28
Thu, Mar

The Difficulties in Draining the Swamp

US Canada
Tools
How Big Government Has Outlasted Presidents for a Century … Trump’s recent flurry of executive orders mandates that for every new regulation issued by any agency, two must be eliminated. This comes on top of a federal hiring freeze and vows to reduce administrative bloat and otherwise force the government bureaucracy to conform to the kinds of expectations that govern private business. While Trump sees himself as an outsider president bringing new ideas to Washington, these particular ideas would be painfully familiar to his predecessors. –Bloomberg Trump’s idea of cutting two rules for everyone put into place is a fine but Bloomberg has actually printed a pretty good article about the chances of Trump doing as he says – which are slim to none. It’s not necessarily Trump’s fault. As this article shows, the federal bureaucracy is very inventive and can figure out ways to fight back. After all, not all rules and regulations are the same. Some are much tougher than others. By picking out rules and regulations that are redundant, or limited in scope, the federal bureaucracy can undercut much of what Trump is trying to do. This is an organized effort that assumes the bureaucracy is trying to keep regs in place, which is true. They are not fighting for the sake of the regs but for the sake of the agencies administering them. Read the full story