The Competitive Enterprise Institute in April released its annual "Ten Thousand Commandments: An Annual Snapshot of the Federal Regulatory State," which surveys the enormous burden the fourth branch of government places on the economy.

Study author (and CEI vice president) Clyde Wayne Crews said that federal regulations cost the economy more than $1 trillion last year and included more than 3,500 new regulations issued by the fourth-branch agencies. In addition, the cost of running those agencies was not included in the study, but was estimated by the author to be another $54 billion. The federal government spends about $3.5 trillion a year according to the current budget. Adding in the additional costs of those "Ten Thousand Commandments" brings the price tag to nearly $5 trillion, or one-third of the country's GDP.