> The big players can hire another lawyer and get the regulators for a tennis match at that fancy club while the small players drown in paper. I actually imagi

> The big players can hire another lawyer and get the regulators for a tennis match at that fancy club while the small players drown in paper. I actually imagine that there's remarkably little of the tennis-match corruption you indicate, but I know that there's quite a lot of the over-lawyered corruption. Even worse, there's a lot of completely well-intentioned regulation whose hidden costs drive up prices, while not really providing much in return (related to the old question, 'ever wonder if taxation without representation would have been cheaper?'). Anyone who's dealt with the federal procurement system has to wonder if a little pocket-lining corruption would be cheaper than dealing with the paperwork intended to prevent & detect corruption; anyone dealing with a heavily-regulated industry has to wonder if the regulations cost more than the fraud, waste and abuse they prevent.