When Bush deregulated

A lot of the blame for the 2008 financial crisis is given to Bush, because he supposedly deregulated our economy. Very interesting theory, which would make sense if Bush actually did deregulate.

Bush's Regulatory Kiss-Off

Interesting factual tidbits in this article:

Overall, the final outcome of this Republican regulation has been a significant increase in regulatory activity and cost since 2001. The number of pages added to the Federal Register, which lists all new regulations, reached an all-time high of 78,090 in 2007, up from 64,438 in 2001.

The Bush team has spent more taxpayer money on issuing and enforcing regulations than any previous administration in U.S. history. Between fiscal year 2001 and fiscal year 2009, outlays on regulatory activities, adjusted for inflation, increased from $26.4 billion to an estimated $42.7 billion, or 62 percent. By contrast, President Clinton increased real spending on regulatory activities by 31 percent, from $20.1 billion in 1993 to $26.4 billion in 2001.

It takes a lot of bureaucrats to create and enforce all those regulations. In eight years, Bush increased the federal government's regulatory staff by 91,196 employees. Clinton cut it by 969. This is why Business Week recently designated Washington as one of the top places to ride out the recession: The government is hiring.

So of course, deregulation MUST be to blame. RIIIIIGHT!