The Patriot Post Digest 2-14-2017

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The Patriot Post Digest 2-14-2017
From The Federalist Patriot
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FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS
The Great Regulatory Rollback of 201724

By Lewis Morris

Donald Trump ran for president on a promise to rein in government regulation, which under the Obama administration grew to crippling proportions. There were 3,853 new rules added to the regulatory state in 2016 alone. Trump never said it would be easy.

The regulatory stranglehold that federal agencies have on businesses in this country has choked the nation’s growth, leaving our nation in economic doldrums for close to a decade. The U.S. economy25 hasn’t topped 3% annual growth since 2005, and the historic post-World War II average is 3.3%.

Since his inauguration, Trump has been ambitious in keeping his promise to roll back regulations. One action that demonstrated his intentions is a January 30 executive order26 requiring agencies to offset the cost of significant new regulations by eliminating existing regulations or reducing their impact.

The House of Representatives is invigorated by the drive to shrink government reach. They have dusted off the Congressional Review Act, a 1996 law that allows lawmakers to nullify regulations within 60 days of enactment. The House has nullified eight new federal rules and has its eyes on dozens more, many that were snuck in during the final days of Obama’s presidency.

The automotive sector is looking to be freed of some of its regulatory bonds, chiefly fuel efficiency standards that are threatening thousands of jobs. The heads of 18 automakers asked Trump in a letter27 late last week to review fuel efficiency standards that were locked in by the Obama administration through 2025.

Tighter fuel regulations handed down by the EPA in 2012 called for a midterm review in April 2018. In November, after Hillary Clinton lost the election, the EPA decided to move up the midterm review, requiring the American automotive fleet to reach 50 miles per gallon by 2025.

The EPA claims that the rule will save $1.7 trillion in fuel costs over the life of the current automotive fleet. However, with gas close to $2 a gallon instead of $4, fuel mileage is a reduced concern for most Americans. And automakers are concerned that the rule will cause great harm to the industry during that term, threatening production and jobs.

If the EPA’s so concerned about fuel mileage, how about getting rid of the ethanol boondoggle28.

Trump aims to upset the hold that federal agencies have had on business, and his regulatory rollback is being compared to the one that took place during Ronald Reagan’s administration. The Left has long used the federal bureaucracy to push its statist agenda onto the American public, making an end run around Congress by using agencies to tap into business directly for their tribute. Now with a business-minded Republican in the White House, that method of meddling with the American economy is not quite as in vogue.

MORE ANALYSIS FROM THE PATRIOT POST

Judicial Activism in Trump Travel Suspension Case Is Dangerous29 — Looking at the swamp that the federal judiciary has become, particularly the Ninth Circus.
Splitting the Ninth Circuit Court?30 — Legislation has been introduced to break up the nation’s largest circuit.
Is Snowden Homeward Bound?31 — Be careful what you wish for.
The Forfeiture Machine Turns Cops Into Robbers32 — By unfairly seizing property, citizens are stripped of due process.

BEST OF RIGHT OPINION

Stephen Moore: The Carbon-Tax Scam33
Dennis Prager: Note to the Left: Four Years Ago, Conservatives Were Just as Depressed 34
Mark Hendrickson: Obama’s Shocking, Historically Weak Economic Performance35

For more, visit Right Opinion36.

OPINION IN BRIEF

Stephen Moore: “I have nothing but respect for former Secretaries of State Jim Baker and George Shultz, but come on, gentlemen: You’ve been snookered. These two esteemed gentlemen are endorsing a tax scam that would be one of the largest income-redistribution schemes in modern times. … The Baker-Shultz plan would impose on America a carbon tax, which would be a tax on American energy consumption. Since energy is a central component of everything that America produces, it would make the cost and thus the price of everything — and I mean everything — produced in America more expensive. It is a tax that only China, India, Mexico and Russia could love. … It is a fairy tale that China and India and other fast-developing nations have any commitment to reducing their fossil fuel use. As Donald Trump would say, they are laughing at America behind our backs. They would be absolutely gleeful about the proposed U.S. carbon tax. Raising the cost of production for U.S. goods and services will transfer more production to China and India. … The Baker-Shultz plan will do nothing to save the planet, but it will surely make America poorer.”

SHORT CUTS

Insight: “To follow foolish precedents, and wink with both our eyes, is easier than to think.” —William Cowper (1731-1800)

For the record: “Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials launched routine ‘targeted enforcement actions’ in half a dozen states. This was not a new ‘crackdown.’ … Similar raids took place during the Obama years. The difference is that this time the criminals won’t be released into our communities.” —Gary Bauer

Payback: “Look, I think what’s happening with the Dakota Access pipeline is just plain wrong. … I’m certainly interested in anything we can do to avoid that pipeline destroying the earth and harming Native American people. I think there’s a way we can use our pension fund power in that equation.” —Bill de Blasio

Demo-gogues: “We forgot to talk to people. … We didn’t communicate our values to people. When Donald Trump says, ‘I’m going to bring the coal jobs back,’ we know that’s a lie. But people understand that he feels their pain. And our response was: ‘Vote for us because he’s crazy.’ I’ll stipulate to that, but that’s not a message.” —former Labor Secretary Tom Perez

You’re not helping: “One of the things that fuels terrorism is the expression in some parts of the world of Islamophobic feelings and Islamophobic policies and Islamophobic hate speeches. This is sometimes the best support that [the Islamic State] can have to make its own propaganda.” —United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres

Village Idiots: “If we live through this precarious moment — if [Trump’s] catastrophic instinct to retaliate doesn’t lead us to nuclear winter — we will have much to thank this president for. Because he will have woken us up to how fragile freedom really is. … If you think people were mad when they thought the government was coming after their guns, wait until you see when they try to take away our happiness.” —Meryl Streep

Late-night humor: “Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s office recently reported that it gets around 1.5 million calls from constituents per day, but most of them are just people asking him to push up his glasses.” —Seth Meyers

Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis
Managing Editor Nate Jackson

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