Ross: Trump Team Is “Up to Our Eyeballs” Finding Red Tape to Cut

 

Newly confirmed Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that Trump’s economic advisors “are up to our eyeballs” looking for government regulations to be scrapped. From Politico:

Trump, who campaigned on an economic message of growth and job creation, has made reducing government regulation a priority in the opening weeks of his presidency. Just 10 days into his administration, the president signed an executive order mandating that for each new regulation put into effect, two others must be removed. And last week, Trump signed an order requiring federal agencies to create regulatory reform task forces.

Speaking on CNBC Friday morning, Ross said he would seek the input of business groups including the National Association of Manufacturers, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Federation of Small Businesses and others. He estimated that the Trump administration may ultimately save U.S. businesses “way into the tens of billions of dollars and very possibly approaching a hundred odd billions of dollars.”

“Many of these were put in by executive orders and by agency rules, and those wouldn’t require acts of Congress. So we are up to our eyeballs in trying to make sure we identify all the problems,” Ross said. “So it’s a lot to do there. I think that will be one of the most fruitful areas that the administration can attack quickly.”

Every person on the center right (and probably most business leaders on the left) have to be thrilled at Trump’s rollback of the regulatory state. Since Ross is taking suggestions from companies on what to streamline, what federal regulations would you cut?

Published in Culture, Economics, Politics
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  1. MarciN Member
    MarciN
    @MarciN

    Wow. That is stunning. I had hoped this would happen but didn’t dare think it would.

    Fantastic.

    • #1
  2. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. Stephens
    @BryanGStephens

    MarciN (View Comment):
    Wow. That is stunning. I had hoped this would happen but didn’t dare think it would.

    Fantastic.

    Yes!

    • #2
  3. JcTPatriot Member
    JcTPatriot
    @

    President Trump is appointing people who take his campaign promises seriously. There is nothing more that I wish of all of them. Get it done until there is no more ‘it’ to get done.

    I’ve never owned a business, so I don’t know much about regulations, really. We could start with the one they have to put a sticker on irons that says, “Do not iron clothes while wearing.” Oh, and the one where they have to put on TV commercials “Do Not Attempt” when they show something like a guy pushing his mini-van off a cliff.

    • #3
  4. Jamie Lockett Member
    Jamie Lockett
    @JamieLockett

    Good.

    • #4
  5. Randy Webster Inactive
    Randy Webster
    @RandyWebster

    Maybe lawn darts will return.

    • #5
  6. MarciN Member
    MarciN
    @MarciN

    Randy Webster (View Comment):
    Maybe lawn darts will return.

    And the old incandescent light bulbs. And phosphorus in detergents. Oh my goodness. :)

    • #6
  7. Z in MT Member
    Z in MT
    @ZinMT

    ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations) and the EAR (Export Administration Regulations). The regulations have basically become a lower tier of classification that prevents small US companies from competing internationally in high tech areas such a commercial satellites, optics, etc.

    • #7
  8. Z in MT Member
    Z in MT
    @ZinMT

    Another is the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) and Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation (DFAR). The Defense department could save 20% right there if these regulations were streamlined. These include such things as requiring defense contractors to have “A no texting while driving policy” and demonstrate compliance with the policy.

    • #8
  9. Mark Hamilton Inactive
    Mark Hamilton
    @MarkHamilton

    To be honest, I am somewhat skeptical that this ad hoc fire drill approach will do much. As with much of Trump’s administration, a lot of it has the odor of management by naive amateurs, unaware of the complexity of deeply embedded culture in the administrative state.

    You are not going to change the administrative state by trimming a few twigs. Nor are you going to change it by attacking the symptoms while ignoring the causes. Trump’s appointments don’t seem to understand that the causes are a system created by poorly defined and contradictory goals, terrible benchmarking, overlap, and a legal system that is a nightmare.

    REAL regulatory reform begins with redefining the mission of each agency, defining its clients, tearing apart its processes, and  rebuilding from the ground up. THAT requires culture change and lots of expertise.

    Till then, this is a bunch of excitement by nominal appointees over nothing.

     

     

     

    • #9
  10. Z in MT Member
    Z in MT
    @ZinMT

    Mark Hamilton (View Comment):
    REAL regulatory reform begins with redefining the mission of each agency, defining its clients, tearing apart its processes, and rebuilding from the ground up. THAT requires culture change and lots of expertise.

    I am not so sure that Trump is not going to do this. Trump is going to be a wrecking ball.

    • #10
  11. Discus spinner Member
    Discus spinner
    @Discusspinner

    I understand your concern Mark Hamilton but what makes you think that Wilbur Ross does not understand that there must be those fundamental changes.

     

    • #11
  12. OmegaPaladin Moderator
    OmegaPaladin
    @OmegaPaladin

    Eliminate water use standards at the federal level.  States with plentiful water should not be penalized for California being a failure at water use as well as everything else.

    Eliminate the wood import regulations that led to the Gibson guitar raid.

    Modify gas can rules so that they only need a flame arrestor on the opening and appropriate labeling.  Bring back vents.

    Freeze labeling requirements with Cabinet level approval.   Do not adopt any more European standards like REACH.

    Eliminate the incandescent ban.

    Remove Greenhouse Gas emissions from the NAAQS and EPA consideration generally

    Freeze or roll back CAFE standards for cars

    Get some Union and small business EHS guys to go over the OSHA standards to look for standards that do not protect workers but just add costs

    Get the federal government out of the professional license business.

    There are so many to list but I am on a phone.

    • #12
  13. ToryWarWriter Coolidge
    ToryWarWriter
    @ToryWarWriter

    I can say one thing as a Canadian.  The one for one regulation rule here has worked so well that Trudeaus Liberals have kept it in place.

    • #13
  14. MarciN Member
    MarciN
    @MarciN

    ToryWarWriter (View Comment):
    I can say one thing as a Canadian. The one for one regulation rule here has worked so well that Trudeau Liberals have kept it in place.

    Wow. That says it all, doesn’t it? Geesh.

    • #14
  15. Guruforhire Inactive
    Guruforhire
    @Guruforhire

    Put the stuff that cleans dishes back in dishwasher detergent.

    • #15
  16. Matt White Member
    Matt White
    @

    JcTPatriot (View Comment):
    President Trump is appointing people who take his campaign promises seriously. There is nothing more that I wish of all of them. Get it done until there is no more ‘it’ to get done.

    I’ve never owned a business, so I don’t know much about regulations, really. We could start with the one they have to put a sticker on irons that says, “Do not iron clothes while wearing.” Oh, and the one where they have to put on TV commercials “Do Not Attempt” when they show something like a guy pushing his mini-van off a cliff.

    I don’t think many of the stupid warnings are required by regulations. They are preemptive defenses against lawsuits.

    Tort reform is another thing that could reduce the cost of doing business, but there probably isn’t much that could be done for that without congress.  It might even be more of a state issue.

    • #16
  17. I Walton Member
    I Walton
    @IWalton

    Regulatory reform task forces must be staffed from outside the agencies and run by people like Epstein and the. question should be.  Is there anything here that is worth saving and if so what do we send back to Congress to be drafted into and approved in detail by them.  The rest just dumped. For instance the banking regulators at the Fed and Treasury exist symbiotically with the banks.  They won’t see what must be done because it will not be in their interest or in the interest of senior management at banks.   The interests to be served are owners, depositors, borrowers and ultimately tax payers.

    • #17
  18. Randy Weivoda Moderator
    Randy Weivoda
    @RandyWeivoda

    Get rid of federal labor regulations.  If a state wants to regulate when overtime kicks in or how much money someone has to make before they can be a salaried employee, fine.  There’s no good reason for the federal government to dictate this.  @omegapaladin‘s list is very good, although I would repeal CAFE regulations entirely.  Let consumers buy what they want without punishment.

    • #18
  19. MJBubba Member
    MJBubba
    @

    Guruforhire (View Comment):
    Put the stuff that cleans dishes back in dishwasher detergent.

    What you want is phosphates.  So much of that stuff was coming out of Philadelphia, D.C., and Baltimore that it was killing Chesapeake Bay.

    Perhaps it could be taxed?  That would be a way to allow it on the market but keep the use down.

    Killing the regulation might be OK; the Big Environmental Indoctrination Machine in the schools would be up to the challenge of making sure that detergents with phosphates were widely known as public enemy No. 1.

    • #19
  20. MJBubba Member
    MJBubba
    @

    Mark Hamilton (View Comment):
    To be honest, I am somewhat skeptical that this ad hoc fire drill approach will do much. As with much of Trump’s administration, a lot of it has the odor of management by naive amateurs, unaware of the complexity of deeply embedded culture in the administrative state.

    You are not going to change the administrative state by trimming a few twigs. Nor are you going to change it by attacking the symptoms while ignoring the causes. Trump’s appointments don’t seem to understand that the causes are a system created by poorly defined and contradictory goals, terrible benchmarking, overlap, and a legal system that is a nightmare.

    REAL regulatory reform begins with redefining the mission of each agency, defining its clients, tearing apart its processes, and rebuilding from the ground up. THAT requires culture change and lots of expertise.

    Till then, this is a bunch of excitement by nominal appointees over nothing.

    Finding out who pushes back hardest against some twig trimming will help identify how to undertake root and branch pruning of the Administrative State.  You have to start somewhere.

    This is a conservative victory already.  Help us cheer for Team Trump.

    • #20
  21. MarciN Member
    MarciN
    @MarciN

    MJBubba (View Comment):

    Guruforhire (View Comment):
    Put the stuff that cleans dishes back in dishwasher detergent.

    What you want is phosphates. So much of that stuff was coming out of Philadelphia, D.C., and Baltimore that it was killing Chesapeake Bay.

    Perhaps it could be taxed? That would be a way to allow it on the market but keep the use down.

    Killing the regulation might be OK; the Big Environmental Indoctrination Machine in the schools would be up to the challenge of making sure that detergents with phosphates were widely known as public enemy No. 1.

    Or perhaps not allowing it in those watershed areas. I wonder if that would work.

    • #21
  22. OmegaPaladin Moderator
    OmegaPaladin
    @OmegaPaladin

    MarciN (View Comment):

    MJBubba (View Comment):

    Guruforhire (View Comment):
    Put the stuff that cleans dishes back in dishwasher detergent.

    What you want is phosphates. So much of that stuff was coming out of Philadelphia, D.C., and Baltimore that it was killing Chesapeake Bay.

    Perhaps it could be taxed? That would be a way to allow it on the market but keep the use down.

    Killing the regulation might be OK; the Big Environmental Indoctrination Machine in the schools would be up to the challenge of making sure that detergents with phosphates were widely known as public enemy No. 1.

    Or perhaps not allowing it in those watershed areas. I wonder if that would work.

    Move it to the state level, perhaps?

    Phosphates are a serious problem in waterways, as they cause out of control algae growth.  You can still get things clean without phosphates, you just need to use strong  caustics to deal  with the hard water issues.  It makes the detergent only useful in a machine since it is as corrosive to skin as oven cleaner, but it is currently being used in commercial machines.

    • #22
  23. MJBubba Member
    MJBubba
    @

    OmegaPaladin (View Comment):

    MarciN (View Comment):

    MJBubba (View Comment):

    Guruforhire (View Comment):
    Put the stuff that cleans dishes back in dishwasher detergent.

    What you want is phosphates. So much of that stuff was coming out of Philadelphia, D.C., and Baltimore that it was killing Chesapeake Bay.

    Perhaps it could be taxed? That would be a way to allow it on the market but keep the use down.

    Killing the regulation might be OK; the Big Environmental Indoctrination Machine in the schools would be up to the challenge of making sure that detergents with phosphates were widely known as public enemy No. 1.

    Or perhaps not allowing it in those watershed areas. I wonder if that would work.

    Move it to the state level, perhaps?

    Phosphates are a serious problem in waterways, as they cause out of control algae growth. You can still get things clean without phosphates, you just need to use strong caustics to deal with the hard water issues. It makes the detergent only useful in a machine since it is as corrosive to skin as oven cleaner, but it is currently being used in commercial machines.

    Another way is to use borax.

    State level regulation is sort of a problem when we are talking about household products that are mass-marketed to the entire country.  Manufacturers don’t want state-by-state rules for labeling, etc.

    • #23
  24. Mark Hamilton Inactive
    Mark Hamilton
    @MarkHamilton

    Discus spinner (View Comment):
    I understand your concern Mark Hamilton but what makes you think that Wilbur Ross does not understand that there must be those fundamental changes.

    What makes you think Ross understands that he must go far beyond specific Commerce department regulations? The post highlights his approach as one of asking companies (and others) what regulations they suggest ought to be changed or voided – that suggests he has yet to see the deeper need for process reform. He might…but nothing in that post suggests it to be so.

    As an example of the kind of reform needed in all regulatory government… I read a recent news brief on Marquette’s County battle with the EPA. A large deposit of nickel and copper was discovered in the state’s Upper Peninsula,  now known as the Eagle Mine.  This is a huge economic opportunity for the County and northern Michigan. However, the current mine road is 66 miles runs and through residential areas, and the county wants to build a direct road from mine to refinery (1/3rd the current distance…22 miles). For years the EPA has blocked it for vague reasons…and it is now tied up in a court suit by the County against the EPA.

    The problem is not a particular regulation, but a broken process that is unaccountable. Hence, most regulatory reform requires a root canal.  Short of Stalin’s firing squad, nothing else will create fundamental change in our nomenklatura.

    • #24
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