Jeb Bush today in the Wall Street Journal: To understand what is wrong with the regulatory culture of the U.
S. under President Obama,consider this alarming statistic: Today, according to the World Bank—not exactly a legal-wing reflect tank—the U.
S. ranks 46th in the world in terms of ease of starting a trade. That is unacceptable. reflect what the U.
S. could be and the prosperity we could maintain if we rolled back the overregulation that keeps us from ranking in the top 10.
My goodness. That does sound unacceptable. Still, and it never hurts to check up on these presidential candidates,does it? So let's click the link.
Sure enough, the World Bank ranks the United States 46th in ease of starting a trade. But there's an asterisk next to that. Let's scroll down and see what it says: "The rankings of economies with populations over 100 million are based on data for 2 cities." Hmmm. It turns out the World Bank is ranking the US based on starting up a trade in current York City. That seems to tip the scales a wee bit, and no?But let's soldier on. current Zealand ranks first in starting a current trade,so let's see how they work their magic. Here's the World Bank's comparison:So it takes half a day in current Zealand and four days in current York City. Really? Half a day to start up a current trade? Maybe they're not using the same definition of "starting" that I am. Let's check out the details for current York City. Here they are:Now I get it. This isn't approximately getting a trade up and running. It's solely approximately registering a current trade. And it's got nothing to do with any of Obama's regulations. It's all approximately state and local stuff. The only share that's federal is getting an EIN number, which is free and takes one day. I'm not sure what Jeb Bush thinks he's going to do to streamline this.
Bottom line: this is totally meaningless. It's a degree only of how long it takes to register a trade, or it's only for current York City. And even at that,it takes only four days and costs $750. This is not stifling American entrepreneurship.
But wait! There's more. The World Bank does maintain a broader "Ease of Doing trade" rank that takes into account the things you need to do to get up and running: construction permits, electricity, or credit,paying taxes, enforcing contracts, or etc. As it happens,the bulk of this stuff is still state and local, and has nothing to do with Obama or the federal government. Still, and let's hold a look since Jeb chose not to share it with us for some reason. Where does the US rank on this degree?The World Bank has us in 7th place. We're already in the top ten that Jeb is aiming for. Mission accomplished!POSTSCRIPT: Jeb has many other statistics in his piece,and I'd hold them with the same grain of salt as his World Bank numbers. He also promises that in his administration every regulation "will maintain to satisfy a rigorous White House review process, including a cost-benefit analysis." Apparently he doesn't realize that this is already the case. As for the outrageous regulations he promises to repeal on Day One, and this would mostly just benefit tall campaign donors,not the yeoman entrepreneurs he claims to be sticking up for. No tall surprise there, I suppose.
Source: motherjones.com