The Trump effort to deregulate U.S. economy deserves bipartisan support — so long as people temper their expectations
The newly announced Department of Governmental Efficiency, to be known by the acronym DOGE (get it?) and headed by billionaire Elon Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, is evidence that President-elect Donald Trump’s administration will at least attempt to deregulate the U.S. economy. All memes aside, this could turn out to be a worthwhile enterprise, deserving of bipartisan support — so long as people temper their expectations.
The first thing to realize is that it is not possible to eliminate every law, regulation, committee or agency that deserves to be. The system was set up such that getting rid of anything is a tough legal slog. It is not easy to fire large numbers of bureaucrats, and in any case their pay is a small part of the federal budget. When it comes to reducing red tape, there are bound to be more losses than victories.
So it’s important to set priorities. One is that it is easier to keep new sectors of the economy free from regulation than it is to deregulate existing sectors. The United States should not impose onerous restrictions on the development of artificial intelligence, for example. With so many state-level bills pending, the federal government should aim for preemption and a light regulatory hand, at least initially.
The government does not have a great track record, to put it mildly, of addressing major problems before they have surfaced. Over time, AI might need more regulation, especially around some areas that implicate national security.
