80 The PCB Magazine • February 2017
The bureaucratic tide of red tape that threatens
to drown U.S. consumers and businesses hit un-
precedented record levels during the past eight
years per a Heritage Foundation study
[2]
released
in 2016. More than $22 billion per year in new
regulatory costs were imposed on Americans in
2015, pushing the total burden for the Obama
years to exceed $100 billion annually. Over the
past two administrations, 16 years, over 1.1 mil-
lion pages of new regulations have been put into
law, with over 82,000 pages added during 2015
alone (2016 numbers are not published yet).
The Top Ten Ways the Trump Administra-
tion can roll back bureaucracy:
10. Boost regulatory review resources
9. Professionalize review, revision, repeal
and sunsetting of regulations
8. Expand the number of rules requiring
cost analysis
7. Scrutinize all agency decrees that affect
the public
6. Enhance rule disclosure in the Unified
Agenda of Federal Regulations
5. Track the accumulation of federal
regulations as businesses sectors grow
4. Analyze and recognize deadweight and
waste in Government
3. Freeze regulations
2. Develop and regularly publish a
Regulatory Transparency Report Card
1. Establish the "Office of No"
A recent survey by The Wall Street Journal
[3]
states that business leaders say all Americans
stand to benefit from a lighter regulatory touch
that would boost profits, growth and hiring,
particularly for small and midsize businesses.
Conclusion
In the wake of the November 8 election
of Donald J. Trump as the next president of
the United States, the country is battered and
bruised, but from an economic standpoint,
there's real reason for optimism. President-elect
Trump has promised a lot, starting on Day 1.
But now the rhetoric ends and the hard work
begins. For the sake of our industry, I hope
Trump is wildly successful as president.
Full Disclosure
I have studied Donald Trump for over a doz-
en years while teaching in the MBA program
through case studies I created from his show
The Apprentice. My business students analyzed,
scrutinized and dissected the strategy and tacti-
cal execution of the tasks, and Trump's decision
making skills. From a personal standpoint, I be-
lieve he will do what he said he will do: make
America great again.
PCB
References
1. The Heritage Foundation
2. Red Tape Rising 2016: Obama Regs Top100
Billion Annually, The Heritage Foundation.
3. Donald Trump Cabinet Picks Signal De-
regulation Moves Are Coming, The Wall Street
Journal.
Steve Williams is the president
of The Right Approach Consulting
LLC. To read past columns, or to
contact Williams, click here.
In January, we conducted an industry-wide sur-
vey of our readers about their plans for hiring dur-
ing the coming year. Included here is a summary
of the results, which brought some surprising,
along with not so surprising results. One result
that we saw as a good sign for the industr
y was
prompted by the very first question, which was,
"Do you plan to hire additional people this year?"
More than half of the respondents answered yes
while about one-third said no. We take this as an
optimistic sign that our industry plans to expand
in 2017. For more information click here.
Help Wanted! Our 2017 Industry Hiring Survey
WHY TRUMP WILL BE GOOD FOR OUR INDUSTRY
