Regulation does not come out of thin air--it comes in response to abuses. You're half-right, insofar as you say that regulation doesn't come out of thin air, b

Regulation does not come out of thin air--it comes in response to abuses. You're half-right, insofar as you say that regulation doesn't come out of thin air, but you're neglecting the role of philosophical ideas in history. Regulation comes as a result of certain philosophical perspectives gaining sway. Namely, there was an era before German philosophy swept into America and gave rise to the Progressive movement (which, by all accounts, fought tirelessly for regulation.) I don't have enough time to go into how Kant, Hegel, Marx and others influenced American intellectuals, and influenced/led to the utilitarians and pragmatists, and how this led to the Progressive movement, but it did, and this is not even a controversial point.