CNN Money reports:
Gary Burtless, a labor economist at the Brookings Institution, said there is little evidence to suggest that government regulations are killing jobs.
"There is a lack of confidence that demand would exist for the extra products businesses would produce by increasing hiring," Burtless said.
So if not regulations -- what is the biggest problem? One prime suspect is a lack of demand for the goods and services that businesses produce.
"I think it's pretty plain that there hasn't been a robust rebound in consumer consumption," Burtless said.
And Burtless said complaining about regulations is not something new for the business community -- which can of course lower costs and increase profits if regulations are repealed.
"There are certain businessmen who say regulation is an issue, but they also said the same thing when the economy was robustly growing," Burtless said. ...
Burtless doesn't find the "uncertainty" argument convincing.
"Those laws haven't gone into effect yet. How are those things limiting jobs?" he asked. "I think you've got to actually make the case that lots of regulations have sprung up since January 2009 to make this complaint carry very much water."
What CNN Money doesn't tell you is that according to OpenSecrets.org, Burtless has made around $6,000 in political donations since 2007, exclusively to Democrats, and mostly to Barack Obama.
So there's no guarantee this is a nonpartisan think tanker. Instead, there's a risk he's got a partisan agenda. Of course, so do I, but my readers already know that and can discount it appropriately. CNN Money failed to advise their readers of Burtless' politics when it let his analysis drive the story. Was that fair and balanced?
