Idk - you can say that we're in a state of "anti-regulation" but I don't think that it's any worse than it has been for awhile. It basically amounts to who's lo

Idk - you can say that we're in a state of "anti-regulation" but I don't think that it's any worse than it has been for awhile. It basically amounts to who's looking out for who for regulation. Republicans are generally more about removing regulation (which can also be considered "smart regulation"), and Democrats less so, but the overall trend has been toward increasing regulation. It's very difficult to get rid of regulations once they are in place. One man/women's "smart regulation" is another man/woman's "overregulation/deregulation". For example, people say that regulating the coal industry should be done, and is common sense. I largely agree, but they say that without taking into account society's responsibility to provide for these people if we're going to essentially ban them from their jobs. If you spent 30 years working in the coal industry, you've built up expertise in that industry and regulation effectively destroys your ability to leverage that expertise to make a livelihood. We can say "oh they should retrain/relocate" but to me that's just abdicating responsibility for decisions. If we're going to do something that benefits society as a whole, we need to make sure that we're minimizing the harmful impact that will have on others. In other words, regulations can be very bad depending on who you are. Another example from a recent Planet Money podcast rerun. Because of state regulations she wasn't permitted to perform braiding hair in African style for profit unless she went to school for it. Businesses successfully had lobbied to create regulations that protected their interest. Fortunately (as far as I'm concerned) these laws were repealed. BUT at the same time, this regulation (let's say the whole thing was repealed) would have made the barrier to entry into that industry, as well as the time/money spent going to cosmetology school virtually worthless. Regulations are hard. It's incredibly difficult to get them right.