During a famous speech given in support of Barry Goldwater’s 1964 presidential run, Ronald Reagan observed that “no government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we’ll ever see on this earth!”
He has a point: When have we ever seen government shrink? It’s completely against the incentives of those holding power to ever cut spending, because there’s always some special interest that would be alienated by doing so. That’s why we’ve seen the government continue to grow whether or not a Democrat or Republican lives in the White House.
Until now. Trump has made historic cuts in federal regulation (pledging to bring back regulatory levels to what they were in the 1960s), and historic cuts in federal spending as well.
According to the American Institute for Economic Research, “since Trump took office, 16,000 people who used to have happy, comfy, semi-permanent jobs with the federal government have since moved on with their lives, getting jobs in the private sector. Maybe that doesn’t seem like much given the 1.9 million people who remain as your masters and mine, but it is a start and absolutely worth noting.”
Here’s the Trump effect charted – and compared against Barack Obama’s first year.
And the Trump effect is even larger than what meets the eye, because the President has also simply refused to fill certain government positions. A major responsibility of any president is to appoint hundreds of people to head all the top spots in federal agencies, who are then subject to a Senate confirmation. Trump has expressed close to zero interest in doing this, and has left two thirds of those positions empty.
Hilariously, many of those he appointed to top positions have expressed interest in dismantling the agencies they now lead!
Share this great news with others now! Trump is draining the swamp!
