Excerpt
February 23, 1992
President Bush in his State of the Union Speech said he would order a stop, for a limited time, to the issuing of new government regulations. There are so many of these that a government newspaper called the Federal Register prints nothing but new rules and regulations. Why Mr. Bush stopped it temporarily was not clear, but it is clear that manufacturers complaining that they are drenched, drowned in a constant flood of new regulations, each one requiring another label, another sticker, another warning. A quick count in one bathroom found fifty warnings, some of them useful and necessary, some of them quite silly.
Because of overeager regulators, who apparently find some pleasure in it, the Federal Register bulges. It includes such warnings as a label on paint cans saying "Do not drink paint." And a label on an electric hair dryer saying "Do not use while sleeping."
What would we do without Washington to look out for us?
From the Trade Paperback edition.