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  • (intro until 2:40)

  • regulation is a good

  • idea in theory, no doubt. if those who created the regulations a) understood every in and

  • out of the sector they were regulating, b) understood the exact pros and cons of the

  • effects of the proposed regulations, c) were... unable to be affected in any way by outside

  • (moneyed) influence and were unable to hide behind the walls of the state, etc, then it

  • might work great. the problem, though, is that regulation has been "weighed in the balances

  • and found wanting". it almost always has the inverse effect of the well-intended solution

  • it is perceived as.

  • regulation in the economic sector usually solidifies monopolies. they are corporate

  • monopolies, and there are usually 2 or 3 dominant corporations in the sector so as to give the

  • illusion of choice. this is why many (actually, probably most) times, corporations themselves

  • are behind the regulations; it gives big money unfair advantages backed by violence. if Perdue

  • or Tyson want to limit competition, they get a law passed that all chickens have to go

  • through a laundry list of cost-prohibitive "sanitation" exercises, mountains of paperwork,

  • expensive industrial licenses, etc. this has the effect of walling off any free marketeers

  • (little guys) that might be able to come in and undercut the big boys. of course, Big

  • Chicken itself is never held accountable to those regulations. and of course, without

  • the regulations, the people themselves could vote with their dollar; if Little Guy Chickens

  • makes a great product, it competes with Big Chicken and the people win.

  • you can eliminate lobbying, but there's still going to be the buddy system. Citi asks Smith

  • to put X restriction on banking, and 4 years later, Smith becomes the CEO of Citi and reaps

  • the reward. the fact is, regulations on ANY (non-criminal) actions in the economic sector

  • do not work better than regulation by us little guys via the dollar, and in fact usually work

  • against him.

  • now, talking about the possibilities in the absence of regulations is where it gets most

  • interesting IMO. there is an important distinction to be made here between regulations and laws

  • (the words can be used interchangeably, but ...I'll draw a hard line for the sake of discussion).

  • laws establish principles like "it's illegal to hurt an innocent people". regulations,

  • well, regulate the way business is done. I certainly agree that the former is necessary

  • and required. the latter, though, I am asserting is better left to the "market", or the people.

  • now, companies can lie in advertising, but the greatest agent of regulation in a free

  • market - their competitors - will call them out and ruin their reputation (except they

  • can't do this as it is due to FCC regulations). they can lie about what they sell you and

  • whether it's dangerous, but they will be taken to court, sued out of existence, and imprisoned

  • for life for fraud (violation of implicit contract) and injury - this of course only

  • possible without the government status/protection of "corporations".

  • companies can build crappy buildings, but they will be liable for injuries and will

  • have a crappy reputation to go with it, so it is in their best interest to build a good

  • product.

  • companies can intentionally make crappy/faulty cars, but without their limited liabilities,

  • the same things will happen to them. the principles above hold true over and over again. however,

  • when the state creates regulations that only ten people can die per million cars sold,

  • then the corporation aims for that number instead of 0, and their actions are legitimized.

  • my main point here is that the state provides protection for the rich in almost everything

  • it does, and regulations are an agent

  • of the state.

(intro until 2:40)

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