Billionaires don’t al­­ways say the smartest things, but one of them has a smart idea. At the Forbes Reinventing America Sum­mit, billionaire real estate developer Sam Zell said, "If you want to see the economy go wild, just cut all the regulations in half."

Zell is known for his contrarian views and more often than not has been a successful investor. Cutting regulations is certainly contrary to what generally takes place in Washington. Regulations, especially environmental regulations, just keep piling up and up.

"We’re in a society where we think all...