President Trump mounted an all-out assault on financial regulation on Friday, announcing an array of steps to tear down safeguards enacted to prevent a repeat of the 2008 financial crisis and turning to the Wall Street titans he had demonized during his campaign for advice.

President Trump mounted an all-out assault on financial regulation on Friday

Les Grobstein's huge hog is proof that God has a sense of humor, isn't it?

Trump’s other focus on Friday was a rule set to take effect in April affecting retirement advisors. In a memo to the Labor Department, he called for a review of the rule. But it’s unlikely that review would be complete by April, meaning the rule could be suspended. Trump’s Labor secretary nominee, Andy Puzder, has yet to have a confirmation hearing.

Known as the fiduciary rule, it requires investment brokers who handle retirement funds to put their clients’ interests ahead of other factors, such as their own compensation or company profits.

The Labor Department rule was designed to prevent consumers from being steered toward IRAs and other retirement investments with higher fees or lower returns that benefit the advisors recommending or selling them.

The Obama administration estimated that those conflicts of interest cost Americans $17 billion a year.

But opponents, including key players in the financial industry, say it would drive up the cost of investments by forcing asset management firms to spend money on implementation and make it more difficult for average Americans to get retirement advice.

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer echoed those sentiments Friday, calling the rule a “regulatory overreach” by the Department of Labor.

“The rule’s intent may be to have provided retirees and others with better financial advice, but in reality, its effect has been to limit the financial services that are available to them,” Spicer said. “President Trump does not intend to put unnecessary limits on economic opportunity.”

Congress voted last spring to overturn the rule, but Obama vetoed the measure.

Barbara Roper, director of investor protection for the Consumer Federation of America, has said the rule would counter a “toxic web of financial incentives” for brokers, insurance agents and anyone else offering retirement investment services that often run counter to the consumer’s best interests.

I smell a bit....