Kerby Anderson

President Obama and his administration just set a new record. They have put more regulations into the Federal Register this year and shattered their old record for regulations they set in 2010. It is also worth mentioning that there are still nearly two months left in the president’s term. He will no doubt be trying to build on this legacy before he leaves office in January.

To put some of this in perspective, the Competitive Enterprise Institute found one day in which the administration put out 527 pages. Think of that. That is equal to the number of pages in the novel, The Bourne Identity. And the 527 pages put out in one day are hardly as interesting. Yet corporations and businesses have to read all of these regulations in case some of them apply to them.

So far the Obama administration has published 81,640 pages for 2016. Given that there are still more than 20 workings day left in the year, it is likely that the Federal Register will have more than 90,000 pages of regulations put out by this administration.

There is a cost, of course, to all of these regulations. Basic items that you buy (food, household items, electronics, etc.) all cost significantly more because of government decrees about product labeling, performance standards, and energy use. A few years ago, the Heritage Foundation attempted to estimate the total cost and came up with an annual cost of $1.75 trillion.

No one disputes the need for some government regulation of goods and services. But these latest figures illustrate why we cannot grow our economy. These regulations are weighing down the American economy and place a heavier and heavier regulatory burden on business. Those especially hurt are small businesses because they cannot hire additional personnel to read, evaluate, and implement all of the regulations the government spits out on a daily basis.

The next president and Congress must address the regulatory burden strangling our economy.