The Patriot Post® · White House Regs Cost $181.5B Last Year

The American Action Forum is out with its latest analysis of the damage inflicted by Team Obama’s regulatory firehose, which they calculate cost the economy $181.5 billion last year. According to The Washington Times, “The American Action Forum said the new rules mostly focus on clean energy and auto emissions regulations, saying the rules cost California $7.9 billion, Texas $6.5 billion and Ohio $3.4 billion.” This is significantly higher than 2013’s estimate of $112 billion. And just wait until you see what the White House has in store this year. George W. Bush was certainly no stranger to the regulatory state, but Obama is picking up where his predecessor left off – and then some. Again from the Times: “[A] report last month by the Congressional Research Service showed that businesses have been hit with nearly 50 percent more ‘economically significant’ regulations under Mr. Obama than under the presidency of George W. Bush. Mr. Obama has issued 406 of these regulations, estimated to cost businesses more than $100 million per year, over his first six years in office – an average of 68 per year. Mr. Bush issued 277 such regulations over his first six years in office, for an average of 46 annually.” With two years left to do as he pleases, and major EPA proposals coming down the pipe, these numbers will “necessarily skyrocket.” More…