A look at one of Donald Trump’s go-to lines from his “State of the Union” self-applause-fest:
America is a nation of builders. We built the Empire State Building in just one year. Isn’t it a disgrace that it can now take ten years just to get a minor permit approved for the building of a simple road.
Trump has said this multiple times in the past, and as he lurches toward an “infrastructure” bill, I’m sure we’ll hear more. But is it actually true? And, if permitting of federal-level infrastructure projects takes time … is that a good thing or a bad thing?
We all dislike restraints on our actions. But those restraints, regulations, permission processes, reviews, etc., are usually in place for actual historical reasons. And before we toss them out because they are inconvenient and make it difficult for someone to make more money faster, they need to be looked at from that historical perspective. Otherwise we get that whole “are condemned to repeat it” thing going again.
In the ideal world, regulatory approvals would operate solely in the citizens' interest.
In the real world, regulatory processes are lobbied, and sometimes controlled, by special interests.
For example, let's say that I want to build a bigly bar and cantina across the street from a private golf club in Palm Beach, Florida. The National Association of Bigly Bar Owners will file paperwork with the city supporting the measure, and perhaps might offer to take city officials to lunch to educate the officials on the virtues of the proposed development. Meanwhile, the New York City Association of Really Really Genius Real Estate Developers will also approach the city, explaining why it is so important to New York real estate developers to ensure that significant golf course properties are not tainted by nearby demon rum. Both sides will mount huge PR campaigns, and all of a sudden concerned citizens from Las Vegas, Nevada and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia will write letters to the editor with lines such as "Denial of business licenses will put our country into another Great Depression" and "125% of all drunk driving accidents are caused by alcohol."
Interestingly enough, I read an article a few months ago saying how Chinese developers were complaining because Cuban officials are not yet ready to approve infrastructure projects that Cuba supposedly wants, resulting in years-long delays. Apparently China doesn't have those huge delay problems.
+John E. Bredehoft Not all regulations are good one. Sometimes they are based on unfounded hypotheticals and the concerns of busybodies. Other times they are driven by people with an agenda beyond promoting business / protecting the citizenry. There's no question about that.
But a lot of regulations come into being because of very real problems caused by their lack.
The problem with Trump glibly asserting that "it can now take ten years just to get a minor permit approved for the building of a simple road" is, beyond its dubious oversimplification and misleading nature, it begs the question of how long it should take and why it takes longer than that.
Trump's interest, besides currying favor with the frustrated, is making it easier for businesses to make money faster (his businesses in particular, but business in general), regardless of the cost (because the cost will only really come up after he's out of office or dead).