In an earlier blog about why so many retail outlets are empty I explained how ordinances and regulations kept a wide range of businesses from opening and made survival impossible for many others.
It is worthwhile reading the earlier blog first in order to see the connection between ordinances and commerce. In this blog I make recommendations on the type of deregulation that will permit commerce to thrive and economic vitality to prosper.
Federal
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Abolish all standards for EPA, OSHA, FDA , DOT and similar agencies. Replace them with two standards. 1) Does this rule restrict a responsible adult from deliberate bad behavior? (Same as the financial 'reasonable man' standard. 2) Does this rule prohibit adults from voluntary risky behavior excluding accidents. An accident is defined as 2 deaths per 100,000 uses.
Bad examples of over regulation in my own life:
- A hot tub maximum legal temperature of 104F. Japanese customarily bathe at 108F and live longer than any large population.
- A leg cramp over-the-counter medicine was banned because 10 people per decade died, but several million dancers were not harmed by regular doses.
- Many second hand stores closed because of the requirement for testing children's toys for lead. Poor families, and especially poor children, are the big losers.
- Abolish the national minimum wage. Simple rule for laws: individuals helped by the law divided by individuals hurt can never be less than 50. A law is bad if more than 50 people benefit while 1 person is harmed.
State
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Prohibit lawsuit payments for 'psychological or emotional' damages. Human beings can choose to live with a positive worldview or not. At most, permit two paid months of positive counseling so the victim has someone to talk to. Vast insurance costs are wasted in this area along with unnecessarily high premiums.
- Many lawsuits are based on 'not the current level of greatest safety'. Correct criterion should be 'greatest safety engineering standard at the time of installation'. Vast losses to lawsuits can be eliminated.
- All licensing for occupations should be abolished except for the criterion of: 1) Humans would die if malpractice occurred. 2) A test standard would be set to fail the prospective licensee if a similar person failed who formerly had gotten a C grade [or the median grade] five years after training.
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Chemical prohibitions for use in commerce must allow exceptions where safety precautions are adequate.
Local
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Zoning and building codes can not be applied retroactively. All zoning and building codes must allow 10% of each new construction element to be exempt to allow experimentation. Currently ten million Americans carry on business in their homes despite residential codes prohibiting home business.
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All zoning code restrictions must meet the same 'accident' standards as above; 2 deaths per 100,000 uses.
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Abolish the local minimum wage. Simple rule for laws: individuals helped by the law divided by individuals hurt can never be more than 50.
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No tax or restriction can be placed on a business based on its size. San Francisco penalizes all 'chain retail stores'.
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Retail businesses must serve all customers unless they disrupt or damage the business.