How Muffingate Muffs Clean Air Policy

Government can’t do anything right, say conservatives commentators.  Take Fox show-host Bill O’Reilly who pushed the “muffingate” story about a law enforcement conference where the government bought muffins for $16 apiece to serve for breakfast.  O’Reilly trumpeted this as a “symbol of how wasteful the feds are with our tax dollars.”

Are you kidding?  $16 for a muffin that ought to cost a dollar?  That’s outrageous if true! 

Too bad it’s not.

Truth is the first casualty in ideological conflict, and without much care or comment.  In fact, the $4,200 dollars spent on the law enforcement conference was used to purchase a full continental breakfast, including “fresh fruit, coffee, tea, soft drinks, tax and tips,” in addition to baked goods, explained Hilton Worldwide who hosted the event. Conservatives have once again conjured up a fact from nothing, touted it as truth to make a larger point, and then told as many people as will listen. Even after this myth was shown to be false, the media continued to recount the “muffingate scandal” and use the story to paint a negative image of a wasteful government.

The larger point baked into the conservative pastry of half -truths is that all government spending and regulations must be a waste if the government is willing to spend $16 on a muffin.  Yet where environmental policy is concerned it turns out just the opposite is true. 

Yes, for every dollar industry spends meeting environmental standards society gets over $16 dollars in return.  That’s not one muffin for $16 dollars, that’s 16 muffins for a dollar.    

Where is the proof of this wild assertion, some lefty publication?  No, it’s a report by the Office of Management and Budget under the George W. Bush administration. This document shows during a ten-year period (1997-2007) pollution control standards by the Environmental Protection Agency required about $35 billion in investments but produced up to $590 billion in benefits - a ratio of over 1:16.  And the greatest overall benefit was preventing sickness and premature death from air pollution.

Yet despite the countless studies proving the benefits of these safeguards, all we hear from the conservative media is that EPA is a job-killing agency. It’s a surprise therefore to find that the United States is one of the least regulated countries in the world.  So where are the jobs?  In fact the U.S. economy is seeing much lower growth rates than those countries that are more heavily regulated. While this doesn’t prove that more regulation leads to more growth, it does indicate that smart regulation can drive productive investments when needed. 

In fact, the American public isn’t buying the conservative rhetoric claiming that EPA protections are bad for jobs and the economy. The overwhelming majority of Americans support stricter safeguards against toxic pollution from power plants. The American people have it right. Pollution standards will make industry clean up and modernize their practices, becoming more efficient and creating more jobs.

So the next time you hear conservatives spout off “facts” about $16 for a one-dollar muffin, don’t just think to yourself that doesn’t sound right. Think instead, I bet the opposite is true, and you might be closer to the truth. 

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