According to Republicans, any and all regulations passed by the Obama Administration have obliterated the economy and so suffocated businesses that they were forced to lay off millions of workers. By contrast, according to the Republican Party, the simple repeal of these and all government regulations will lead to the creation of billions and billions of jobs. Yes, John McCain actually said that, but he is getting senile in his old age for he doesn’t realize that there are only 330 million Americans alive today. But I digress.
A CNN report has proven that this Republican myth is also a lie:
[I]s government regulation really holding back the labor market?
Not so much, according to government data and surveys of business owners and economists.
Only a small percentage of employers report regulation as a reason for laying off workers. In the first two quarters of this year, only 2,085 new unemployment claims were attributed to government regulation, while 55,759 were tied to insufficient demand, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data on mass layoffs.
The New York Times, the AP, the Economic Policy Institute, and McClatchy newspapers all did their own research and reporting on this in recent weeks, and all came to the exact same conclusion: government regulations are not responsible for holding back the economy.