-anticipated news actually took place last year (HT NewsBusters):
China has overtaken the United States as the world’s biggest producer of carbon dioxide, the chief greenhouse gas, figures released today show.
The surprising announcement will increase anxiety about China’s growing role in driving man-made global warming and will pile pressure onto world politicians to agree a new global agreement on climate change that includes the booming Chinese economy. China’s emissions had not been expected to overtake those from the US, formerly the world’s biggest polluter, for several years, although some reports predicted it could happen as early as next year.
the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency ….. says China produced 6,200m tonnes of CO2 last year, compared with 5,800m tonnes from the US. Britain produced about 600m tonnes.
That’s not just passing us up. That’s flat-out lapping us.
Because of this development, especially in light of the facts (first item at post) that US carbon emissions fell last year while the EU’s (and almost everyone else’s) went up, I propose a new “Leave the US Alone” coalition — Globalarmists have to leave the US alone until they convince the China and India to cut back their carbon emissions and thereby stifle their economic growth and forestall their emergence from centuries of poverty. Good luck.
Update: I see the propagandists are already at work on the situation. See this post.
