The Week

Latest scientific poop has it that dinosaurs, far from being the “lumbering” creatures of popular stereotype, were actually nimble fellows who could hop about like frogs. They perished only because of Republican cuts in social programs.

Labor Secretary Ray Donovan has been widely criticized in the liberal press for not moving to take charge of his agency. But judging from an internal Labor Department study, Secretary Donovan is on top of what counts. Donovan has found that the information burden imposed by Labor Department regulations takes up twenty million man-hours per year. That’s a lot of goods and services that aren’t produced —because someone is filling out a form instead. The real zinger is the finding that much of the information required is never used, or in fact unusable. For example, the weekly payroll reports under Davis- Bacon are not even processed—chalk up one million man-hours, all cost, no benefit. As for the ERISA pension plan reporting requirement (3.5 million manhours), the Labor Department found that half the data were unusable. The report concluded: “A significant reduction in regulatory burden can be made without any impact on the Department’s programs.” Now, let’s hear from HUD, HHS, and all the rest.

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Department of Education

William F. Buckley Jr.

Latest scientific poop has it that dinosaurs, far from being the “lumbering” creatures of popular stereotype, were actually nimble fellows who could hop about like frogs. They perished only because of Republican cuts in social programs.

Labor Secretary Ray Donovan has been widely criticized in the liberal press for not moving to take charge of his agency. But judging from an internal Labor Department study, Secretary Donovan is on top of what counts. Donovan has found that the information burden imposed by Labor Department regulations takes up twenty million man-hours per year. That’s a lot of goods and services that aren’t produced —because someone is filling out a form instead. The real zinger is the finding that much of the information required is never used, or in fact unusable. For example, the weekly payroll reports under Davis- Bacon are not even processed—chalk up one million man-hours, all cost, no benefit. As for the ERISA pension plan reporting requirement (3.5 million manhours), the Labor Department found that half the data were unusable. The report concluded: “A significant reduction in regulatory burden can be made without any impact on the Department’s programs.” Now, let’s hear from HUD, HHS, and all the rest.