Efforts to repeal Obamacare have bogged down because GOPers are willing to deal with the fiscal wreckage of that law, but don't seem very comfortable about undoing the interventions and regulations that have caused premiums to skyrocket.

Efforts to cut taxes and reform the tax code don't look very promising because House Republicans have proposed a misguided border-adjustment tax and the White House seems hopelessly divided on how to proceed.

Efforts to restrain government spending haven't gotten off the ground. A full budget is due next month, but it's not overly encouraging that Trump's proposed domestic cuts would be used to expand the Pentagon's budget.

Let's see whether we get a different story when we examine regulatory issues.

We'll start with some good news. Well, sort of. It seems the United States has the largest and 4th-largest GDPs in the world.