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There is a silent menace that is strangling the life out of the American economy - and it is doing so under the radar of most Americans.  The Environmental Protection Agency, supposedly an executive branch agency with the responsibility to assist the president's enforcement of environmental policy, has been imbued with power far beyond what is necessary.  Massive power + little, if any, accountability = disaster for the individual and the economy.

Representative Ted Poe recently exposed this reality in an op-ed:

Instead of protecting the environment, these rules dreamed up by the EPA in Washington are destroying American industry and killing job creation, which is just what our economy needs right now.  This type of federal meddling is exactly what causes companies to lay off workers, move overseas, and in many cases, fail.  The purpose of the Environmental Protection Agency is to protect the environment?not to regulate American industry into nonexistence.

The EPA's blatant disregard of the fragile state of our economy is alarming.  Businesses in the United States already are operating in an environment of uncertainty, which makes investors hesitant to invest in American businesses.  The EPA's efforts to force companies to comply with its expensive (and many times environmentally unnecessary) regulations will inevitably increase the cost for businesses, and accordingly consumers, and destroy job growth.  If the EPA continues on its crusade of destruction and over-regulation, manufacturing and energy companies will take their business to friendlier lands overseas, jobs will be destroyed, and the environment will not be any better off.

So what kind of things are they up to, specifically?  Most are aware that President Obama, unable to get his climate legislation through Congress, simply equipped the EPA to carry out the carbon-regulating with impunity.  And most are aware of how devastating these regulations are for business and industry (if you wanna see jobs be shipped overseas, watch what happens when these regulations start hitting with full force). 

But, as Rep. Poe illustrates, that only scratches the surface:

It wants to control what kind of light-bulbs Americans use, how much power the utility companies generate, the "particulate coarse matter"?more commonly known as dust found on farms and ranches, how much water we have in our toilets, and one of the newest ones:  What kind of anti-bacterial soap we use to wash our hands.  That's right, the EPA's overstepping of authority now touches almost every aspect of our lives.  So, if you're a mom who has been using the same soap for years to protect your children from spreading germs, sorry.  You need to go to the pharmacy and buy some new "improved" EPA-authorized soap.  While you're there, you should pick up a box of only-Made-in-China compact fluorescent bulbs?because thanks to the EPA?incandescent bulbs will be banned by 2014.

The bottom line?  Poe hits the nail on the head when he writes,

The reality is that the EPA policies are driving up energy costs at a time when gas is nearly $5 a gallon, destroying jobs when unemployment is hovering at 8%, and sending companies overseas at a time when investment in America is at a low. 

No president, no political party would ever be supportive of these kinds of excessively counterproductive policies if their primary concern was getting Americans back to work and getting the engine of the American economy humming again.  Remember that in 2012.