The Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced Thursday that it would crack down on hospitals and nursing homes for workplace hazards that aren't protected by formal rules. Experts say politics have complicated efforts to formalize workplace regulations.

A pot of gold big enough to repair the nation’s crumbling infrastructure, provide middle-class tax relief or provide free tuition to public universities is waiting to be tapped. All Congress has to do is say the word. But the hoard is guarded by the people writer Tom Wolfe called the Masters of the Universe, the Wall Street traders, brokers and hedge fund managers who earn in a day what working stiffs earn in a year. People with the money to influence Congress.