On Argentina: I’ve heard a complaint that DOGE doesn’t go after entitlements spending, and therefore isn’t serious because entitlements spending is the bulk of government spending. But Argentina’s example is that a lot of the impact of government isn’t government’s spending, but rather it’s “costing” – and “costing” in terms of regulatio…
On Argentina: I’ve heard a complaint that DOGE doesn’t go after entitlements spending, and therefore isn’t serious because entitlements spending is the bulk of government spending. But Argentina’s example is that a lot of the impact of government isn’t government’s spending, but rather it’s “costing” – and “costing” in terms of regulation is, I would bet, an order of magnitude more of a drag on the economy than taxation.
At least taxation is visible and quantifiable. But when you see something like the new AI Diffusion export control rule, how many people, how many hours, will be diverted across private industry from otherwise economically productive activities and into compliance, simply because of this one rule? I’m not arguing here whether that rule is good or bad, per se, but the cost is incredible.
On Argentina: I’ve heard a complaint that DOGE doesn’t go after entitlements spending, and therefore isn’t serious because entitlements spending is the bulk of government spending. But Argentina’s example is that a lot of the impact of government isn’t government’s spending, but rather it’s “costing” – and “costing” in terms of regulation is, I would bet, an order of magnitude more of a drag on the economy than taxation.
At least taxation is visible and quantifiable. But when you see something like the new AI Diffusion export control rule, how many people, how many hours, will be diverted across private industry from otherwise economically productive activities and into compliance, simply because of this one rule? I’m not arguing here whether that rule is good or bad, per se, but the cost is incredible.