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Politics : Politics of Energy -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Road Walker who wrote (22616)	8/12/2010 9:12:59 AM
From: Brumar89	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 86356

Or maybe it would be even more successful with less regulation. You know, countries like Haiti and Zimbabwe aren't poverty-stricken because they don't have enough government regulation: .......... The overall freedom to conduct a business is severely impeded by Haiti’s burdensome regulatory environment. Starting a business takes an average of 195 days, compared to the world average of 35 days. Obtaining a business license takes about five times longer than the world average of 218 days. ........... Foreign investors are granted national treatment, but investment in sensitive sectors such as public health, agriculture, electricity, water, and telecommunications requires special authorization. In general, natural resources are considered to be the property of the state, and mining activities require concessions and permits. Laws are transparent but not consistently enforced. Bureaucracy and red tape are burdensome. Privatization advances slowly, and inadequate institutional capacity, corruption, and political instability deter investment. Residents may hold foreign exchange accounts for specified purposes; non-residents may hold them without restriction. There are no restrictions on payments, transfers, or capital transactions. Foreign ownership of land is restricted. ........... Protection of investors and property is severely compromised by weak enforcement, a paucity of updated laws to handle modern commercial practices, and a dysfunctional and resource-poor legal system. Most commercial disputes are settled out of court if at all. Widespread corruption allows disputing parties to purchase favorable outcomes. Real property interests are handicapped by the absence of a comprehensive civil registry. Bona fide property titles, when they exist, often conflict with other titles for the same property. Despite statutes protecting intellectual property, the weak judiciary and a lack of political will hinder enforcement. .............. heritage.org ------------------------------- The overall freedom to start, operate, and close a business is seriously restricted under Zimbabwe’s regulatory environment. Starting a business takes more than twice the world average of 35 days. Obtaining a business license takes much more than the world average of 218 days. Closing a business is relatively difficult and costly. ................. Zimbabwe has burdensome tax rates. The top income tax rate is 47.5 percent, and the top corporate tax rate is 30 percent. Other taxes include a 3 percent AIDS surcharge on all taxes, a value-added tax (VAT), and a capital gains tax. In the most recent year, overall tax revenue as a percentage of GDP was 31.7 percent. ......... While hostile to most foreign investment, the government will consider investment up to 100 percent in high-priority projects with 51 percent indigenous ownership over time. Bureaucracy is non-transparent and corrupt, and the risk of expropriation, which is used to promote “indigenization,” is high. The weak rule of law, restrictive labor rules, and inadequate foreign exchange significantly deter investment. Foreign exchange accounts are subject to government approval and restrictions. Payments and transfers are subject to government approval and numerous restrictions, and all outward capital transactions are controlled. .......... Government intervention, inadequate supervision, and repeated crises have severely damaged Zimbabwe’s financial system. In recent years, the financial sector has contracted significantly amid continuing uncertainty over economic policies and macroeconomic instability caused by the government. The government has used the Bank of Zimbabwe to finance deficit spending and direct loans to state-owned enterprises. Many banks suffer from a lack of liquidity, but the government has begun to tighten regulations and impose stricter capitalization requirements. The government also owns a savings bank and a development bank devoted to financing specific sectors. Political instability, the high cost of financing, and scarce access to credit have virtually destroyed the private sector. ........... The government’s growing control of the economy puts many investments, particularly in real property, at risk. The U.N. estimates that the government’s Operation Restore Order caused more than 700,000 persons to lose their homes, their means of livelihood, or both. Many of the confiscated properties had proper titles. The executive branch strongly influences the judiciary and openly challenges court outcomes. Corruption and expropriation are common. ....... Corruption is perceived as pervasive. Zimbabwe ranks 166th out of 179 countries in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index for 2008, a decline from 2007. There is widespread corruption in government. The ongoing redistribution of expropriated commercial farms provides substantial opportunities for corruption. Top officials hand-pick multiple farms and register them in the names of family members to evade the official one-farm policy, and individuals aligned with top officials are allowed to seize land that is not designated for acquisition. .......... Zimbabwe’s labor regulations are restrictive. The non-salary cost of employing a worker is high, and dismissing an employee is difficult. Regulations on the number of work hours are rigid. heritage.org

To: Road Walker who wrote (22616)	8/12/2010 2:04:06 PM
From: TimF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 86356

No they haven't, not in any absolute term. Our government usually does a poor job at regulating things. They may push away the dangers they are trying to regulate against, but often they are not really dangers, or they succeed only at a great cost. Our country does well, because despite the growing regulatory and government spending burden, we haven't yet stomped out private initiative. But we would get more of it with less regulation (I'm using the term broadly, but it also true if you use it narrowly, exuding legislative acts and other government control that are not regulations promulgated by a regulatory agency). One of the big problems is that once regulation (again broadly defined) gets enacted its hard to get rid of it, if it was a mistake or if it was a good idea for the time but then becomes obsolete. Another problem is that even a bunch of good regulations, each one of which might make sense looked at in isolation, can create so much complexity, confusion, and cost, that the net effect can be negative. It would be better to focus on the areas that need regulation the most, only impose the specific regulations that are most important in that area, and then use the freed resources (legislative, and executive time and attention, money, etc.) to get the best regulation, and the most reasonable (rather than easiest, most extensive, or most supported by the special interests) way of enforcing those regulations. Do less, and do it really really well, or failing that at least do it fairly well, rather than having the growing regulatory mess that we have today.