]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]    BUFFOONS  AND BUREAUCRATS       [[[[[[[[[[[[[[[ 

     * "Unemployment, in short, is a disequilibrium phenomenon, where 
workers are between one of two possible equilibria, namely, working or 
non-working."
                                  DoE's National Energy Plan II (1980)
                                        [US Oil Week, 27 October 1980]
                              *  *  * 

     * Envelope from "State of Colorado, Board of Registration For 
Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors, Dept. of...," etc.
[Computer-printed label:]
               PETR BECKMANN
                                   [1 line blank]
               P.O. BOX 2298, BOULDER, CO 80306
                                   [1 line blank]
               YOUR STREET ADDRESS ON FILE EXCEEDS 28
               CHARACTERS. REDUCE IT TO 28 AND NOTE
               THE CHANGE ON YOUR RENEWAL APPLICATION

[printed:]  This unbleached envelope uses 1/3 less energy.

                               *  *  *

Reported by PERSPECTIVE, Newsletter of the Natl. Assn. of 
Manufacturers, March 1980:

     * OSHA required Dow Chemical to spend roughly $60,000 per plant 
to lower plant railings from 42 inches to the OSHA standard of 30 to 
34 inches, even though Dow studies showed the higher level was safer.

     * The Federal Meat Inspection Service ordered a packing company 
to put an opening in a sausage conveyor line so inspectors could take 
out samples to test. As soon as this was done, OSHA was ordered that 
the opening be closed as a safety hazard. Each agency threatened to 
close down the plant if their order wasn't obeyed.

     * Nine years of hearings, proposals and comments were required 
for the Food and Drug Administration to decide whether a product 
labeled peanut butter should contain 90 or 92 percent peanuts.

     * The cost of federal regulations equals up to 18 percent of all 
tuition monies paid to American colleges and universities. CHANGE 
magazine estimates the cost of compliance with regulations equals the 
total of all voluntary giving to private schools.

     * One company was fined for not having its employees wear life 
vests while working on a bridge over a channel -- even though the 
water in the channel had been diverted during construction.

     * A miner was cited for not carrying a two-way radio, though his 
was a one-man operation and there was no one to talk to.

     * In Los Angeles the purity requirements for water that can be 
dumped into the city's sewer system are stricter than those for 
drinking water.

                         *  *  *

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