Dems Making Small Businesses An Endangered Species

May 24, 2012

As Small Businesses Face Tough Times, Democrats Are Proposing a Literal Zoo of New Regulations That Will Make Them Even Tougher

  • Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics confirms what too many already know firsthand—that the Obama economy has been terrible for job creators, and particularly bad for small businesses.
  • The Obama administration is nonetheless pushing a literal zoo of new regulations that will harm small businesses and prioritize various flies, slugs and lizards over economic growth.
  • Obama officials have often noted that they don’t consider the economic impact of their regulations and effects on jobs. Democrats may claim to be protecting endangered species, but they’re really just creating a new one: small businesses.  

Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics confirms what too many already know firsthand—that the Obama economy has been terrible for job creators, and particularly bad for small businesses:

FORMER OBAMA ADVISOR: SMALL BUSINESSES HIT HARDEST BY RECESSION, HAVE RECOVERED LEAST: “Krueger and Charnes had concluded from the JOLTS data ‘that small-business employment was particularly hard hit during the recession, and that employment continued to contract at small businesses in the early phase of the recovery while it was increasing at medium-size and large establishments.’” (Peter Orszag, “Why Have U.S. Jobs in Small Business Gone Missing?”, Investors’ Business Daily, 5/16/2012)

NO OBAMA RECOVERY FOR SMALL SMALLEST BUSINESSES: OVER THE LAST YEAR, THEY HAVE LOST JOBS: “Business establishments with 5,000 or more employees expanded their workforces by an average of 0.4 percentage point a month from January 2011 to February 2012, the most recent data show. In the same period, in contrast, businesses with 10 to 50 employees expanded by only 0.1 percentage point a month — and those with nine or fewer employees actually reduced their net employment.”(Peter Orszag, “Why Have U.S. Jobs in Small Business Gone Missing?”, Investors’ Business Daily, 5/16/2012)

SMALL BUSINESS JOB GROWTH IS LAGGING ECONOMY BY UP TO 4 MILLION JOBS: “So depending on how you do the calculation, if, since the start of last year, employment growth at smaller businesses had matched that at larger ones, we would now have 2 million to 4 million more jobs.”(Peter Orszag, “Why Have U.S. Jobs in Small Business Gone Missing?”, Investors’ Business Daily, 5/16/2012)

The Obama administration is nonetheless pushing a literal zoo of new regulations that will harm small businesses and prioritize various flies, slugs and lizards over economic growth:

A LITERAL REGULATORY ZOO: “In fiscal year 2011, the agency [U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service] made more positive listing decisions, 539, than in any year in the law’s 39-year history.” (Juliet Eilperin, “Endangered-Species Truce Faces Big Test from Little Sand Dunes Lizard,” The Washington Post, 5/6/2012)

THE DUNES SAGEBRUSH LIZARD:

ENDANGERED SPECIES LISTING COULD HURT RANCHERS, ENERGY DEVELOPERS IN TEXAS AND NEW MEXICO: “The Permanent University Fund alone owns about 75,000 acres identified as lizard habitat. University officials estimated the listing could stop the drilling of approximately 1,000 oil and gas wells and eliminate the production of seven million barrels of oil equivalent annually. … U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s rush to list the lizard as endangered will kill cooperative efforts between industry and environmentalists. … The listing of the dunes sagebrush lizard will have a profoundly negative effect on private property owners, the oil and gas industry and public education in the state of Texas.” (“Dunes Sagebrush Lizard,”Texas General Land Office, Accessed 5/23/2012)

DECISION ON WHETHER TO LIST LIZARD WILL HAVE HUGE IMPLICATIONS—HABITAT INCLUDES REGION WITH 17% OF U.S. OIL PRODUCTION: “Now it must decide by mid-June what to do about the lizard. Some of its habitat overlaps with the oil-rich Permian Basin, which produces 17 percent of the nation’s annual onshore oil supply.” (Juliet Eilperin, “Endangered-Species Truce Faces Big Test from Little Sand Dunes Lizard,” The Washington Post, 5/6/2012)

THE LESSER PRAIRIE CHICKEN:

WIND ENERGY AND AGRICULTURE BOTH FACE THREAT FROM LISTING OF LESSER PRAIRIE CHICKEN: “Western oil and gas drillers are not the only ones scrambling to protect vulnerable species as a way of keeping them from being added to the endangered list. Fish and Wildlife must decide by Sept. 30 whether to propose listing the lesser prairie chicken, a grayish-brown grouse that lives in Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. … The state hired two firms to develop a management plan that aims to minimize conflicts between the bird — which rams into ranchers’ fences and is deterred from nesting by tall wind turbines — and the energy and farming sector in northwest Oklahoma.” (Juliet Eilperin, “Endangered-Species Truce Faces Big Test from Little Sand Dunes Lizard,” The Washington Post, 5/6/2012) 

LISTING CHICKEN “COULD CAUSE MAJOR ECONOMIC PROBLEMS FOR AN AREA OF OKLAHOMA ALREADY HIT HARD BY AN ONGOING DROUGHT AND DWINDLING POPULATION”: “The potential listing of the lesser prairie chicken as an endangered species could cause major economic problems for an area of Oklahoma already hit hard by an ongoing drought and dwindling population, business and industry leaders said Thursday.” (Sean Murphy, “Bird Causes Economic Development Woes in Okla.,” The Houston Chronicle, 9/8/2011)

THE DELHI SANDS FLY:

OBAMA’S U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE TO REGULATE “DELHI SANDS FLY”—YES, A FLY—DESPITE INTERFERENCE WITH CALIFORNIA LAND DEVELOPMENT”: “While it would apply to any species, the legislation is aimed squarely at the Delhi Sands fly. Environmental restrictions in place to protect the fly’s habitat stand in the way of development on 365 acres of land in Colton and Rialto that would otherwise be coveted as prime commercial real estate.” (Ben Goad and Darrell R. Santschi, “Baca Bill Aims to Swat Bothersome Fly,” The Press-Enterprise, 3/21/2010)

THE 3-INCH DELTA SMELT:

OBAMA ADMIN CITED DELTA SMELT TO JUSTIFY DESTROYING INLAND CALIFORNIA AGRICULTURE: “The state’s water emergency is unfolding thanks to the latest mishandling of the Endangered Species Act. Last December, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued what is known as a‘biological opinion’ imposing water reductions on the San Joaquin Valley and environs to safeguard the federally protected hypomesus transpacificus, a.k.a., the delta smelt. As a result, tens of billions of gallons of water from mountains east and north of Sacramento have been channelled away from farmers and into the ocean, leaving hundreds of thousands of acres of arable land fallow or scorched.” (Editorial, “California’s Man-Made Drought,” The Wall Street Journal, 9/2/2009) 

THE RESULT WAS “DEVASTATING FOR THE STATE’S FARM ECONOMY”; SOME REGIONS HAVE SEEN 40% UNEMPLOYMENT“The result has already been devastating for the state’s farm economy. In the inland areas affected by the court-ordered water restrictions, the jobless rate has hit 14.3%, with some farming towns like Mendota seeing unemployment numbers near 40%. Statewide, the rate reached 11.6% in July, higher than it has been in 30 years. In August, 50 mayors from the San Joaquin Valley signed a letter asking President Obama to observe the impact of the draconian water rules firsthand.” (Editorial, “California’s Man-Made Drought,” The Wall Street Journal, 9/2/2009)

26 SPECIES OF SLUGS AND SNAILS:

OBAMA OFFICIALS TO CONSIDER WHETHER “TWO DOZEN KINDS OF WESTERN SLUGS AND SNAILS NEED PROTECTION”: “Federal wildlife officials announced Tuesday they’ll spend a year studying whether more than two dozen kinds of western slugs and snails need protection under the Endangered Species Act.” (“26 Slugs, Snails Under Review for Endangered Species,” Oregon Public Broadcasting, 10/4/2011) 

TIMBER INDUSTRY WORRIES ABOUT POSSIBLE EFFECTS ON LOGGING: “Forest-Burns represents the timber industry group American Forest Resource Council. She says she’s glad the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is settling the question of whether the rare snails and slugs warrant protection. But Forest Burns is worried about possible effects on logging if forest-dependent snails are labeled ‘threatened.’” (“26 Slugs, Snails Under Review for Endangered Species,” Oregon Public Broadcasting, 10/4/2011) 

Obama officials have often noted that they don’t consider the economic impact of their regulations and effects on jobs. Democrats may claim to be protecting endangered species, but they’re really just creating a new one: small businesses:

NEW REGULATIONS FROM OBAMA ADMINISTRATION EXPECTED TO BE POLITICAL: “But now the Obama administration must decide whether to provide federal protection to a handful of animals that share their habitat with oil and gas rigs, cattle and wind turbines. And groups on both sides of the debate are skeptical of whether federal officials can make fair decisions — several of which will have ramifications for swing states in the West — in a presidential election year.” (Juliet Eilperin, “Endangered-Species Truce Faces Big Test from Little Sand Dunes Lizard,” The Washington Post, 5/6/2012) 

“POTENTIAL ECONOMIC IMPACT” ON JOB CREATORS “ISN’T A FACTOR” IN MAKING NEW REGULATIONS: Ashe, who visited Oklahoma at Inhofe’s request, said that while the potential economic impact on business and industry may be significant, it isn’t a factor in determining whether a species is threatened or endangered.” (Sean Murphy, “Bird Causes Economic Development Woes in Okla.,” The Houston Chronicle, 9/8/2011)  

“SECTIONS OF ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT SET BACK FARMERS”: “At its fall meeting in Lubbock on Friday, the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association passed policy urging Congress to require the Department of Interior and the Fish and Wildlife Service to streamline the Endangered Species Act ‘to better balance comprehensive science, economic development, input from affected stakeholders, and private property rights when determining whether to list, introduce, and/or relocate a threatened or endangered plant or animal species.'” (Jerry Lackey, “Windmill Country: Sections of Endangered Species Act Set Back Farmers,” The San Angelo Standard-Times, 10/4/2011) 

OBAMA’S EPA HAS ADMITTED THEY DON’T CONSIDER JOBS DESTROYED BY THEIR RULE-MAKINGS: “The Obama administration has repeatedly said job creation is a top priority, but apparently the memo seems to have missed the bureaucrats at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This became evident when EPA Assistant Administrator Mathy Stanislaus testified Thursday before an Environment and Energy subcommittee hearing that his agency does not take jobs into account when it issues new regulations. ‘We have not directly taken a look at jobs in the proposal,’ Stanislaus said, referring to a regulation that would govern industries that recycle coal ash and other fossil fuel byproducts.” (John Rossomondo, “EPA Official Says Jobs Don’t Matter,” The Daily Caller, 4/16/2011)