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70 Comments

  • March 10, 2016 at 10:31 pm
    herdgadfly

    Reminds me of the UAW-Ford Master Contract.

  • March 10, 2016 at 10:35 pm
    Iconoclast

    “NOW’ corrupt ?!
    Most of those who aren’t straight up dumb as a block of concrete have been obdurate hindrances to the functioning of our Republic for the 80 or so years, a goodly number of them receiving favors, etc., for expediting matters which should never have been delayed in the first place. Never should have been subject to such asinine regulatory idiocy at all, in fact!

  • March 10, 2016 at 10:41 pm
    WayneM

    You don’t like the regulations and red tape? Wait a week… the rules will change (not for the better) and the colour of the tape will be checked to ensure it is compliant.

    • March 11, 2016 at 12:44 pm
      Bunkerbuilder

      Calvin Coolidge had a cost saver(A retired General…) that eliminated the “red” color of the ‘tape'( the string used to hold folders or paperwork together) to natural to save several thousands of dollars every budget year…

      President Coolidge lowered tax rates several times, and total tax $ paid always increased…. Proof of the ‘Laffer’ Curve.

      • March 11, 2016 at 3:33 pm
        H_B

        Always wondered where that came from. Thank you.

      • March 11, 2016 at 8:42 pm
        interventor

        The British started the red tape tradition. A couple of decades ago, India had a crisis. Government ran out of red ribbon.

  • March 10, 2016 at 10:44 pm
    interventor

    Federal regulations cost over $1.9 trillion, annually.

    • March 11, 2016 at 8:58 am
      PaulS

      That seems low. About 15 years ago an acquaintance said that he was tasked with calculating “regulation expense freedom day”, similar to tax freedom day but including regulatory costs as well as taxes. Apparently at that time it was well into December.

      • March 11, 2016 at 11:19 am
        interventor

        SBA report before Obama estimated $1.5 trillion. He has added about $400 billion so far.

  • March 10, 2016 at 10:44 pm
    Ozymandias

    If you think the problem is bad, wait until you see their solution.

    • March 11, 2016 at 6:20 am
      Bill G

      The folks at Despair have a print of that, along with all their demotivators and other snarky stuff.

  • March 10, 2016 at 10:46 pm
    Pamela

    That’s a lot of paper airplanes, paper for the bird’s cage, twisted fire starts, art projects in the making and emergency toilet paper in a pinch. Properly crumpled that is. Not sure about wrapping fish in it though,

    • March 10, 2016 at 11:36 pm
      interventor

      Most on line, now.

      • March 11, 2016 at 8:05 am
        Pamela

        On Line has been a boon for people to get access to information, porn, documents, recipes, pictures of people and their body parts you will need mind bleach for, and Cute Kitty videos. The issue with the docs is they can be played with fast and loose. Never know what you are getting.

        Plus depending on the locale, a business might be required to have a hard copy and all the revisions on hand for review by the various Governing groups. Fines and lashes will be meted out as they see fit.

  • March 10, 2016 at 11:08 pm
    KenH

    Get a flamethrower

    • March 11, 2016 at 9:53 am
      MasterDiver

      No, Willie-Pete grenades or napalm would do it better.

      SIG

      • March 11, 2016 at 12:34 pm
        Toad

        MasterDiver

        I must respectfully disagree. Tests to determine the best manner of destruction of piles of paper like the one Sam is sitting on, especially if they are in file cabinets, indicated that thermite grenades are the only solution which works with any degree of reliability. This is why US embassies have a supply of such, for situations in which a destruction of classified paperwork is necessary.

      • March 11, 2016 at 12:40 pm
        interventor

        Yep, army file destroyer grenades use thermite. Put one in the top drawer of safe or file cabinet results in mound of molten metal.

    • March 11, 2016 at 8:40 pm
      B Woodman

      I must put in my 2 cents here. All of the above methods and techniques may be efficient, and somewhat satisfactory.
      But let me throw in my 2 cents here.
      Save the papers, set them aside.
      When the next bureaucratic lawyer asshat comes to check on your compliance to said regulations, take said asshat, and stuff as many of those papers as possible into any and all orifices, then light them on fire. Use petroleum starters as necessary.

      Gives a whole new meaning to “chest nuts roasting on an open fire.”

  • March 10, 2016 at 11:22 pm
    Kafiroon

    The “Boss” had a Consulting Co. come in. Cost Lots! And they introduced a similar pile of paper to be filled out by everyone for everything. I was told to just follow their plan as I had just started to manage the plant. The previous person quit when he saw what was happening. It took 3 months for the loss of production to register enough so that I could convinced him to let me burn it all.

  • March 10, 2016 at 11:27 pm

    “Concierge”

    Conjures an air of genteel servitude, doesn’t it?

    Bullshit. It’s a fucking protection racket. Protection from the onerous and overwhelming machinations of gov. Same as it’s ever been, but more so every day.

    Call it that or “PEO” or just call it what it is: unionization. And we know what happens with that, it goes from protecting its members to becoming what its members need protecting from.

    You don’t solve stifling bureaucracy with more stifling bureaucracy. What needs to be done -what HAS to be done- if entrepreneurialism and small business is to survive, is to kill off some alphabet agencies at the fed, state, and even local levels…and there’s a shit ton of them needs killing.

    • March 10, 2016 at 11:39 pm
      B Woodman

      “Your Honah, they needed killin’. The defense now rests.”

      • March 11, 2016 at 6:51 am
        Dastardly Dan

        There are days when I truly wish that defense would work.
        We wouldn’t have to kill many, the rest would disappear pretty quickly.

      • March 11, 2016 at 8:59 am
        Willie G

        I know of one instance where that statement was actually used in a trial. A friend of mine is a PD for the area circuit and was defending a man who killed a known bad actor in a dispute. On the stand the defendant used these exact words during questioning. The PD, as soon as this was said, quickly glanced at the jury, all locals, and to a person they were all nodding their heads in agreement. Verdict: Not Guilty!

      • March 11, 2016 at 12:44 pm
        markm

        See Lone Star Planet by H. Beam Piper. (IIRC, I downloaded it from Gutenberg.) In the opening chapter, a man is acquitted for killing a member of the planetary congress, by proving in court that the victim advocated a graduated income tax. Yep, he needed killin’. But this defense is only allowed when the victim was a politician.

        According to Wikipedia, Piper got the idea from an essay by HL Mencken.

      • March 11, 2016 at 1:05 pm
        The 300

        Not a new concept at all. One city state in ancient Greece liked it’s code of laws so much that it required anyone proposing a change to show up to the assembly with a noose around his neck so he could save them the trouble of looking for a rope if they didn’t like the proposal.

    • March 11, 2016 at 11:36 am
      Old Codger

      JTC wrote: “It’s a fucking protection racket.

      Ah, JTC? You DO realize, don’t you, that ALL government is – and has been from time immemorial – nothing more than a protection racket. It starts out as protection from some enemy external enemy but pretty soon the people end up paying the government not to hassle them.

      Think I’m wrong? Try not paying your property tax one year. See what kind of hassle you get from the local authorities. Or try not paying what the IRS says you owe Uncle sugar. Talk about HASSLE! World class and of truly biblical proportions!

      Jefferson had the right of it. All government derives its power from the consent of the governed – be that “consent” willing, tacit or coerced. People truly do get the government they deserve.

      • March 11, 2016 at 12:04 pm

        Ah, OC? I thought that was well covered by calling it a union that purports to protect and morphs into an entity that its “members” need protecting from, and that more bureaucracy won’t help deal with bureaucracy.

        But if it helps you grok it, I’ll edit to: “It’s *another* fucking protection racket.”

      • March 11, 2016 at 12:55 pm
        Bunkerbuilder

        The difference between living Under Organized crime’s ‘Protection’ racket is the Mob actually provides services in a timely fashion and doesn’t take ALL your income like Socialism/Uber Progressive Democrats or Communism.

        I can’t imagine a Socio-path that would spend $ on solar or wind mills even with kickbacks, because they don’t ever breakeven. Even Crooks avoid zero sum games….

  • March 10, 2016 at 11:30 pm

    Oh, and Red ain’t wearing no pants. Sit on this, girl. 😉

    • March 11, 2016 at 12:17 am
      H_B

      JTC,

      You’ve mentioned many times that you want to see a Trump/Cruz ticket. I don’t know that’s going to happen with the bad blood between them the last two months, but rumor-mill has Ben Carson endorsing Trump tomorrow. How would you feel about a Trump/Carson ticket?

      • March 11, 2016 at 1:13 am

        I like BC and think there’s a productive place for him; in fact I would venture there’s been discussion of that leading to there tete a tete and tomorrow’s announcement at Mar a Lago.

        But with DT they’ve got the “outsider” role full up, and though he’ll be awesome at busting through the BS, PC, and SJW’s, and manipulating the media the message, he knows and has said he needs a politician as vice to navigate the beltway maze…and let’s face it, Ben is in his element navigating the wires in gray matter, but I have real concerns about him successfully navigating from his McMansion west of town across the intracoastal to the real deal Trump mansion.

        So no chance at veep. But his intelligence, his convictions, and his veracity are above reproach…I don’t know, Surgeon Gen.?

        The boys have eased up some on the internecine thing tonight, so I’m sticking to Trump/Cruz for four and Cruz/? for eight.

      • March 11, 2016 at 1:16 am

        *their* tete a tete, effing auto correct.

      • March 11, 2016 at 1:24 am
        H_B

        Picking a politician-as-politician would worry me. As I’ve said, Reagan’s great mistake was in accepting the conventional wisdom he needed to take GHW Bush as his VP to “unify the party”. The Rockefeller Republicans in congress still fought him tooth and nail at every step, and in ’88 when people voted for “more Reagan” – they didn’t get it.

        And they’ve put a lot of effort into ensuring we haven’t had a Reagan since then.

      • March 11, 2016 at 6:55 am
        Dastardly Dan

        I like the idea of Trump/Cruz (my second choice ticket) for a different reason.
        I give Trump about 2 years before his lack of patience and ego take over and he resigns the office because no one will do what he tells them to do. Then Ted is incumbent going into the next election.

      • March 11, 2016 at 9:37 am

        H-B, DT has said he needs a navigator who knows the inner workings, but no worries about TC being of the inner sanctum, they hate him, and that’s good.

        D.Dan, exactly my point about DT going four, setting the stage for TC and allowing him to absorb some of DT’s presence and charisma, and to learn to keep his admirable religious beliefs more to himself.

      • March 11, 2016 at 2:17 am
        Joseph Meyer

        HEW.

      • March 11, 2016 at 8:13 am
        Pamela

        DonnyT makes my skin crawl the same that BillyC did.
        The man is on Spouse number 3. Doing a Deal with the newer one while still hitched to the older one. Did that twice. Will he remain faithful to his Oath of Office the same he did with his Vows?

      • March 11, 2016 at 9:33 am

        Understood. My wife, apolitical but endowed with laser-judgment ability, has for months said she likes most of what DT says but dislikes the way he says it, said to me the other evening “Trump scares me.” I told her “Me too, but he’s the only way in.”

  • March 10, 2016 at 11:35 pm
    B Woodman

    “Concierges”.
    Just another fancy name for an additional layer of bureaucratic lawyer asshats (private or Gubberment, doesn’t matter) interposed between you and your proposed stillborn-a’birthing business, and the three-letter Gubberment agency that put into place the original regulations (not laws passed by Kongress and signed into law by El Presidente).
    The solution? Now, as I understand it, Texans (Texicans?) LOVE their BBQ to be an outdoor open pit. Use the paper those “regulations” are printed on as firestarter for that day’s fire. Make EVERYTHING is cash. No checks, no debit, no credit cards, no exceptions. That way, there are no accounts for the FedGov to seize. And if there are “invaders” that come to attempt to seize the ranch or anything on the ranch. . . . well, let’s put it this way. . . .the piggies for that day’s Q get to live another day longer. (think certain scenes from “Fried Green Tomatoes”)

    I’m sure that if I’ve left anything out, “mah felloh readehs” will be more than able to fill in the blanks.

    • March 10, 2016 at 11:40 pm
      interventor

      Cash may be seized. Just ask drug dealers. Or, Amish dairies.

      • March 10, 2016 at 11:42 pm
        B Woodman

        But I think that road has been traveled enough, that the adults at the DD Ranch will know how to deal with it.

    • March 11, 2016 at 3:32 pm
      Pamela

      They could be adding a “FEE” to each document.
      The appropriate Stamp with the current Year must be affixed per page.
      Every new Year will require its own Stamp to be affixed per page.

      They tried getting away with it before and are trying again only in a much larger scope and volume.

  • March 11, 2016 at 12:20 am
    LifeofTheMind

    Printing that out probably puts you in violation of several forestry preservation regulations. On the other hand not printing it out may put you in violation of other hard copy retention regulations.

  • March 11, 2016 at 12:21 am
    H_B

    When I was in graduate school, I knew an Italian whose fiance came over to visit while he was here. Her real-life job was exactly this (though they didn’t call it “concierge”). She did the paperwork for Italian scientific research labs on commission so they could get their grant-applications in. It was just “the way things were done” over there.

    Regulations aren’t there to make things work more smoothly. They’re there to make things not work at all unless a few bureaucrats get their cut.

  • March 11, 2016 at 12:26 am
    John T

    Remember folks, NASA is only there to provide reassuring feelings for Muslims and their contributions to science and whatever it is the need to feel good about,

  • March 11, 2016 at 1:42 am
    cb

    The problem has been around for awhile: Traveling the lonely side of Mt. Ta’i, Confucius came upon a weeping lady. She explained her father, husband and now her son were killed here by a tiger. Asked why she continued living in such a dreadful place she replied: Here there is no oppressive ruler.

  • March 11, 2016 at 3:53 am

    You know that bureaucrats and their paperwork have gotten out of hand when you notice that one page of every five-page document contains nothing but a mandatory statement about the document’s compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act. At least several inches of that pile is Paperwork Reduction Act information – including their estimate that a person of normal intelligence should be able to complete the pile in about 15 minutes. If it takes you longer than that, you must not be very bright…

  • March 11, 2016 at 3:57 am
    pete231

    Californtards are demanding catalytic converters on lawnmowers ! And, the Water Closet Police are going to demand access to your bathrooms to ensure your shower nozzles are properly flow-rated. Who dreams this crap up and where can I find what they’re smoking ?

  • March 11, 2016 at 4:34 am
    NotYetInACamp

    All the better to limit all business to only the few huge crony socialist / false capitalist monopolistic regulated graft payers that can afford to follow these as they have written the rules in cooperation with government.
    This is their patents to operate. These are the officers sent to harass the citizens across the land. the code enforcers, not bound by any law, but regulation empowered.

    As Bullock’s character said once, “All restaurants are Taco Bell, now.”

    The regulatory choking of America. (maybe this line is all I had to write?)

    • March 11, 2016 at 6:24 am
      Bill G

      I use ‘Phony Capitalist’ a lot.

    • March 11, 2016 at 7:51 am
      GWB

      You’re describing fascism. Socialism with the corporations serving the gov’t, instead of being outright owned by them.

  • March 11, 2016 at 6:42 am
    Bill G

    For those who create it, the need for a guide through the rules is a feature, not a bug. The concept/situation has been around a long time.
    The so-called ‘Quality Program’ ISO-9000 does nothing to raise quality, it’s only goal is consistency. If you produce consistent junk you can be fully in compliance with ISO-9000. Assuming your paperwork is in order, of course.
    I’m not familiar in any way with ISO-14000 but I imagine it’s got a similar or worse story.
    And let’s not forget that Our Beloved Gummint is not the only culprit. I’ve read that Universities involved in NCAA Sports programs need an specific group simply to keep up with ensuring compliance with NCAA Rules.

  • March 11, 2016 at 7:09 am
    Brasspounder

    All that paper is a fire hazard.

    Let it burn.

    • March 11, 2016 at 8:29 am
      AlexJ

      I am reminded of a phrase back in the day “BURN BABY, BURN!”

      Or how about “By any means necessary”

      Power to the People!

  • March 11, 2016 at 9:08 am

    That’s a lot of toilet paper!
    Aaaaannnnnddd she’s sitting on it.

  • March 11, 2016 at 11:05 am
    Spin Drift

    And as an example of the this notion, my monster in law retired as a high school Principal and went to work writing State required Tech Plans for other high schools. She’d travel to the town, talk to a few people, bang out a Tech Plan, collect her fee and be on her way.

    Now you could not access state and federal money for ‘puters and printers without the Tech Plan. Funny thing is is that she can’t even run an old style Honeywell round thermostat. She’s writing Tech Plans for high schools so they can get their time at the public trough. She also killed the vo-tech programs at her high school. Both of my outlaws have Masters degrees in educashun, are life long democraps and believe that every special snowflake should go to college.

    The irony is that her grand daughter can turn wrenches, run machine tools, layup carbon fiber composites and weld. In about a year she is going to receive her BSME. (think about a live walking talking Sam) Confounds and pisses off the grand parents that she didn’t follow the statist model. Yes the irony, it burns.

    Spin
    Manager Manager of the Department of Redundancy Department

    • March 11, 2016 at 12:24 pm
      Oliver Heaviside

      While I do know a few good teachers, in general those who cannot do, teach.

    • March 11, 2016 at 8:44 pm
      B Woodman

      Picture of the g’daughter?

  • March 11, 2016 at 11:24 am
    interventor

    Hotels are only places that should have a concierge.

  • March 11, 2016 at 11:49 am
    Old Codger

    If anybody here is interested, Hillsdale College’s excellent publication, “Imprimis”, had an issue devoted to the rise of “administrative law” – the monster that devours so much of our economy and necessitates the concierges which are the subject of the linked article.
    You can read that article here: http://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/the-history-and-danger-of-administrative-law/
    Or download a PDF here: http://imprimisarchives.hillsdale.edu/file/archives/pdf/2014_09_Imprimis.pdf

    Here is the entire “Imprimis” archive: http://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/?_ga=1.160835069.1904570980.1457708878

    Since I first subscribed several years back, I found every issue to be interesting and endlessly thought provoking. Try it. You just might like it.

  • March 11, 2016 at 12:19 pm
    Oliver Heaviside

    The real problem with regulation, even when non-corrupt people are involved, is that you CANNOT substitute a priori rules for actual human judgment. No matter how hard you try. I made my living once writing procedures, etc, for nice decent dedicated people to follow. There’s ALWAYS some corner case you cannot anticipate.

    Trust me on this point. BTDT. And if you add in human nature and corruption, it goes to hell in a hand basket quick enough……

  • March 11, 2016 at 12:23 pm
    Oliver Heaviside

    And what’s with the BLM getting so uppity? I could understand the National Park Service; they have land worth protecting. But the BLM only gets all the stinking desert no one else cares about. You can go on BLM and shoot guns, fer chrissake! So why do THEY get so uptight?

    • March 11, 2016 at 12:43 pm
      interventor

      Because its their iron rice bowl.

  • March 11, 2016 at 1:43 pm
    markm

    “Concierge” here seems to be similar to an ombudsman in Sweden. I recall much admiring talk about this Scandinavian institution about 40 years ago, but there’s been a news blackout about how it’s worked out in practice since then. The ombudsman was supposed to be an advocate for the citizen against government agencies. But he is on the government payroll, and is somehow selected by government officials. Put the right guy in there, and he could do wonders, but the right guy is exactly what everyone else in government does NOT want. So I expect that after the initial enthusiasm and perhaps a fairly good group of initial hires, further hires tended to be from two different types:
    –Those who would help you with the paperwork or to find the right channels, but don’t expect them to challenge the government over unfair rules or oppressive officials.
    –Those that are simply lumps sitting at the desk and drawing a salary.

    So maybe the “concierge” should be hired and paid by the people he helps. That’s great if you can afford one, but how does this differ from a lawyer?

  • March 11, 2016 at 3:25 pm
    Pamela
    • March 11, 2016 at 3:45 pm

      Miz P, thanks a whole helluva lot for sending me down that rabbit hole; that damn bing link didn’t work, so of course I had to find the clip on youtube which of course is linked to lots of Brooks clips, which of course pisses away the hour I shoulda been workin’! (But yeah, she’s a great concierge!)

      • March 11, 2016 at 4:08 pm
        Pamela

        JTC

        You are most welcome Sir. At least this rabbit hole did not include the Red Queen and Eat These Schrooms

      • March 11, 2016 at 5:47 pm
        H_B

        This is exactly what I thought of when I saw Mitt Romney’s speech a few days ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTmfwklFM-M

      • March 11, 2016 at 6:48 pm
        Pamela

        Speech? What Speech?
        *looks under various rocks*

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