Forbes
New Trump Executive Order Seeks To Boost Agriculture And Rural America
“My farmer died.” —Punchline to the old joke about why a USDA employee is weeping at his desk The ratio of number of farmers…
Forbes
New Trump Executive Orders Spotlight Interior And Education ‘Regulatory Dark Matter’
Executive orders and proclamations expanding the scope of Washington over the nation’s business characterized much of the Barack Obama presidency. The former president himself–not just…
Forbes
The March For Science Should Demand Separation of Science And State
My second youngest son wanted to head downtown to D.C. for the March for Science. I had to explain to him that’s not quite…
Forbes
The Only Way Trump’s Washington Can Be Smaller In Four Years
There are now several moving and overlapping parts to President Donald Trump’s streamlining, swamp-draining, “deconstruction of the administrative state” agenda. Last week brought Office…
Fortune
Regulations Cost U.S. Business More Than Canada’s GDP
President Donald Trump’s administration has been busy issuing a flurry of executive orders intended to reduce regulatory burdens on businesses that keep them from adding…
Forbes
Here’s What Donald Trump And Congress Should Do About Regulatory Dark Matter
It’s becoming too easy for federal agencies to steer private activity without issuing “real” regulations anymore. Instead, we get regulatory dark matter — particularly…
Forbes
Trump And The Federal Bureaucracy Just Collided — Here’s What Happens Next
Agencies’ rules and regulations surged during Barack Obama’s last year, helping create a Federal Register 20 percent larger than the prior record. Bureaus and…
Foundation for Economic Education
The Epic Failure of the Government Gas Can
Part of living on Earth is mowing its grass and performing outdoor chores. Last International Earth Day, while the Globe held hands and celebrated Gaia…
Forbes
Donald Trump’s 100 Day Executive Action Agenda
New presidents emphasize 100-day priorities, but president-elect Donald J. Trump likely has a 100-minute agenda. An early post-election action instructed transition managers to “develop…
Forbes
Obama’s Legacy: Here’s A Raft Of Executive Actions Trump May Target
It’s president Barack Obama’s last week. Is the American left ready to consider reining in executive power yet? Coming to terms with the bipartisan stake…
Forbes
A CES Takeaway: Don’t Fear Robots And Artificial Intelligence–Fear Politicians
Maroon 5 keeps popping up on my Pandora stations, so artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning still have a ways to go. Even if AI…
The Hill
New President, New (Anti-)Red Tape Agenda
Federal regulators issue thousands of regulations every year. Decrees range from the Environmental Protection Agency’s gargantuan Clean Power Plan and “Waters of the United States”…
Forbes
Obama White House Releases Final Cost Of Regulation Report
The day before Christmas Eve, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released the 2016 Draft Report to Congress on the Benefits…
Forbes
Coal In The Stocking – Obama Regulatory Rulebook Breaks Record By 13,000 Pages
When I was a kid, Dad always told my sister and me that if Santa Claus caught us awake on Christmas Eve, he’d put pepper…
Brietbart
A Better ‘Pledge’: Congress Shall Make No Law
When I think of a “Pledge” I’m reminded of my fraternity days and being hazed and lightly humiliated. House Republicans are offering their “Pledge to…
Brietbart
The Paul Ryan Vice Presidential Choice And The Other National Debt
No matter Mitt Romney’s running-mate candiate selection, cable news saturation of America for a couple days would have been and will be inevitable. Especially when…
Forbes
Donald Trump Promises To Eliminate Two Regulations For Every One Enacted
President elect Donald Trump, in a new video covering the transition and policy for the first 100 days, promises to get rid of regulation on…
Forbes
Obama White House Releases Its Final Regulatory Agenda
The White House has published the Fall 2016 Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions. It’s appearing the weekend before Thanksgiving — yet…
Forbes
Obama’s Midnight Regulations To Get Increased Scrutiny From Congress And Trump
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-California) and other Republican leadership members just sent a letter to Obama administration regulatory agency heads telling them to…
Forbes
Donald Trump And The 115th Congress Could Get Rid Of These 140 Obama Regulations
Many observers are weighing in on the rules and regulations that a new Trump administration might be inclined to eliminate. The Hill, for example, compiled…
Forbes
How President-Elect Donald Trump Can Fast-Track Deregulation And Wealth Creation
On this, the day after the election of Donald J. Trump as the 45th president (yes, he has already updated his Twitter profile), President…
Forbes
Surging Federal Register Of Regulations Cracks Top 10 Fattest Ever–With 2 Months Still To Go
The federal debt isn’t the only thing doubling every few years. Both presidential candidates have declared they will cut mounting regulatory red tape, particularly for…
Forbes
Republicans and Democrats Unite Against $86 Billion AT&T-Time Warner Merger Deal
In a response to earlier media mergers such as Comcast-NBCUniversal, and in an effort to adapt to a world in which consumers increasingly turn away…
Forbes
White House Showcases National Plans For Mars Journey, High Technology
President Barack Obama is hosting the White House Frontiers Conference at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University. The idea is to “explore the future of innovation,”…
InsideSources
A New President Needs a New Red Tape Agenda
Federal regulators issue thousands of rules and regulations every year. Decrees range from the Environmental Protection Agency’s gargantuan Clean Power Plan and “Waters of the…
Forbes
Why Future Federal Communications Commission Oversight Hearings Should Explore Sunsetting the Agency
There’s another Federal Communications Commission (FCC) oversight hearing underway in the Senate Commerce Committee, with most of the time being spent on doings with…
Forbes
The Federal Communications Commission Should Take A Selfie
There are either dozens of federal agencies or hundreds, depending, seemingly, upon the day of the week or whom one asks. The Federal Communications…
Forbes
How The Next President Can Use Executive Power To Jumpstart Economic Growth On Day One (Part 2)
The Federal Register contained over 7,700 rules and regulations among an all-time-record 73,000 pages the year President Reagan was elected. One response was his Executive…
Forbes
How The Next President Can Use Executive Power To Jumpstart Economic Growth On Day One (Part 1)
After what will have been eight years of debate over executive overreach and Barack Obama’s “pen and phone,” and it will be time for…
Forbes
Nobody For President
Forbes
Here’s What Happened The Last Time We Tried Donald Trump’s Moratorium On Regulations
In Donald Trump’s Detroit economic speech and in his “An America First Economic Plan: Winning The Global Competition,” he said: "Upon taking…
Forbes
Unfunded Mandates On The States Rising Again
Fifteen Republican Attorneys General just wrote to House and Senate leadership, concerned about agencies “failing to fully consider the effect of their regulations on…
Forbes
Antitrust Regulation And The 2016 Party Platform Debates
Having never been a fan of antitrust protectionism, I found it interesting that (according to Bloomberg) while Democrats are highlighting antitrust in their…
Forbes
Here’s How Financial And Other Regulators Are Issuing Rules Without Writing Them
At the end of June I testified in a U.S. Senate Homeland Security Regulatory oversight subcommittee hearing on Examining the Use of Agency Regulatory…
Cato Unbound
The Administrative State Lacks Its Own Justification: Expertise
Legitimacy notwithstanding, we tend to discuss the administrative state as if it is a functioning expert entity, taking expertise in its divisions for granted. But…
Forbes
Bureaucracy’s Paradox: When Fewer Regulations Mean Less Freedom
"To limit abuse by the rulers, ancient Rome wrote down the law and permitted citizens to read it. Under Dodd-Frank, regulatory authority is…
Cato Unbound
No Law Passed, Not Even A Regulation Promulgated—But Servitude Nonetheless
In my last post I suggested that I may point out a few prominent examples of agencies regulating with “guidance” alone rather than the notice-and-comment…
Cato Unbound
On the Administrative State’s Illegitimacy
"Who is better than overreaching bureaucrats to decide when the bureaucrats are overreaching?” That was one respondent’s characterization of the mindset that provoked the recently…
Forbes
Obama Releases Spring 2016 Unified Agenda of Federal Regulations
In the just-released spring 2016 Unified Agenda of Federal Regulations (Agenda), a roundup published twice yearly by the White House Office of Management and…
The Hill
Presidential candidates should talk about regulation
From “lyin’” to “low-energy,” the current election’s lowering of the rhetorical bar to levels that challenge even the most nimble limbo dancer is more than…
Cato Unbound
The Administrative State’s Irredeemable Devotion to Central Power
Forbes
Celebrating International Mother Earth Day With A Normal Western Civilization Gas Can
It’s the weekend after International Mother Earth Day 2016, and the United States signed the Paris Climate Agreement. To President Barack Obama, the…
Forbes
Why President Barack Obama’s Executive Order On Competition Is Anti-Competitive
When you see a headline like “Obama to Sign Executive Order to Ignite Corporate Competition” you have to scratch your head at the premise,…
Forbes
Protecting Our Semi-Privacy After The Department Of Justice Apple iPhone Hack
The Department of Justice-sponsored unlocking of the Apple iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino murderers without Apple’s help reaffirmed that an overly encryption-based…
Forbes
Won’t Cut Federal Spending? Then Cap The Cost Of Regulation
Last week a group of libertarian and conservative groups issued a coalition letter calling on Congress to cap regulatory costs. While some of us…
Forbes
Antitrust Regulation Is Getting A Bit Smarter
Forbes
GOP Releases Contested 2017 Balanced Budget Proposal — With A Regulatory Budget Alongside
House Republican leadership released their 2017 “Balanced Budget for a Stronger America” fiscal year budget proposal. It seeks to balance the budget in 10…
Forbes
Nobody Knows The Cost Of Antitrust Regulation, And That’s Bad
Antitrust regulation is hardly insignificant, and its costs need to be recognized in today’s world. We’ve seen interference into ATT‘s attempted merger with T-Mobile, delays…
Forbes
The Growing Outrage Of Off-The-Books Federal Regulation
President Barack Obama has practically trademarked going around Congress, proclaiming “I’ve got a pen and I’ve got a phone. And that’s all I…
Forbes
Memo To Presidential Candidates: Here’s How Oversight Of Federal Red Tape Is A Total Disaster
"[A]s more goals are pursued through rules and regulations mandating private outlays rather than through direct government expenditures, the Federal budget is an…