Squeeze Play

Back in 1970 the government formed the Occupational Safety and Health Agency, commonly known as OSHA.  They were given the right to send their inspectors into businesses to be sure that they were operating in a safe manner and protecting their employees from harm. 

At the time I was working in the electrical industry. It appeared that there was going to be a great deal of OSHA's enforcement focusing on my business. As they were putting on seminars all over the country to explain to those interested the purpose and methods of OSHA. I took it upon myself to attend one. It was quite an experience.

The young engineer giving the seminar seemed very well versed in the rules and regulations of OSHA. He did not seem to know much about business in general. As he detailed the list of failings they  would be looking for in the businesses they inspected he also gave a list of the fines that could be accrued. The fines seemed rather steep. I did ask two questions. First, "Are the fines going to happen on the initial visit?". Second, "What if the business cannot afford these fines?".

The answer to the first was that the fines would be immediate. There would be no attempt to help the business fix any problems. The answer to the second was "I'm sure they can get a loan to cover the fines or they will have to close their doors". Wow, that was informational.

I realized at that point that OSHA was not about safety or health, It was a profit center. It was just another way for the government to squeeze money from business for politicians to spend. The insatiable appetite of the non-productive class to spend other peoples money strikes again.

Today we have an EPA gone wild. They are doing the same type of thing but to an even greater degree. They are grabbing control of peoples private land if they have standing water or a ditch along a road. If you use soap to wash your car in your own driveway and that soapy water runs off your driveway watch out for the EPA.

The EPA is increasing control on mines. Particularly coal mines. Thousands of coal miners are being put out of work in areas where coal mining is the only work available. Unfortunately, in this case it is as much ideology as money.

We are losing control of the government and the government is gaining control over the citizens and destroying business en route. This is wrong. The group that is supposed to prevent this, the congress, has allowed themselves to be neutered. Those that see and understand this must spread the word. We are citizens, not subjects. There are those that would trade their rights for a cradle to grave nanny government. They are wrong. There is no greater end than personal freedom.