We Need a Referee

The argument that more government regulation hurts business is simply false.

If you need proof, just compare the unemployment rates and job numbers between Bush’s last day in office and Obama’s. When Bush left office (after deregulating the marketplace), the unemployment rose to 7.8% and we lost 9 million jobs. When Obama left office (after placing smart regulations), the unemployment fell to 4.9% and we gained 15 million new jobs. Furthermore, incomes rose and poverty fell across every race and age group. And the private sector flourished.

In other words, smart regulations and investments from our government actually serve to benefit everyone – private sector and public sector alike.

Businesses and individuals need to operate on some basic level of an equal playing field in order to succeed. Just as a referee is needed to strengthen the integrity of a game, government regulations are needed to strengthen the integrity of capitalism. These regulations create organized marketplace competition and adherence to the fair and equitable application of the rules set in place. This, in turn, allows for creativity and entrepreneurship to develop and flourish.

As such, we need to ensure that helping the private sector does not come at the expense of the public sector, and vice-versa. These two sectors are not mutually exclusive.

Today, however, President Trump signed a new executive order demolishing a key set of Obama-era regulations on climate change, which imposed limits on business's carbon emissions. But these “job-killing regulations” did not, as we have seen, destroy our economy. Instead, these rules were slowly able to reduce the devastating effects of climate change and carbon dioxide pollution from coal-fired power plants.

These regulations are still needed today to keep our air breathable and our water drinkable. But I guess deregulation is more important than clean air and water.