Where this road is leading

30 Mar, 2009 by Robert Stacy McCain

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“The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, a reaction to Enron-style accounting scandals enacted in 2002 on a Senate vote of 99-0, has been one of the most costly and counterproductive regulations imposed on our economy, hindering innovation, slamming the door shut on initial public offerings (IPOs) in the stock market and driving many companies out of U.S. markets and off U.S. tax rolls. Yet because of political appearances and vested minority interests that benefit from the regulation at the expense of the general economy, no politician even talks about removing this drag on our economy – notwithstanding our current perilous condition. Cynics might call this tendency a death wish. President Eisenhower called it ‘creeping socialism.’ Nobel Prize winner Friedrich von Hayek called it The Road to Serfdom.“