In an earlier entry I agreed with David Henderson that libertarians and classical liberals should give Trump credit where credit is due. We should occasionally take a break from criticizing his tariffs, to spend a few minutes to praise his deregulation. The New York Times article quoted below says that deregulation is “the third pillar” of his program to bring us economic prosperity, and that the “deregulatory push” is accelerating.
(p. B3) The Trump administration accelerated its deregulatory push on Thursday [Dec. 11, 2025] by asking the Financial Stability Oversight Council, a financial crisis-era government panel that monitors threats to the financial system, to take steps to ease regulations that they claim are strangling economic growth.
The focus on deregulation comes as President Trump looks to jump-start economic output ahead of midterm elections next year. Republicans are hopeful that Americans will see benefits from the tax legislation that they passed earlier this year and the fruits of new foreign investments that have been pledged as part of trade agreements.
The loosening of regulations has been described by Mr. Trump’s advisers as the third pillar of his plan to unleash the nation’s economic potential.
Mr. Bessent argued in a letter accompanying the annual FSOC report that financial stability is best achieved through faster economic growth, which is constrained by unnecessary regulations. He is directing the FSOC to create working groups that will focus on Treasury market resilience, the resilience of household finances, opportunities for artificial intelligence to help safeguard the financial system and preparation for cyberattacks.
For the full story see:
(Note: bracketed date added.)
(Note: the online version of the story has the date Dec. 11, 2025, and has the title “Bessent Accelerates Regulation Overhaul to Jumpstart Growth.”)