Ever since observers began tallying rule counts and pages in the Federal Register, detractors have complained about what poor measures such devices are. They might be semi-correct for the wrong reason. With the Inflation Reduction Act topping off two and a half years of “inflection points” and “transformative” legislation and “Whole-of-Government” interventions in “equity,” “climate,” “competition,” and much more, the all-encompassing federal government no longer need to issue regulations to control society and the economy.
Build Back Better was not needed to shift into the nation’s footing toward new domestic forever wars and the open-ended spending and regulation they entail.
Forget laws and regulations; with a federal government this large, any move from issuing sub-regulatory guidance documents (I’ve tabbed over 107,000) can send ripples through the economy and society. Given the power now bestowed to the bureaucracy, there’s little need to write rules anymore when using guidance documents will do.
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