Excessive Regulation...

[Corno Dolce]

Another great article that blasts excessive regulation:

http://mises.org/story/3125

[Krummhorn]

I quite agree ... some things are regulated to death, but others, like blatant price gouging by the major oil companies (who also publically claim for the first time in their history "Record Profits") are ignored. The perception is on that, that the US Gov't is in cahoots with the oil companies ... or it's a pork barrel thing.

[JLS]

The article doesn't call for a lack of regulation, it merely suggests that regulation in some cases is best left to private parties/groups who have an economic interest in the resource(s) rather than government agencies whose policies are often ineffectual. After all, it's not as if the author is proposing anarchy.

I'm not sure I agree, though. It is true that governmental regulation is often poorly legislated and that in such cases private regulation could do better. However, private regulation is only a band-aid. The ultimate solution is better governmental legislation. When private groups whose only interest is profit have ultimate regulatory power over a resource, there is nothing to keep them from making decisions that serve their selfish interests regardless of the greater socioeconomic impact. The deregulation of the power industry several years ago is a perfect example. Power companies were allowed to make decisions that served nothing but their own greed and the power crisis here in California was the result. Private power companies were free to shut down plants and price gouge the entire state while brownouts and blackouts became a regular part of life, here. The only areas that weren't affected by the crisis were those lucky enough to receive power from the properly regulated government agencies.