Who didn't see this coming? "U.S. regulatory costs are world's No. 10 economy":
After years of rapid growth during the Obama administration, the cost of federal regulations is now bigger than the entire economies of all but nine countries in the world.
To put it another way -- "Average U.S. household spends more on federal regulations than for health care, food or transportation":
Crews estimates the annual cost of compliance with the record number of new federal rules and regulations issued under President Obama at $1.863 trillion.
That works out to a $14,974 “hidden tax” every year for the average U.S. household. That’s 23 percent of the $65,596 annual average household income in America.
Who didn't see it coming are people like David Bonior, a liberal who has spent most of his life in government helping create the modern regulatory state. He's now out of government and trying to make a go of it as a business owner, and he has discovered that, omigod, government actually makes it harder for him.
Bonior said if he had the power, he would lighten up on pesky regulations.
“It took us a ridiculous amount of time to get our permits. I understand regulations and . . . the necessity for it. But we lost six months of business because of that. It’s very frustrating.”
[. . .]
“The biggest surprise is how you have to hustle,” he said. “It was an eye-opener. I always heard this when I was in Congress. ‘You should try and own a business someday, Bonior’ . . .
