The COVID Recovery Will Require a Continuous War on Red Tape

Here's some welcome news. I love to see the productive sector (i.e. private sector) swinging into action in response to the coronavirus crisis. But why is federal permission needed before private companies can start cranking-out respirators or any other pieces of medical equipment? And how does that square with our boasts about being a "free country"? 

It's encouraging to see President Trump clearing-away the massive knot of red tape (much of it outdated, unnecessary or just plain asinine) that normally anchors down the US economy. But why does most of this red tape exist? What purpose (aside from empowering bureaucrats and keeping lawyers and the compliance officers busy) does it serve? And do we still need it? Aren't these questions we ought to be asking not just when the shit hits the fan, but when normalcy prevails?

Just imagine what we could accomplish -- just imagine how much more dynamic and responsive the US economy would be -- if we could make these emergency measures permanent once the crisis passes. Trump has had unheralded success in his first term slicing and dicing red tape. It's a story that doesn't get told because the press and pundits would prefer to focus on the tweets and the gaffes and the "unpresidential" antics. And the economy was strongly responding until the outbreak occurred. 

We'll need much more regulatory relief in order to speed the post-COVID recovery. We'll need to continue emergency rules reductions after the human health crisis wanes and we turn our attention to saving and restoring our economic health.

No one other than Trump has the steel stones necessary to throw out the old rule book and rein-in the regulatory superstate. This is where his brashness, bravado and take-no-prisoners attitude become assets, not liabilities. Can anyone imagine a regulation-worshipping liberal like Bernie or Biden doing that? I can't.