Report: Biden's Reversal of Trump-Era Deregulation Has Cost Economy $309 Billion

A new study from the American Action Forum (AAF) examined the impact of 450 new federal regulations that the Biden administration has spawned, and found that they've created compliance costs amounting to roughly 197 million hours in new paperwork, costing the economy roughly $309 billion.

According to Just the News: 

The Trump administration took the opposite approach, imposing rules designed to reduce regulatory burdens on businesses. His 504 rules enacted at the same point in his presidency saved the economy an estimated $3.4 million and reduced the paperwork time to 518,940 hours.

"Any time you add costs to something, particularly in an inflationary environment, costs are going to continue to increase," AAF Director of Regulatory Policy Dan Bosch said, per the Times. "Some regulations have savings, but the vast majority have costs that can help contribute to inflation."

By contrast, the Obama administration had imposed 647 rules by the same point in his presidency, costing $205 billion for the U.S. economy. AAF estimates that said rules created 87 million hours of paperwork time.

The most expensive single regulation was one EPA regulation ordering carmakers to increase their average fuel economy to about 40 miles per gallon (compared to 32 under Trump-era rules), which alone is estimated to have cost the economy $180 billion. 

A study by the U.S. Chambers of Commerce Foundation earlier this year estimated the total cost of regulatory compliance for federal regulations to be nearly 1.9 trillion, more than the gross domestic product of Mexico.

Matt Palumbo is the author of The Man Behind the Curtain: Inside the Secret Network of George Soros

---

Don't miss The Dan Bongino Show