RIP Jimmy Carter: the great deregulator
Former President Jimmy Carter has died at 100. While his overall legacy as President of our country is very much debatable, we will focus on his successful approach to deregulation here. One of the many reasons for “stagflation” which impacted the US economy in the 1970s was the non-stop growth in government regulations. Jimmy Carter did a great deal to address that situation.
In his first term in the White House President Trump took regulatory reform seriously and it was a bright spot in his economic track record, but with the death of Carter (a Democrat) it is worth highlighting the fact that Carter began the process of deregulating the US economy that led to the Reagan economic boom.
Here are a few of Carter’s regulatory successes:
Each of these deregulatory efforts reduced prices, increased innovation and diversity within the respective industry, and restored the role of markets in setting prices. Sadly, the political left is no longer are willing to acknowledge and do something about the ways in which government regulations hurt consumers (especially those with moderate incomes) by driving up costs and reducing options.
Conservatives are not always willing to tackle regulatory reform, but Trump HAS. So, here’s hoping Donald Trump will continue the deregulatory successes of both his own first term and Carter’s presidency.
