GROWTH: Donald Trump’s Pledge to Loosen Regulations on Businesses Is a Heavy Lift.

Mr. Trump has said his administration will take aim at regulations across industries, and he will be backed by congressional Republicans eager to undo some of the more controversial Obama administration initiatives. Big targets include power-plant regulations and regulatory rules imposed on banks and financial institutions after the financial crisis of 2008, though the effort will also reach deep into the federal bureaucracy to include rules involving labor, telecommunications and health care.

Mr. Trump has a handful of ways to reach his goal, but they mostly point to a slow death of attrition for the Obama rules rather than an immediate elimination. He can opt not to defend rules currently tied up in court. His federal agencies can write new rules to justify revoking the ones he wants to eliminate. He can work with the GOP-controlled Congress to nullify recently completed regulations and restrict funding to certain parts of departments as a de facto way to hamstring a rule’s force.

The mere promise of regulatory easing ought to get money moving back off the sidelines. Delivering on the promise would really get things going.