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Plenty of people are dying from unsafe food, unsafe buildings and unsafe driving. Nobody can fix these problems because lobbyists are increasing the barrier to

by nilved 10y ago

Plenty of people are dying from unsafe food, unsafe buildings and unsafe driving. Nobody can fix these problems because lobbyists are increasing the barrier to entry under the guise of safety. After all, check out this thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12340694 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12340694

Retric 10y ago
The least safe new car in 2016 is vastly safer than the absolute best car produced in 1980. Remember, seat belts are a direct result of regulation mostly from US airforce testing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stapp https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stapp
- nilved 10y ago
  That doesn't matter unless you're arguing that it wouldn't have happened without a government and regulation. Most of the responsibilities of a government would be better handled and implemented by the private sector.
  - Retric 10y ago
    The first seat belt was invented over 20 years before air force testing, they went into common use directly because of studies on rapid deceleration and mandates for adoption. It's hard to credit that with any other cause. Consider, you might think break inspections would be completely unnecessary because who would drive a car without breaks. However, in states without annual inspections have accidents related to this. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_inspection_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_inspection_in_the_Unit...
  - m_mueller 10y ago
    You seem to think that markets can do absolutely anything. Asymmetric information, unpaid externalities and other economic hazards are a thing.
  - gnaritas 10y ago
    You are blinded by your ideology, it's making you ignorant to the truths that everyone else clearly sees.
paulajohnson 10y ago
In 1900 it was literally impossible to buy flour that did not contain significant amounts of chalk dust and other adulterants. In Hong Kong there are entire streets given over to baby formula shops because the Chinese from the mainland don't trust the stuff in their shops, with very good reason. Don't assume that just because things are not perfect that regulation hasn't made a huge positive difference.
- vivekd 10y ago
  >. In Hong Kong there are entire streets given over to baby formula shops because the Chinese from the mainland don't trust the stuff in their shops, with very good reason. But aren't Chinese shops much more heavily regulated than the ones in Hong Kong. I've always understood China as a very heavily regulated bureaucracy and Hong Kong as a bit more free market?
  - bolidecaster 10y ago
    It's heavily regulated on paper, not in reality.
Angostura 10y ago
> I'm not going to get into a debate over it, Would that be because you know you've just made an unsustainable statement. Regulation has prevented plenty of ills.
vtlynch 10y ago
>And yet, nobody can fix these problems because lobbyists are increasing the barrier to entry under the guise of safety. that's a shame. how could we fix this? perhaps... regulation against lobbyists?

by nilved 10y ago

Retric 10y ago

The least safe new car in 2016 is vastly safer than the absolute best car produced in 1980. Remember, seat belts are a direct result of regulation mostly from US airforce testing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stapp https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stapp

nilved 10y ago
That doesn't matter unless you're arguing that it wouldn't have happened without a government and regulation. Most of the responsibilities of a government would be better handled and implemented by the private sector.
- Retric 10y ago
  The first seat belt was invented over 20 years before air force testing, they went into common use directly because of studies on rapid deceleration and mandates for adoption. It's hard to credit that with any other cause. Consider, you might think break inspections would be completely unnecessary because who would drive a car without breaks. However, in states without annual inspections have accidents related to this. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_inspection_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_inspection_in_the_Unit...
- m_mueller 10y ago
  You seem to think that markets can do absolutely anything. Asymmetric information, unpaid externalities and other economic hazards are a thing.
- gnaritas 10y ago
  You are blinded by your ideology, it's making you ignorant to the truths that everyone else clearly sees.

paulajohnson 10y ago

In 1900 it was literally impossible to buy flour that did not contain significant amounts of chalk dust and other adulterants. In Hong Kong there are entire streets given over to baby formula shops because the Chinese from the mainland don't trust the stuff in their shops, with very good reason. Don't assume that just because things are not perfect that regulation hasn't made a huge positive difference.

vivekd 10y ago
>. In Hong Kong there are entire streets given over to baby formula shops because the Chinese from the mainland don't trust the stuff in their shops, with very good reason. But aren't Chinese shops much more heavily regulated than the ones in Hong Kong. I've always understood China as a very heavily regulated bureaucracy and Hong Kong as a bit more free market?
- bolidecaster 10y ago
  It's heavily regulated on paper, not in reality.

Angostura 10y ago

> I'm not going to get into a debate over it, Would that be because you know you've just made an unsustainable statement. Regulation has prevented plenty of ills.

vtlynch 10y ago

>And yet, nobody can fix these problems because lobbyists are increasing the barrier to entry under the guise of safety. that's a shame. how could we fix this? perhaps... regulation against lobbyists?