Today, the Wall Street Journal published an op-ed by President Barack Obama: “Toward a 21st-Century Regulatory System.”

ROBERT WEISSMAN, via Angela Bradbery,  Dorry Samuels
President of Public Citizen, Weissman said today: “President Barack Obamas opinion editorial today adopts business and right-wing think-tank talking points about the harms of regulation and urges balance in achieving the right amount of regulation — not so little that we fail to protect the public, and not so much as to harm the economy.

“This is the wrong way to think about regulation, and it is the wrong direction for the American people. Markets cannot function without proper regulation. That means businesses cannot function without proper regulation. We do not need a balance between regulation and the free market. We need effective regulations that foster the right types of markets.”

“The dominant fact of American life in recent years has been grossly inadequate public protections. In the past several years, under-regulation and corporate disregard of safety rules have resulted in multiple salmonella and E. coli outbreaks, a flood of lead-tainted toys, a massive and environmentally devastating oil spill, deadly mine disasters and the collapse of our economy, which has cost eight million American jobs. We need to focus most urgently on fixing these problems and others, not burden agencies, which already are overworked and under-resourced, with more internal reviews and red tape. …”

See full statement: “Obama’s New Approach to Regulation Is Misguided; We Need Stronger Controls Over Big Business”

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167