Deregulation masks another kind of trickle-down economics — where the financial gains go to the top, and nothing trickles down except risks and losses.

Those in favor of deregulation claim that getting rid of “burdensome” rules frees up the economy to be more productive. 

MUSK: “Regulations, basically, should be default gone. Not default there, default gone.

BOB: Sorry, did I hear that right?

MUSK: [...] we’ve just got to do a wholesale, spring cleaning of regulation and get the government off the backs of everyday Americans so people can get things done."

But regulations haven’t stopped corporations from “getting things done,” they’ve been raking in record profits.

The truth is, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and their minions don't really care about getting the government off YOUR back. They want to get the government off THEIR backs — and the backs of their corporate donors. 

They want the government to look the other way so big corporations can make more money, even if they hurt you.

Regulations protect you and me — from being harmed, fleeced, shafted, injured, or sickened by corporate products and services.

Take the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — the government agency that protects you from financial scams. Trump and DOGE gutted the agency, halted its regulatory work, and dropped major lawsuits against predatory banks and lenders.

Republican lawmakers are also working with Trump to overturn regulations protecting you from excessive banking overdraft fees. Who the hell wants more overdraft fees? Certainly not consumers [show poll - Q6 - 70% support].

These moves will leave you more vulnerable to financial fraud and abuse, while fattening the profits of corporate oligarchs. That includes Musk, whose corporations are regulated by the CFPB.

On climate, Trump’s deregulation spree has been a gift to the fossil fuel industry that bankrolled his 2024 campaign. His executive order on energy has set in motion dirty energy projects, including on public lands and waters. 

Trump’s EPA administrator Lee Zeldin, a Big Oil insider, is overriding years of the agency's research and work to limit harmful greenhouse gases. Zeldin also announced that the EPA will roll back over 30 pollution regulations that were established to save lives and protect the planet — calling it …

ZELDIN: …the largest deregulatory announcement in U.S. history. 

Trump claims this agenda will “unleash American energy” and lower prices. But American energy has already been unleashed in the form of wind and solar power. These are the sources that will lower costs for you — but Trump is discouraging their production.

By relying more on dirty energy sources, Big Oil will profit — while the rest of us will end up paying the price in the form of more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and an even faster path towards climate destruction.

Trump’s deregulation has been a disaster for workers, too. Trump reversed Biden’s executive order guaranteeing a $15 minimum wage for federal contractors, and even reversed a 1965 civil rights order against workplace discrimination. 

Trump also undermined the National Labor Relations Board, which defends workers’ right to unionize, by firing its pro-worker general counsel and replacing her with an anti-union corporate lawyer. All while Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezo’s Amazon are suing to have the entire board declared unconstitutional.

Trump’s mass firings at federal agencies — at Elon’s behest — have upended the lives of thousands of federal workers. These are the people who oversee air safety, food and drug safety, disaster response, public health, and so much more. Again, less oversight for corporations, more cost and risk for the rest of us.

Now, this is just the beginning of the deregulatory agenda taking shape in Trump’s second term. 

And thanks to Trump’s directives, this agenda could be rammed through with almost no opportunity for public input. Normally, proposed changes to regulations must be posted for public comment. Instead, Trump wants regulators to immediately just cancel rules or stop enforcing them altogether.

Trump and his pack of industry lapdogs — who are busy overseeing the same industries they once represented — will do well thanks to all of this.

But the rest of us won’t. We may not know for years the extent we are unprotected — until the next financial collapse, next public health crisis, next upsurge in fraud, or next natural disaster.

So when you hear Trump or anyone from his administration say that gutting regulations is good for America — know the truth. 

Deregulation is just another form of trickle-down economics — where the gains go to the top, and nothing trickles down except the risks and losses. Be warned.