Regulatory Action Center Review - December 5, 2018

1) Video of the Week: This video details 25 government regulations that wildly overstep the bounds of proper, constitutional governance.

2) Monopoly Isn’t Always What We Think: “Indeed, crony capitalism is a problem in today’s economy. It is possible that the Left and Right could make common cause on this issue. But not by treating market concentration as the proxy for monopoly power. Crony capitalism is by definition politically-connected capital. Without refined measures of identification, renewed antitrust enforcement would likely take disproportionate aim at harmless monopolies, those effectively replicating competitive equilibria, and would overlook markets in which politically well-connected capital exercises real monopoly power.” https://www.lawliberty.org/2018/11/30/monopoly-isnt-always-what-we-think-it-is/

3) After Promising to Fight Foreign Price Controls, New HHS Rule Adopts Them: “Last week, Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary (HHS) Alex Azar announced the proposed creation of an “International Pricing Index.” This index injects foreign price controls into the payment system for Medicare Part B physician administered medicines.” https://www.atr.org/after-promising-fight-foreign-price-controls-new-hhs-rule-adopts-them

4) New Regulations on “Clean Meat” Would Be Detrimental: “I’m writing to encourage Rep. Rob Bishop and the rest of Congress to drop rider SEC 736 from the Farm Bill. This rider would force the USDA to issue new regulations on ‘clean meat’ or ‘cell-based meat,’ even though the USDA and FDA are already working together to oversee the safe production of these foods.” https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/letters/2018/12/03/letter-new-regulations/

5) This Week in Ridiculous Regulations: Ryan Young, with our friends at CEI, outline regulatory data from the past week and highlight some particularly outrageous regulations published recently. https://cei.org/blog/week-ridiculous-regulations-82

6) A Tale of Two 5G Cities – San Jose and Indianapolis: “Indianapolis has cultivated a 5G-friendly culture and will be one of the first major cities to see extensive rollout of the wireless technology of the future. San Jose, on the other hand, saw the equipment needed for 5G as a revenue source and charged such onerous fees that providers have largely ignored the Silicon Valley city.” https://www.realclearpolicy.com/articles/2018/12/04/a_tale_of_two_5g_cities _san_jose_and_indianapolis_110943.html

7) The Fed Seems Determined to Snuff Out Economic Progress: “President Trump’s pro-growth tax and regulatory policies are creating the textbook-theory-expected faster economic growth along with the benefits that go with that faster growth. Meanwhile, Federal Reserve policy appears to be focused on preventing these positive economic effects from continuing through 2019.” https://www.realclearpolicy.com/2018/10/23/the_fed_seems_determined_to_snuff _out_economic_progress_39877.html