President Obama asked businesses today for their suggestion on rules that could be eliminated to spark job growth.

Good question. And when do we start?

China, where most of our stuff is made, operates under much looser rules than we do in this country. We, of course, do not want to take it to their extreme. China is an environmental disaster area and worker safety is a joke.

On the other hand, our bureaucratic mare's next of rules are often politically motivated and impossible to eliminated, once they are installed. They come with a host of publicly paid minders who are also their staunchest defenders.

So, let's start with how to get rid of rules that do nothing except irritate consumers.

A rule of thumb could be, if no one else in the world wants this stuff, then maybe U.S. rules are too strict.

I would say that our rules for our new, safer gasoline containers are absurd. The new ones don't work, they spill gas, and I cannot imagine anyone else in the world ordering them when they can get the old ones that work much better.

Another would be safety devices on lawnmowers. I am all for safety, but I would argue that all the safety devices in the world are not going to protect a fool with no common sense. Most U.S. consumers just disconnect all these items anyway, and how much do they add to the initial cost of the mowers, and to the maintenance costs?

And what about child-proof caps. These are great if you have small kids. Not so great if your kids are grown up and you have arthritic fingers. Once again, all the safety caps in the world are not going to protect children from fools with no common sense.