Big Government Policies that Hurt the Poor

From Heritage.org (April 5):

Concern for the poor is often equated with expanding government programs. In other words, expanding government is frequently seen as good for those in need, and limiting government is often portrayed as hurting them. The reality is that, in many cases, government policy can make it more difficult for those striving to make ends meet. This Special Report identifies nearly two dozen big government policies that particularly hurt the poor. These policies, at the local, state, and federal levels, are just the tip of the iceberg. The report does not address the harms imposed by the distorted incentives of the current welfare system, which discourages work and self-sufficiency, or cover some critical areas, such as education and health care policy. This Special Report covers many other issues, with a particular emphasis on the harmful impact of economic regulation on poorer Americans.

Climate Change Regulations. Throughout his tenure in office, President Barack Obama made it one of his top policy priorities to combat manmade global warming. Although legislation to cap greenhouse-gas emissions ultimately died in Congress, the Obama Administration empowered the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions from a variety of sources, most prominently by regulating carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from new and existing power plants.

If allowed to stand, the New Source Performance Standards for new electricity-generating units would effectively prohibit the construction of new coal-fired power plants, and the regulations for existing plants, the Clean Power Plan, would force states to re-engineer their respective energy mix to meet state-specific reduction targets. Additionally, the government promulgated regulations to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions from light and heavy-duty vehicles. The EPA also developed regulations for another greenhouse gas, methane, for oil and natural gas production, transportation, and storage.

Cumulatively, these regulations, if unchecked, will drive energy prices substantially higher. A Heritage Foundation analysis found that, as a result of the Obama Administration’s climate policies, household electricity expenditures could increase between 13 percent and 20 percent, hitting America’s poorest households hardest.

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Federal Sugar Program. The federal government tries to limit the supply of sugar that is sold in the United States. This federal sugar program uses price supports, marketing allotments that limit how much sugar processors can sell each year, and import restrictions that reduce the amount of imports. As a result of government attempts to limit the supply of sugar, the price of American sugar is consistently higher than world prices; domestic prices have been as high as double that of world prices.

This big government policy may benefit the small number of sugar growers and harvesters, but it does so at the expense of sugar-using industries and consumers. An International Trade Administration report found that “[f]or each sugar-growing and harvesting job saved through high U.S. sugar prices, nearly three confectionery manufacturing jobs are lost.”

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International Monetary Fund Bailouts. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) was established after World War II to enhance stable, private-sector-led global economic growth through trade and investment—and the biggest group to benefit from that growth has been the world’s poor. Too often, however, economists at the IMF have bailed out the governments of developing countries whose politicians ran up huge debts to achieve short-term and self-serving political objectives. The biggest losers from those financial crises? The poor.

The world’s poor lose, not once but twice. First, they lose when governments borrow money from global markets to buy their votes via ineffective and often corruptly administered social welfare programs. Second, they lose again when those countries cannot repay their debts, are ejected from world credit markets, and seek bailouts from the IMF. [read more]

The Left doesn’t care if these policies hurt the poor or not because they believe the policies are good for the poor whether they are or not. Other polices include: Energy efficiency regulations for appliances, renewable fuel standard, U.S. Department of Agriculture’s catfish inspection program, home-sharing regulations, etc.