I’ve been saying on this board for two years that one of the easiest ‘stimulus’ plans would be a review of existing regulations, with an eye towards getting rid of the ones that have the worst cost-benefit ratios. In an era where the government is running out of the ability to borrow money and have it be an effective stimulus, a regulatory review seemed like a no-brainer - it cuts the cost of government, and also stimulates the private economy.
It remains to be seen if he follows through by signing some actual deregulation bills that might come across his desk, or whether this is just posturing to improve his image. I sure hope he follows through, and that Congress comes up with meaningful reform, because this is just good economics and good politics
I think we will see conservatives disappointed when he doesn’t gut the Clean Air Act, or defang OSHA, and they will use that to brand him as a liar and a hypocrite. “See, Obama is all talk!” Just you wait.
How do you quantify, say, a given financial regulation on a cost-benefit ratio? Financial regulations were eased and we ultimately got a global market crash.
Or how do you quantify regulations on blowout preventers when drilling an oil well?
Some regulation industry likes. Investment firms on Wall Street may like regulations that prevent (say) banks from offering the same product. Banks of course would want the regulation gone. Who is right?
I have no doubt there are a lot of dumb regulations on the books and going for the low hanging fruit makes sense but I am not sure how much that would save overall. Further, streamlining the regulations so, while achieving the same overall goal, they no longer fill volumes would be a good thing.
I think this is more a “feel good” thing than something that will produce decent results.
The hard part is not going to be the low-hanging fruit, but the expensive regulations. Some of the big corporations will resist this - they have already incurred the cost of implementing the regulations, and don’t want any johnny-come-latelys to start up without it.
Wait until Obama suggests revoking some environmental regulation, or something about nuclear power. I hope he can bring it off.
I’d like us to be able to move forward on nuclear power but I’d probably be against removing most non-nuclear related enviro regulations. It seems that the last 40 years have seen an improvement in the US environment.
No idea what those regs are but FWIW sometimes things you would not expect can be dangerous. To wit the Imperial Sugar Refinery explosion. Even a week after the initial explosion they had trouble extinguishing the molten sugar.
Just saying unlikely things can be dangerous in the right circumstances. Whether Saccharine is one I have no idea.