Look Out! Carbox is Here
Just read an article that Miki at www.leadershipturn.com pointed me to in her post on Sarbox Welcomes Carbox. Whether or not you agree with the level of intrusion of both Sarbox and Carbox (SOX laced carbon emissions reporting)- and I don’t- the article accurately sums up the benefactors of such overbearing and sometimes ridiculous (in the case of Carbox) legislation:
“Expect the fees for consultants and lawyers to follow the same path.”
It’s a sad state of affairs when government intrusion is based on public whim and consultants and lawyers interests. In almost every case, the level of intrusion is proven to be overbearing AND a taxation scheme- whether it be in the form of direct taxes, fees, or penalties- is used to collect money for an alternative purpose.
What do YOU think? How do we control an overbearing government driven by a whipped up public opinion? Where have the leaders gone?
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5 opinions for Look Out! Carbox is Here
Miki
Jul 12, 2008 at 1:48 am
Bob, so-called government intrusion is the result of the inability of various industries to “self-regulate” for any reason other than short-term profit, as much they can get away with and to push the boundaries beyond what’s reasonable.
As I said in my post, legislation is often passed when public outcry is loud and tempers hot, but the few well-reasoned laws that are drafted are frequently defeated or seriously watered down by special interest groups and industry lobbiests.
As to where the leaders are, I answered that in January:)
Bob Turek
Jul 12, 2008 at 12:12 pm
Miki- yes, for a variety of reasons political, our leaders often do the wrong thing. I think you and I both want them to do the right thing- I have little more faith in business self-regulating and you have more in the regulation from our legislators. Case in point is the food industry of which I am deeply involved with. CIFAR- California Institute of Food and Agriculture Research- at UC Davis recently held an excellent food safety conference where it was revealed that there are many industry based organizations that have much higher standards for food safety than the government. In fact the federal government is a bit flummoxed by exactly what to do when a food scare occurs- very worried about getting the wrong information out and basically shutting down an industry for no reason. I realize that food safety is one thing and carbon emissions is another- i.e., carbon emissions are so far very much a marketing driven response to satisfy public outcry. Interesting that the science for both food safety and carbon emissions is, for different reasons, not providing clear answers.
I’ve repeated the link on the leader issue here (http://www.leadershipturn.com/leaders-who-dont-politicians) to make sure people see it and read it- great stuff. I really appreciate your willingness to bat this around- I think the readers really see some good give and take here.
Miki
Jul 13, 2008 at 4:19 pm
Bob, I hate when people put words in my mouth:) I never said I had more faith in government regulation, but have seen little-to-no proof that self-regulation works. The financial crowd’s self-regulation has produced the S&L meltdown and the current crisis among many others, yet they are among the loudest and most aggressive pushers of self-regulation.
As to food safety, Of course their flummoxed and there’s too little oversight since the FDA isn’t funded, http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_25/b4089034987675.htm.
Recent Administrations and Congress have been more interested in talking than walking. Congress bends to the will of lobbyists until something blows up and then pass anything that makes them look like they fixed it. For years, Administrations have been more interested in fixing every regime they disagreed with than in fixing anything at home. You seem to see most regulations as some kind of tax agenda while I see them as half-assed measures that at least might hinder the attitudes that caused the problems in the first place.
Our educational system is broken due to both parents and governments; the Feds approve programs, states are told to secure their ports, no child is left behind, etc., ALL WITH NO FUNDING.
Just think what the 700+ million dollars we spend DAILY on the Iraq war could solve if it was bought home.
Bob Turek
Jul 13, 2008 at 8:50 pm
Miki- please accept my apology for assuming what you think. I shouldn’t do that and should ask you directly. The federal government reps at the CIFAR conference desperately want industry to self-regulate because they see the difficulty and cost of monitoring every plant that produces food. In fact parts of the industry are self-regulating because it costs a lot to have a food scare. Thanks for commenting- I really appreciate it.
Miki
Jul 13, 2008 at 9:07 pm
NBD, Bob, happens all the time. My conservative friends think I’m Liberal and vice versa; they’re both wrong, I’m moderate—bad thing to be these days, very out of fashion.
I’m sure the Feds want self-regulation, costs less and takes them off the hook for any problems. Of course, one day of the war would take care of the cost, but they’d still be on the hook for the screw-ups. Wahington’s current model seems to be no funding and teflon policy.
Personally, when it comes to food, I figure that both the industry and the gov’t lies—directly or by omission—so I buy as locally as possible and cross my fingers.
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