Regulators now run government

The Boeing Company’s problems with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) just brings confirmation to the idea that regulatory agencies are now running the government.

In Seattle last week to speak to the 79th annual meeting of the Washington Research Council, “The Wall Street Journal” editor Kimberley Strassel made the observation. Strassel said the log jam in Congress meant nothing much would be done on the legislative side during the next 18 months as Congress waits for the outcome of the 2012 election.

Instead, she said, regulatory agencies are paying back supporters of President Barack Obama and the Democratic Party. She pointed to the NLRB’s recent decision as an example of how Democrats were keeping their union supporters happy, and the Environmental Protection Agency and its recent rules to keep environmentalist happy.