Another week, another wave of stories of businesses being held back by regulations. Here are some recent examples of this as well as other business-related articles that I found worth reading:
- Ethanol Mandate. The Wall Street Journal recently published two good pieces (article and editorial) describing how the federal mandate to mix an increasing amount of ethanol into gasoline is surely causing gasoline prices to rise. The articles also mention how vehicle engines could be damaged by gasoline that contains more than 10 percent ethanol, but that these regulations will soon require gasoline to contain more than this.
- Employer Mandate. A report released by the Federal Reserve on Wednesday indicated that “employers in several districts cited the unknown effects of the Affordable Care Act as reasons for planned layoffs and reluctance to hire more staff.” These are the expected consequences of forcing employers to provide health insurance.
- Sugar Bailout. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is considering purchasing 400,000 tons of sugar at taxpayer expense as a way to give the sugar industry a huge bailout. This action is intended to bid up declining sugar prices. It is worth knowing that as of mid-2012 U.S. sugar prices were almost double those of the world due to a combination of government-imposed restrictions on imported sugar and other protections for domestic sugar.
- Soda Ban. A state judge recently ruled against New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s impending ban on large sugary drinks. The Wall Street Journal had another article describing how this ban required costly adjustments for many establishments.
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