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Trivia Tidbit Of The Day: Part 293 -- New Regulation.

A Little Credit Where Credit Is Due-

From the OMB (.pdf):

Between 1981 and 2000, new regulations issued by the federal government imposed an average of $5.5 billion in additional costs to businesses, consumers, and state and local governments every year. Since 2001, however, that growth rate has declined significantly. The annual increase of regulatory costs has fallen to $1.7 billion annually, a 68 percent decrease in the growth rate of the previous 20 years.

Similarly, the average annual net benefit of major regulations issued by the Bush Administration between 2001 and 2004 is over double the average for the previous eight years.

But if the OMB is too pro-administration or pro-Bush for you, try The New York Times on for size:

This is just another thing for which grumpy conservative commentators fail to credit President Bush:

The overall regulatory record shows that the Bush administration has heeded the interests of business and industry. Like the Reagan administration, which made regulatory reform a priority, officials under Mr. Bush have introduced new rules to ease or dismantle existing regulations they see as cumbersome. Some analysts argue that the Bush administration has introduced rules favoring industry with a dedication unmatched in modern times.

For The New York Times, of course, this is a bad thing. That's why they have no qualms about reporting on it. For the rest of us, it's great news. It means, generally, more innovation, higher productivity, and greater actualization of the free enterprise system.

While some of us would prefer zero new regulations, or even a repeal of certain old regulations, the Bush administration seems to take the cost/benefit ratio of those few new regulations seriously (.pdf):

...this Administration issued regulations with net benefits over its first 44 months at a yearly average rate that is more than double the rate of net benefits produced by the regulations issued during the previous Administration.

Can conservatives today get past their Reagan nostalgia for a moment and agree that this President has been great on limiting taxes, great on free trade, great on limiting cumbersome regulations on business, great at tackling frivolous lawsuits, and great (actually, better than Reagan) on a variety of other fiscal policy issues?

People who claim that President Bush is not a real conservative, frankly, just need to get over themselves. That schtick is so late-2003.

Previous Trivia Tidbit: Killing The Dubai/UAE Port Terminal Management Deal Hurts Everyone But The Labor Unions.

Posted by Will Franklin · 11 March 2006 12:43 PM

Comments

Posted by: Zsa Zsa at March 11, 2006 01:42 PM

Posted by: Will Franklin at March 11, 2006 01:45 PM

Posted by: Zsa Zsa at March 11, 2006 02:01 PM

Posted by: Zsa Zsa at March 11, 2006 02:05 PM

Posted by: Will Franklin at March 11, 2006 02:17 PM

Posted by: Zsa Zsa at March 11, 2006 02:24 PM

Posted by: JohnJ at March 18, 2006 04:54 PM