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According to this podcast, Cass Sunstein, co-author of Nudge, used his economist-oriented federal government department to delay and block legislated regulation

by thadk 3y ago

According to this podcast, Cass Sunstein, co-author of Nudge, used his economist-oriented federal government department to delay and block legislated regulation related to protection for silicosis during the Obama administration. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/if-books-could-kill/id1651876897?i=1000613645578 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/if-books-could-kill/id...

imtringued 3y ago
I don't know why but "economists" are pretty bad at their job.
whimsicalism 3y ago
Jeez - Sunstein has such great work in legal scholarship, but I guess power corrupts? Even more surprising to me was Sunstein and his wife Samantha Power attending Henry Kissinger's birthday party after Power previously published a book basically pinning 150,000 deaths in Cambodia directly on him. They knew this guy is basically a war criminal and still went to celebrate his birthday.
- usrnm 3y ago
  The US has no war criminals, because no court in the world would dare to prosecute Americans for war crimes, the ICC tried once, didn't end well for them. So relax, Kissinger is one of the good guys.
  - elzbardico 3y ago
    One strange thing the older among us are pretty sure to notice is how in average the tech industry worker moved from a quasi-hippie political point of view towards boot-licking default. In the old slashdot times, such a comment would probably have +5 insightful badge attached, here in HN in 2023, it is downvoted to hell.
    - whimsicalism 3y ago
      e: oh i misunderstood what you were saying, keeping my original comment for posterity I think this is poe’s law in action :) I did not read the reply as earnest.
- deleted 3y ago
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- deleted 3y ago
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icegreentea2 3y ago
I was interested, but also didn't want to scrub through a podcast. Summary: Cass Sunstein was the administer of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. The OIRA is given the remit to review drafted rules (ie regulations) that various federal agencies want to enact. The OIRA is supposed to perform an external cost-benefit analysis of the proposed regulations. OIRA is suppose to turn around rulings in 90 days. While Cass Sunstein was administrator (2009 to 2012), various pieces of regulation were submitted for review, and ended up being reviewed for ~3+ years. Examples include: * Requiring rear-view cameras (submitted for review in 2011, regulation finally passed in 2014 with a 2018 deadline for compliance) * The silicosis workplace safety regulations (as mentioned - submitted in 2011, finally passed review in 2013) * Coal ash handling regulations (from the EPA) delayed from 2009 to 2014 For the specific case of silicosis specifically, it doesn't appear that the OIRA ended up blocking the regulation, though it certainly slowed it down. Some news articles: * https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/attacks-on-science/white-house-delayed-rule-protect-workers-silica-dust https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/attacks-on-science/white-ho... * https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-regulations-oira/ https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-regu... * https://www.theregreview.org/2013/11/26/26-verchick-silica/ https://www.theregreview.org/2013/11/26/26-verchick-silica/ It is worth noting that these delays continued after Sunstein left office, and there's certainly evidence of OIRA significantly delaying review processes prior to Suntein's term as administrator.
- bagels 3y ago
  Thank you for collecting this. A couple years to draft & study some proposed regulation doesn't seem that heinous to me. It would make sense to not hastily publish a regulation that will last decades without really considering it and its effects well. They can be a source of lawsuits, and I would assume, you want it to be effective which can take some study.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - flangola7 3y ago
    No, the delay was artificial. Consider the effects? How about the possibility delaying i needlessly ncreases the number of humans dying?

by thadk 3y ago

imtringued 3y ago

I don't know why but "economists" are pretty bad at their job.

whimsicalism 3y ago

Jeez - Sunstein has such great work in legal scholarship, but I guess power corrupts? Even more surprising to me was Sunstein and his wife Samantha Power attending Henry Kissinger's birthday party after Power previously published a book basically pinning 150,000 deaths in Cambodia directly on him. They knew this guy is basically a war criminal and still went to celebrate his birthday.

usrnm 3y ago
The US has no war criminals, because no court in the world would dare to prosecute Americans for war crimes, the ICC tried once, didn't end well for them. So relax, Kissinger is one of the good guys.
- elzbardico 3y ago
  One strange thing the older among us are pretty sure to notice is how in average the tech industry worker moved from a quasi-hippie political point of view towards boot-licking default. In the old slashdot times, such a comment would probably have +5 insightful badge attached, here in HN in 2023, it is downvoted to hell.
  - whimsicalism 3y ago
    e: oh i misunderstood what you were saying, keeping my original comment for posterity I think this is poe’s law in action :) I did not read the reply as earnest.
deleted 3y ago
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deleted 3y ago
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icegreentea2 3y ago

I was interested, but also didn't want to scrub through a podcast. Summary: Cass Sunstein was the administer of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. The OIRA is given the remit to review drafted rules (ie regulations) that various federal agencies want to enact. The OIRA is supposed to perform an external cost-benefit analysis of the proposed regulations. OIRA is suppose to turn around rulings in 90 days. While Cass Sunstein was administrator (2009 to 2012), various pieces of regulation were submitted for review, and ended up being reviewed for ~3+ years. Examples include: * Requiring rear-view cameras (submitted for review in 2011, regulation finally passed in 2014 with a 2018 deadline for compliance) * The silicosis workplace safety regulations (as mentioned - submitted in 2011, finally passed review in 2013) * Coal ash handling regulations (from the EPA) delayed from 2009 to 2014 For the specific case of silicosis specifically, it doesn't appear that the OIRA ended up blocking the regulation, though it certainly slowed it down. Some news articles: * https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/attacks-on-science/white-house-delayed-rule-protect-workers-silica-dust https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/attacks-on-science/white-ho... * https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-regulations-oira/ https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-regu... * https://www.theregreview.org/2013/11/26/26-verchick-silica/ https://www.theregreview.org/2013/11/26/26-verchick-silica/ It is worth noting that these delays continued after Sunstein left office, and there's certainly evidence of OIRA significantly delaying review processes prior to Suntein's term as administrator.

bagels 3y ago
Thank you for collecting this. A couple years to draft & study some proposed regulation doesn't seem that heinous to me. It would make sense to not hastily publish a regulation that will last decades without really considering it and its effects well. They can be a source of lawsuits, and I would assume, you want it to be effective which can take some study.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- flangola7 3y ago
  No, the delay was artificial. Consider the effects? How about the possibility delaying i needlessly ncreases the number of humans dying?