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turbinetree

(24,703 posts) Tue Jan 2, 2018, 04:30 PM Jan 2018

Paul Krugman debunks his own papers praise of Trumps war on environmental regulation

On Monday, the New York Times published an absurd piece about President Donald Trump’s war on health and environmental regulations, ignoring the terrible human cost of Trump’s effort while claiming it is boosting business investment.

The front-page story is so egregious that one of the the paper’s leading columnists, Nobel prize-winning economist Paul Krugman, eviscerated it in a series of tweets on Tuesday morning.

The original piece claims that U.S. businesses are supposedly investing more in factories and equipment because Trump is rolling back existing regulations and promising to minimize new regulations.

“There is no evidence — none — that regulation actually deters investment,” Krugman tweeted, linking to Monday’s piece.

-snip-

This is the exact opposite of reality. Krugman himself points out that “some kinds of regulation actually promote investment. Climate change policy should encourage renewables and conservation spending; Trumpist denial encourages just keeping the old coal plants.”

Precisely. Regulations encourage investment and innovation, something the Trump administration is working overtime to thwart. This could cost Americans millions of jobs.

https://thinkprogress.org/krugman-debunks-times-trump-praise-0506031bfd27/

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Paul Krugman debunks his own papers praise of Trumps war on environmental regulation (Original Post) turbinetree Jan 2018 OP

The entire idea of Regulations as job killers is flawed genxlib Jan 2018 #1

genxlib

(5,528 posts)

1. The entire idea of Regulations as job killers is flawed

Reply to turbinetree (Original post)

Tue Jan 2, 2018, 04:43 PM

Jan 2018

Beyond what is pointed out in the OP, the regulations actually cause people to be directly employed.

For instance, there are regulations that require that you have Architects and Engineers involved in construction instead of building whatever the hell you want.

For every building code, tax policy, environmental rule and zoning restriction in place, there is an entire industry of accountants, lawyers, engineers and scientists to navigate it.

I'm not saying this is the reason to have regulations. But it must be considered when deregulation is touted for increasing jobs.

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