Romney on Regulation

By ANDREW ROSENTHAL

Mitt Romney’s response to Joe Biden’s latest verbal fumble has been both totally predictable and totally baffling.

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On CBS Wednesday, Mr. Romney reacted to the substance of Mr. Biden’s comment—namely that the G.O.P. intends to unchain Wall Street. He said “Of course, we have to have regulation on Wall Street and on every street to make sure that our economy works well, so it’s factually inaccurate to begin with.” He added: “Look, no one is talking about deregulating Wall Street.”

Actually, Mr. Romney has made deregulation of Wall Street and “every street” a central component of his campaign. On the regulation page of his website—a misnomer; it’s really the deregulation page—Mr. Romney says that “regulations function as a hidden tax on Americans” and pledges to “tear down the vast edifice of regulations the Obama administration has imposed on the economy” by: Repealing the Affordable Care Act, repealing Dodd-Frank, amending Sarbanes-Oxley and providing multi-year lead times before companies must come into compliance with new environmental rules.

It’s true that no one wants to totally and completely unchain Wall Street so that bankers can do absolutely whatever they want in a lawless state of nature. (Unless Ron Paul does. I’m not sure.) But it’s “factually inaccurate” to claim that “no one is talking about deregulating Wall Street.”

http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/15/romney-on-regulation/