2020: "How much would it cost to fire Trump?"

Great analysis here. Off the WSJ "Best of the Web" column yesterday.

The few television viewers willing to subject themselves to CNN’s “Climate Crisis Town Hall” now understand Democrats’ ambition to dismantle U.S. energy production. Many consumers also know their health plans would be outlawed under a bill authored by Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and endorsed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. But voters and investors may still struggle to tabulate the full cost of a potential new activism in Washington—including a reversal of President Donald Trump ’s drive to cut federal red tape.

Andy Laperriere of Cornerstone Macro writes in a note to clients that “the cost of new regulations is down more than 80% since Trump took office, which amounts to close to $100 billion less — each year — in the cost to the private sector of new government rules.”

Citing the work of the George Washington University Regulatory Studies Center, Mr. Laperriere adds that “the number of economically significant rules, those estimated to impose $100 million or more in costs to the private sector, are down about 75% under Trump. The number of pages in the Federal Register, another measure of the burden of complying with new government rules, has seen the biggest two-year decline since records have been kept.”

Democrats have promised a Green New Deal potentially costing tens of trillions of dollars. Mr. Laperriere notes: “What may be less appreciated by investors is just how universal the reach of the Democratic regulatory agenda would be. The Democratic presidential candidates are calling for a more aggressive approach to antitrust enforcement. The major tech companies are in the crosshairs, but tough antitrust enforcement will by no means be limited to them. Many of the Democratic candidates are calling for criminal prosecutions of companies and top corporate leaders. They are promising federal agencies will be much quicker to file lawsuits against business and impose stiffer heavier fines.”

Next year voters will decide whether the costs of replacing Mr. Trump are too heavy for the economy to bear.