Megan McArdle Misses a Key Point
Megan McArdle is guest blogging at Instapundit on the NYT sliming of John McCain.
Fox News has these details, and is making it sound like this is not a big deal, because the senator did not press for an outcome, but only a speedy resolution. But regulatory uncertainty is very costly for firms; just getting your case jumped to the head of the line could be a pretty valuable special favor. It doesn’t cost the rest of us much, of course–unless we happen to work for the company whose case was delayed while everyone dropped everything to deal with the senator’s request. (emphasis added)
Jumped to the head of the line!? Did Megan miss the part about the delay of decision well beyond the already glacial 400 days average? This decision had been delayed for 800 days, twice the average. Asking for a decision here is no more “jumping to the head of the line” than asking Congress to vote on judges nominated several years ago.
If it had been under the 400 day average, that would have counted as a “valuable special favor.” In this case it sounds more like putting the company out of its misery.
