Better than Corporate America can do most things, anyway... But I digress.
The problem is that the EPA as I understand it is not really government, much like the Federal Reserve; they operate on behalf of them but don't seem to directly answer to them (or anybody, by the looks of it). And since they all want to keep their jobs, they have to keep continually nit-picking and looking for new regulations to put in place to stay busy.
I do agree with you that the old saws I have that are in excellent mechanical condition run more smoothly and are easier to tune than the newer ones, though. But as Jerry said, the key is the condition. Though, my old RA needs rings and is quite low on compression, but still starts and runs fine; just doesn't produce as much power as it should anymore. The old guy I get parts from told me that back in the day when he worked in the bush, those old, slow, large-displacement saws would just keep plodding along even with under 100 PSI compression.
