Deregulation-a-Go-Go

Newly-confirmed Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is excitedly leading the deregulation charge for the Trump administration, reports Louis Nelson at Politico.

Speaking on CNBC Friday morning, Ross...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."

By way of reminder: During his presidential transition, Trump promised/threatened to gut federal regulations once he took office, telling Matt Lauer during an interview, "We're getting rid of 90 percent, maybe 85 percent, of the regulations which are stifling business." And one of his earliest executive orders requires "federal agencies to cut two existing regulations for every new regulation they implement."

Conservatives routinely talk about "federal regulations" in broad strokes, saying they are cumbersome, unnecessary, and bad for business. But there are all kinds of federal regulations: Among them are, for example, regulations that protect workers and consumers.

Those are often the ones that are categorized as "bad for business," by the way.

So, when we hear the Commerce Secretary talking about slashing and burning federal regulations to save "billions of dollars" for U.S. businesses, it's a big red flag.

And it's another indication that Donald Trump has no interest in governing to protect "the little guy."