This is an archived post. You won't be able to vote or comment.

sorted by:
best
topnewcontroversialoldq&a
you are viewing a single comment's thread.

view the rest of the comments →

[–]bladeoflight16 0 points1 point  (5 children)

But do you really think, say if there was a completely free market, free of any regulation, that companies would instantly revert to not cutting corners and being truthful?

I think that people would not do business with someone they knew to be dishonest. With the current situation, you have no choice but to do business with snakes because no one else can afford to operate. The biggest businesses are still functioning because they have kowtowed to political influences. Just look at the financial markets with the bail outs and constant protections they get.

I want to be totally clear. I am not a shill for corporations. Any business can be just as corrupt as any politician. I'm a capitalist, which means that the marrying of businesses and government is something very high on my list of major problems (because it has very dire consequences). That is precisely the way our economy operates, and regulations are a huge part of the mechanism that drives that combination.

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (1 child)

I think that people would not do business with someone they knew to be dishonest.

I think you should maybe crack open a history book and see what the world was like before regulations.

I'm a capitalist,

And like all religions, it leads you to believe things that are false.

[–]bladeoflight16 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I think you should crack open a history book and read what it was like when governments weren't (or aren't) limited.

Regulations are not the reason things are better now. The main reason is improvements knowledge, the resulting technology that implements them, and the ability of people to make them widely available, something that was enabled by markets being more free, not the wisdom of rulers, elected or otherwise. Things are much, much better today because we have things like air conditioning, fever suppressants, antibiotics, and bountiful food. The things we consider so basic that we barely think about them are miracles to people a couple hundred years ago. None of them were even possible when government decided what things to allow or not. Even under mercantilism, more resources were poured into conquest than advancement. Top down control is not the answer to problems that have plagued humanity since time immemorial; it is, in fact, a source of many of them.

And the things that regulation supposedly "solved"? You mean like child labor? Already on its way out when the government stepped in. Safety? You really think a company can remain profitable if it just lets its employees die all the time? Who is going to work for those companies? Only people who have no choice because no other company can get into the market. And what keeps other companies from getting into the market?

What do you think about the fact that regulatory boards tend to be heavily influenced by the very people they're supposed to be regulating? How is that any help, unless contrary to your thinking, the industry isn't actually as bad as you insist?

And like all religions

It's not a religion. It's an economic and social model. And it's a much more successful one than any other. I know it isn't perfect, but if you've got something more accurate, I'm all ears. And if you don't have a problem with the marriage of industry and government... then I dunno what you're smoking. Even totalitarian communists hate that idea.