> Part of the problem with regulated markets in the US (and not just power) is that the ingrained distaste for regulation seems to ensure that when it does happ

> Part of the problem with regulated markets in the US (and not just power) is that the ingrained distaste for regulation seems to ensure that when it does happen it's done as badly and obstructively as possible. I'm always incredibly skeptical of the, "A little of this is going rather poorly, what we need is more of it" argument. Actually, I've been thinking about this quite a lot lately - I've been in Taiwan and Thailand the last two months, and there's a wonderful culture of street food here. You can buy roasted peanuts or get some noodles or meat or vegetables stir-fried from a cart on the street. We don't have this in the United States because of regulation - one particular regulation in California says you need to have a sink to wash your hands in order to sell food. Thus, no street vendors unless they have a portable sink (really, I asked a farmer's market person on this - you need a portable sink in a van to run a street market). Now, on the surface, this is an imminently sensible regulation. Who wants to have food by someone who didn't wash their hands? But that's just the thing - I do! The food is good, the vendor would be happy to sell it, I'm happy to buy it, and I darn well know the guy with the cart doesn't have the highest health standards and I make my own choices. Some street food is not up to my standards, some is. Regulation prohibits me from making that adult decision for myself, so I'm forced into higher priced food of similar quality, or going to Taco Bell instead of getting some stir fried chicken, vegetables, and noodles. I imagine at least one-third of regulations make sense on some level and do at least as much good as harm, but it's a little like censorship to me. It's a door you don't want to open if possible, despite the fact that there is rather nasty stuff you'd rather suppress. You'd rather suppress the bad stuff, it's probably objectively good to suppress the bad stuff, but you're always going to wind up with well-intentioned-yet-misguided people going too far. Hence, we're unable to buy street food due to the seemingly sensible regulation that no one can buy food from someone unless that person has a sink.