90-DAY WAIT

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 19, 1992                   TAG: 9202190370
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
90-DAY WAIT
WHO'S been running the government? As one means for reviving the economy, Bush the other day announced a 90-day moratorium on any new regulation. It would affect almost every federal agency, including those responsible for the environment, food, transportation, safety, finance, labor and communications.
If regulation is, at best, an evil that causes economic drag, then 90 days' detention for any new regulation is too lenient; the entire beast should be hunted down and slain, to general rejoicing. The president's not saying that; nor is he mentioning that in his three years in the White House, the scope of government regulation has increased.
Bush would have you believe Congress runs the show and lends encouragement to armies of bureaucrats to gum up the works. In fact, notes The Wall Street Journal, Bush "and his top aides lobbied hard for the two most costly pieces of legislation for business during the past four years: the Clean Air Act, which imposed a regulatory burden on business estimated at $25 billion a year, and the Americans With Disabilities Act, with a $2 billion annual price tag." Bush also named tough regulators to a number of key agencies.
That was then; this is now. Bush hasn't mentioned awhile being the environmental president; and with the economy sagging and Pat Buchanan on his case, he won't speak too kindly of any sort of government action.
Enough demagoguery. Like almost anything else, regulation can be misused and overdone. But the private and public funds spent because of regulation have several laudable purposes. Among them is to make it safer for all of us (and our children) to engage in such common activities as traveling by land, sea or air; eating, drinking, working, taking medications, wearing clothing, buying furniture and toys.
Most Americans don't want an end to that kind of protection - or, necessarily, even a 90-day breather. .

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB