Rachel Maddow, the dogmatic, left-wing host of an MSNBC "news-
based" show, asserted last week that deregulation not only
caused the world financial crisis, but that deregulation is
causing average Americans to increasingly become impoverished.
Although the facts don't square at all with Maddow's
misconceptions, many Americans share her outlook. So ... let's
consult something objective. Below is a graphic representation
of the pages of the Federal Register, which each day publishes
the federal government's new rules and regulations. Given that
the total pages devoted to regulations were larger under George
W. Bush than under Jimmy Carter, we have to ask: "What
deregulation?" (The Federal Register has been around since 1936,
starting with just 2,620 pages. Over the years new rules for
reporting regulations has increased the required documentation.
1973 is the earliest year with which we can begin a modern
comparison) What about the supposed growth in poverty? Well,
that is a myth, too. Below is the U.S. Gross D