"Regulation is important, but the trick is finding the "red pill" middle ground than swinging left or right for strong armed knee jerk policies."
Regulations are not the only option for regulating behavior; taxes and lawsuits are another option. The advantage of the latter two is that they make transparent the costs of these regulations and thus beget more opposition. They also allow us to more clearly assess if the costs are worth their benefits. As someone else noted, taxes wax and wane, but regulations only wax. If the government needs money, better to collect it by taxing undesirable activities like pollution than desirable activities like labor.
Contrary to popular belief, lawsuits can be a very effective means of both protecting consumers and minimizing unnecessary government intervention. Richard Epstein writes a strong defense of such a model in his book Simple Rules For A Complex World. And he is a staunch libertarian.
Regulations are not the only option for regulating behavior; taxes and lawsuits are another option. The advantage of the latter two is that they make transparent the costs of these regulations and thus beget more opposition. They also allow us to more clearly assess if the costs are worth their benefits. As someone else noted, taxes wax and wane, but regulations only wax. If the government needs money, better to collect it by taxing undesirable activities like pollution than desirable activities like labor.
Contrary to popular belief, lawsuits can be a very effective means of both protecting consumers and minimizing unnecessary government intervention. Richard Epstein writes a strong defense of such a model in his book Simple Rules For A Complex World. And he is a staunch libertarian.