A just-wow statistic about the cost of post-America's freedom-hatred

We all know that the FHer regime depends for its ongoing viability on a vast army of point-headed bureaucrats micro-managing every aspect of our lives.

How much does it cost to maintain this army?

After years of rapid growth during the Obama administration, the cost of federal regulations is now bigger than the entire economies of all but nine countries in the world.

That's according to the latest annual report on the regulatory state issued by the free-market Competitive Enterprise Institute, titled "Ten Thousand Commandments."

Compiling reports of compliance costs from various government agencies and outside sources, author Clyde Wayne Crews found that the "regulation tax" imposed on the economy now tops $1.86 trillion.

By comparison, Canada's entire GDP is $1.82 trillion. India's is $1.84 trillion.

The problem, Crews notes, is that the combined cost of this "tax" never shows up anywhere in the federal budget — or any other official report — even though it is now bigger than individual and corporate income taxes combined.

As a result, "policymakers find it easier to impose regulatory costs relative to undertaking more government spending," Crews notes, "because of the lack of disclosure and accountability for regulatory costs."

And dig this:

Last year, regulators issued 3,659 rules. That's equal to one new rule every 2 1/2 hours of every day, or nearly two federal rules issued every business hour.
In 2013, there were 51 regulatory rules written for each law passed, which the CEI says is a measure of how much power Congress has delegated to unelected regulators. This "Unconstitutionality Index" — as the CEI calls it — averaged 34 under Obama, nearly twice the average rate during the George W. Bush years.
The Obama administration has had 42% more "economically significant" rules in the pipeline, on average, each year than the Bush administration.

Because the cattle-masses can't be trusted to eke out their own destinies.  And Gaia forbid that they prosper.