I’ve got a new post up at Cato at Liberty noting (after Iain Murray) that the lack of an annual “Regulation Day,” along the lines of tax-filing day, makes the cost of regulation even less apparent to the citizenry. I cite examples from the realms of medical devices, credit cards, and power plants (& Ivan Osorio, American Spectator).
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[…] friend Walter Olson of Overlawered.com has a post referencing a writing of his at the CATO Institute and Iain Murray’s article “There Is […]
More Olsonist libertarian nonsense. Sure, there are always a few places where onerous regulation can be pruned, but regulations in the USA have gone far to keep us actually safe, productive, and sane. Disagree? Hop on a boat and set sail for the regulation free libertarian paradise of Somalia.
James of comment (1) holds the almost universal view that “regulations in the USA keep us actually safe, productive, and sane”. This is not so. As regards sanity, look at CPSA especially CPSIA.
My favorite example is airplane safety. People will not fly unless the risk of falling out of the sky is very low. Airplane manufacturers have to engineer safe airplanes to have a business at all. But those manufactures who put safety first have to ensure that their competitors are not advantaged, and they have to convince the public that their products are really safe. The FAA doesn’t improve safety, it enables a business that requires safety to thrive. A pilot entering service today is unlikely to have an engine failure in his working lifetime. Good engineers made that possible, not Barbara Boxer.
The FDA actually hurts people in my opinion. They made possible the the breast implant fiasco and scared the daylights out of many women. Safe and effective drugs – Benedictine and Vioxx, for example – are unavailable do to poor thinking at FDA. It is my understanding that no substitute for Benedictine that is as effective as it is, and women have suffered more than necessary. A private sector consumers report might be a better way to go.