Stossel
Good Intentions Gone Wrong
Not Rated
S3 • E39 Dec 6, 2012 60mPoliticians claim they make our lives better by passing laws. But usually the laws go wrong. Examples: Work rules protect employees from greedy companies. Wall Street Journal Reporter Anne Jolis says work rules destroyed jobs in Europe. Workers there get "vacation do-overs"- if they are sick on vacation, they get additional paid time off to make up for it. In Spain, employers must give 24 months of severance pay after they fire someone. No wonder companies don't hire. America doesn't have mandatory vacation time, but we still have 170,000 pages of rules. Dan Mitchell from the CATO Institute says those rules are a reason this economic recovery is slower than all the others. The federal Emergency Alert System (EAS) is necessary to warn people of danger. Despite spending millions on the EAS, it has never been activated nationwide or tested successfully. Jamie Barnett, former FCC Safety & Homeland Security Bureau Chief, called for the 2011 test of the system.