This chart is old news to HOTLINE readers, who have seen the comprehensive analysis of regulation in recent presidencies in UP Senior Fellow Casey Mulligan’s reports. But this appears in an editorial by the staunchly left-of-center Bloomberg News editorial board, and confirms that Biden’s regulatory onslaught dwarfs even that of Obama, the previous record-holder for over-regulation.
The Bloomberg editors have some digs at Trump, but also this recognition of reality:
Under President Joe Biden, federal agencies have issued new rules at a historic pace. These proposals were presumably well-intentioned, and some were worthy of support, but their sheer volume — 284 economically significant rules through August — has imposed a serious burden and spurred fed-up businesses to bring a slew of lawsuits, many of them successful. (Voters share the outrage: There’s a reason the death of an Instagram-famous squirrel at the hands of state regulators became a cause célèbre in the campaign’s final days.)…
Disclosures should be clear and fraud should be punished. With those guardrails intact, investors should be free to make their own choices and companies free to innovate. By and large, regulators needn’t insert themselves into negotiations between sophisticated investors…
Dialing back federal regulation after a period of overzealous meddling isn’t the worst idea in the world.
Now, that’s an understatement!