Contrary to the popular perception, Bush has been one of the most pro-regulation presidents — far more so than Democrat Bill Clinton, who, in many ways, was a better friend to the free market than Bush has been. …By 2002, just one year into the Bush Administration, there were clear signs of backsliding. A government report endorsed the view that human activity was a principal cause of global warming and the administration signaled that it was going to become more aggressive about issuing new regulations. Said OMB’s Graham, “There’s no allergy to regulation” at the White House….Bush threw all of his free market principles to the wind and endorsed the biggest expansion of government regulation in decades by signing the Sarbanes-Oxley bill. …According to a report by the Small Business Administration, by 2004, the burden of government regulation on the economy reached $1.1 trillion — $10,172 per American household. A recent report from the Competitive Enterprise Institute found the regulatory onslaught continuing through 2006, with many new regulations still in the pipeline.
— Bruce Bartlett, The Washington Times, February 7, 2007
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