Si Robertson Quotes

I saw my father deal with every headache the government threw his way - whether it had to do with the signs on the front of the building or the prices on the showroom floor. He knew he could do better, if government would just get out of the way - and stay out of the way. He was right.

Regulations are a form of legislation and should be decided by a political process, not more or better benefit-cost analyses.

Environmental regulation looked like it was going to be under serious attack, and they were giving all of those speeches about getting government off people's backs.

There is relief coming. This is good for America. This means that we can lift the oppressive weight of the regulatory state. We can restore the Constitution.

We need to cut regulations. Apparently this will make everyone a little more socially responsible?

The country wants the president and the Congress focused on jobs and the economy. Any regulation that the president promulgates that isn't focused on, I think, is a risk for him, and the same is true for Congress.

Don't punish small businesses with over-regulation.

I'm overall a big fan of President Obama.

Government can encourage innovation, but mainly by doing less, not doing more.

We're one of the most highly regulated industries, and we have to pay attention to what government is doing.

The level of analysis that is done when you see laws created, whether it's the city or state or federal level - it's much more horse-trading than analysis.

I think we need to significantly reduce the regulatory burden on the private sector. The Obama administration is doing the opposite. They're loading on more and more regulation on the private respect to how the economy functions.

Generally I'm against regulation.

I do have a political agenda. It's to have as few regulations as possible.

Why has it seemed that the only way to protect the environment is with heavy-handed government regulation?

I know how to make sausage, and now that I've seen how laws are made, I'll stick with sausage.

There is no major political issue in the country that does not end up as a legal issue.

I ... can sniff out a bureaucracy when I see it coming [in new legislation.]

Lobbying is declared to be a crime.

This incident shows how complex the lobby law is.

We can restore liberty by taking government out of our bedrooms, our bloodstreams, our bladders, our brains, our businesses and our back-pockets.

In 10 years, ... you're going to see the most valuable economy in the world -- the largest economy in the world -- is going to be a country run by communists. The Chinese seem to be very good at capitalism. And this is going to have fundamental problems and present an identity crisis for the United States. Because for a long time, free markets coincided with liberties such as free speech, free press, free religion. And all of a sudden, this equation is going to be decoupled. And when it gets decoupled, we might find that democracy, the multitude of voices, actually impedes capitalism because a state that does not have any pretense of limited government can very quickly mandate a regulatory framework for drones, for electric cars, for self-driving cars, for any new innovation where they feel that they can leapfrog Western societies. And this is a very unique thing in the American experience. And this is why it's very important to think of American capitalism as an operating system and not as an ideology. Because when you think about it as an ideology, you can have good politics make for very, very bad policy. That market outcomes and democratic voices and battles for votes can end up stifling progress.

Donald Trump promises to impose, soon after his inauguration, a new requirement on federal agencies: If they want to issue a new regulation, they have to rescind two regulations that are now on the books. The idea of 'one in, two out' has rhetorical appeal, but it's going to be extremely hard to pull off.

Mr. Icahn will be a leader in helping American entrepreneurs shed job-killing regulations that stifle economic growth.

As presidents from Ronald Reagan to Barack Obama have recognized, the real question is whether regulations, whether new or old, are justified. That requires a careful analysis of their costs and their benefits.