The 600 Million Dollar Man

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-600-billion-man-1496251287

"As if taxes haven’t been high enough, the U.S. Government also forced Americans to spend an eye-watering $1.9 trillion in 2016 just to comply with federal regulations... nobody imposed more than Barack Obama. According to the Crews annual scorecards, the yearly cost of federal regulation soared by more than $700 billion in nominal dollars from 2008, the last full year of the Bush Administration, through Mr. Obama’s final full year of 2016. Adjusting for inflation, you can call Mr. Obama the $600 Billion Man."

The WSJ is now a Murdoch publication, not what it once was. They also have a paywall. This railing against government regulation, as if it wasn't necessary, dovetails with the GOP agenda of privatization and the absence of constraints in every sector of the economy. In particular, the financial sector needs intensive watching to prevent the chaos that ensued when Bush was at the helm.

So, this article is misleading, and that's an understatement. Here's some nostalgia for you, written in 2007, before the proverbial SHTF:

http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2007/12/bush200712

THE ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES OF MR. BUSH

The next president will have to deal with yet another crippling legacy of George W. Bush: the economy. A Nobel laureate, Joseph E. Stiglitz, sees a generation-long struggle to recoup.

BY JOSEPH E. STIGLITZ

DECEMBER 2007




"When we look back someday at the catastrophe that was the Bush administration, we will think of many things: the tragedy of the Iraq war, the shame of Guantánamo and Abu Ghraib, the erosion of civil liberties. The damage done to the American economy does not make front-page headlines every day, but the repercussions will be felt beyond the lifetime of anyone reading this page.

I can hear an irritated counterthrust already. The president has not driven the United States into a recession during his almost seven years in office. Unemployment stands at a respectable 4.6 percent. Well, fine. But the other side of the ledger groans with distress: a tax code that has become hideously biased in favor of the rich; a national debt that will probably have grown 70 percent by the time this president leaves Washington; a swelling cascade of mortgage defaults; a record near-$850 billion trade deficit; oil prices that are higher than they have ever been; and a dollar so weak that for an American to buy a cup of coffee in London or Paris—or even the Yukon—becomes a venture in high finance..."

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And we know what came after...