As Joe Biden issued new regulations as fast as he could and inflation soared to a forty-year high, the NYT and other media outlets stayed virtually silent on the massive cost of government regulations. But less than five months into Trump’s term, the NYT falsely claims that they have data to show that Trump’s deregulation doesn’t reduce costs.
How Trump’s Regulatory Rollbacks Are Increasing Costs on Americans
A new DOGE tally claims that erasing rules on credit card fees, appliance standards and health insurance ‘saves the American people’ money. Data show the opposite.
The first deregulation they attack is Trump’s elimination of the CFPB regulation to force banks to lower overdraft fees from over $30 to $5. They claim that will save millions of Americans an average of $220 and almost $10 billion. That is not data. That is an estimate. The regulation shows how little the media, CFPB, and other Democrats understand banking and how the economy works.
First: It is illegal to write bad checks.
Second: A small percentage of people write bad checks and routinely overdraft their account.
Third: Banks will not take the risk to cover bad checks for $5. They will just bounce the checks and close accounts of abusers. The receivers of the checks will charge the writers and refuse their checks.
Fourth: Banks will stop offering free checking accounts for poor and middle class customers who keep small balances.
The second deregulation they attack is giving consumers freedom of choice on what type of appliance, shower, and toilet to buy, which clearly saves money. They claim they have data that shows people save huge amounts of money from low-flow items, but I doubt it. How many people take longer showers, rewash their dishes and must flush more than once because of the regulations?
The most ridiculous claim they make is that health insurance deregulation doesn’t save costs. In 2009, Democrats said they must pass the misnamed Affordable Care Act because health insurance costs were out of control. So, they passed a law with thousands of pages, and thousands of additional pages of regulations that took away freedom of choice as to what we buy. People had to buy a Cadillac policy with things they didn’t need. They took away annual and lifetime limits which intentionally reduced competition. Small- and medium-sized companies could clearly not afford unlimited risks. There was no incentive by medical providers to control costs. Then they intentionally lied to get the policy passed by saying it would substantially lower costs. The complicit media just went along and chastised those who opposed the gargantuan government control. Pelosi told Democrats they had to vote for the bill without reading it and they went along.
As prices soared over the past fifteen years, Democrats just keep raising subsidies and income limits, so more people sign up.
In 2009, when Democrats said prices were out of control. The average individual premium was $92 per month and the average family premium was $350 per month according to the Department of Labor. The overall inflation rate from 2009 to 2024 including the high cost of health insurance was 49.06%
So, if health insurance rates went up at general inflation rates, individual coverage would be around $150 per month and family coverage would be $500 per month today—but the current rate, based on several sources, is around $600 per month, and family coverage is two to three thousand per month. Here’s this:
Employer-sponsored health insurance coverage costs have ballooned to $35,119 for an average family of four and $7,871 for an individual in 2025, according to this year's Milliman Medical Index.
Those figures represent significant increases from years previous, especially for family coverage. Over the course of the two decades the firm has run the Milliman Medical Index (MMI), the cost of a family health insurance plan has soared nearly threefold, from $12,214 in 2005 to where it is today. That represents an average annual increase of 6.1%.
Regulations were absolutely a major contributor to the soaring costs.
Yet, the media and other Democrats persist in telling the public that Obamacare has made insurance more affordable.
Somehow, The NYT missed how Trump’s deregulation on oil has substantially lowered costs for everyone. Throughout Trump’s first term, oil prices stayed low, including during Covid, and crude oil is used in over 6,000 products. As Trump says, energy prices affect everything.
When Biden took office, crude oil was around $40 per barrel. Biden set out to destroy oil (and natural gas) and by 2022, the price had soared almost 200% to around $120 per barrel. This greatly increased inflation around the world. Somehow, the Fed, the media, and other Democrats deflected blame for inflation from Biden’s policies. The price spike also greatly supported the finances of oil-rich Iran and Russia.
When Trump took office, the price was still around $80, which was up 100% from when Biden was in. Now, in Trump’s first five months, it has typically hovered around $60 (today it’s around $65).
The U.S. consumes around 20 million barrels per day and the world around 100 million per day, so the deregulation has saved a lot, especially for the poor and middle classes.
Another deregulation the Times ignored was Trump’s decision to get rid of the EV mandate and his refusal to pretend we would go to “net zero.”
According to Google AI, GM alone spent $35 billion on EV vehicles and $17 billion on EV infrastructure in five years, even though consumers didn’t want them. The cost has clearly forced up the price of gas cars, insurance, and repairs.
The cost of the green boondoggles dwarfs the tariffs, but the media doesn’t care.
Basically, the media and other Democrats support big government and dislike deregulation, so they intentionally mislead the public.
Image from Grok.