The vast majority of our fellow citizens think that America's mercantilism and fascism constitute a free-market economy. They cannot conceive of a state that limits itself to the protection of life and property — and that leaves men free to decide peacefully what they wish to do with their freedom and property.
-- Richard M. Ebeling.
Contrary to the claims of media talking heads, most politicians, and the economic geniuses running for president, the last thing the financial industry needs is more regulation. Indeed, what is needed is massive deregulation.
Via Mark Tapscott, the Heritage Foundation reports that regulation has increased under President Bush "by every quantifiable measure." (That's right, folks, he's not only a power-hungry, civil liberties-trampling, torture-enabling, police state-growing war criminal; he's also slated to go down as the biggest spender in American (perhaps world) history whose economic fascism killed the economy!)
To wit:
- Money spent by federal regulatory agencies is up to $44.9 billion in 2007 from $27 billion in 2001, a 44% increase.
- Total people employed by federal regulatory agencies is up to 244,000 in 2007 from 172,000 in 2001, a 41% increase.
- Total number of pages in the Code of Federal Regulations is up more than 4,500 pages since Bush took office.
- Cost imposed on Americans is more than $28 billion in new regulations since Bush took office.
Only a fool would believe that the very same policies that contributed directly to this full-blown financial meldown could be implemented to all of a sudden bolster the economy.
[Ed. note: If my math is correct, the statistics referenced in the first bullet actually mark a 66% increase, not 44%.]
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