3 ms·

I don't follow. Isn't that the point?

• aianus 11y ago
  No, because they have a clear incentive to categorize everything as X so they can collect their taxes and fees and feel important and powerful.
  • iamdave 11y ago
    If not them, then who?
    • aianus 11y ago
      Congress? The courts? Some third party at least.
      • iamdave 11y ago
        But...Legislatures and courts designate regulatory agencies, through enabling acts[1] that allows said agency to exist and which lists its jurisdiction and areas of responsibility. That's how regulatory bodies exist, it's what they're for. A court established regulatory body defining what it regulates is 100% within the scope of that body under the law. So in a way, this already happens. I'm not exactly seeing the issue here. Regulatory bodies don't just appear out of nowhere, they have to be established by a legislature or a court. You're asking for a feature that already exists. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enabling_act#United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enabling_act#United_States
  • Frondo 11y ago
    It seldom happens that government agencies enact new regulations to "feel important and powerful". Far more often, they enact new regulations because new circumstances are similar enough to the old ones. It's usually the case that, to anyone with some knowledge of history, that the regulations are a good idea to put in place before people really start getting scammed/hurt/etc. To say that government agencies take action to "feel important and powerful" certainly casts the agencies in a trivial or pointless light, but I don't think it is accurate.
    • scotty79 11y ago
      > because new circumstances are similar enough to the old ones If all you have is a hammer then everything looks like a nail.
    • revdrmlkjr 11y ago
      >The lust for power never dies- men cannot have enough. No one will lift a hand to send it from his door, to give it warning, 'Power, never come again!” -Aeschylus