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This oversimplified "regulation is bad" idea is pushed by a lot of think tanks (e.g. CATO, americans for prosperity, freedomworks, heritage foundation) set up b

This oversimplified "regulation is bad" idea is pushed by a lot of think tanks (e.g. CATO, americans for prosperity, freedomworks, heritage foundation) set up by the Koch brothers. They have close links with the media, which is why these weirdly specific views get parroted a lot. If you've ever read a story about the evils of hairdresser licensing (for instance), it's from them. They have been on a crusade against regulation since a lot of their fights with the environmental protection agency.

rayiner 7y ago
You make it seem like some weird fringe view funded by a handful of people. To the contrary, it’s been the dominant mode of public policy since the 1980s across the whole western world. Reagan, Clinton, Thatcher, Howard, Harper, etc. Even Trudeau and Macron, who are ostensibly left-leaning, are doubling down on privatization and deregulation: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/true-north/2016/nov/22/justin-trudeaus-giant-corporate-giveaway; https://www.theguardian.com/environment/true-north/2016/nov/... https://fee.org/articles/emmanuel-macron-is-surprisingly-pro-market-for-a-socialist-sometimes/ https://fee.org/articles/emmanuel-macron-is-surprisingly-pro... The top 10 countries in the Koch-funded Heritage Foundation economic freedom index doesn’t even include the US: https://www.heritage.org/index https://www.heritage.org/index. (It does however include the entire rest of the Anglosphere.)
- entropea 7y ago
  >who are ostensibly left-leaning They absolutely are not. They're capitalists, neoliberals, in all senses. There are no left wing economic policies being created anywhere in the western world right now.
  - tptacek 7y ago
    They would have to be, because they favor deregulation. You can't define your way out of an argument. If "everyone in the western world" operates this way, you're making his point for him.
OCASM 7y ago
Does that make them wrong?
equalunique 7y ago
It's also pushed by genuine people. Read Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal by Joel Salatin.
tryptophan 7y ago
This oversimplified "regulation is good" idea is pushed by a lot of think tanks (e.g. Brookings, center for american progress, The Commonwealth Institute) set up by the Soros and Clintons. They have close links with the media, which is why these weirdly specific views get parroted a lot. If you've ever read a story about the evils of low taxes (for instance), it's from them. They have been on a crusade for regulation since a lot of their fights with the environmental protection agency. | Great comments. Lets keep this up! (This comment is intended to show that simply pointing out that a group advocates for something doesn't make it wrong and dismissable because of that.)
- pytester 7y ago
  >This oversimplified "regulation is good" idea is pushed by a lot of think tanks (e.g. Brookings, center for american progress, The Commonwealth Institute) set up by the Soros and Clintons. It's not though. They make a case for certain kinds of regulation and they don't try to tell a "all regulation is good" story.
concordDance 7y ago
It's also pushed by people who just observe how many things are legislated, read a bit of history (monopolies granted by kings, guilds stamping out competition via force, etc) and how cost disease has gotten so much worse.

rayiner 7y ago

You make it seem like some weird fringe view funded by a handful of people. To the contrary, it’s been the dominant mode of public policy since the 1980s across the whole western world. Reagan, Clinton, Thatcher, Howard, Harper, etc. Even Trudeau and Macron, who are ostensibly left-leaning, are doubling down on privatization and deregulation: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/true-north/2016/nov/22/justin-trudeaus-giant-corporate-giveaway; https://www.theguardian.com/environment/true-north/2016/nov/... https://fee.org/articles/emmanuel-macron-is-surprisingly-pro-market-for-a-socialist-sometimes/ https://fee.org/articles/emmanuel-macron-is-surprisingly-pro... The top 10 countries in the Koch-funded Heritage Foundation economic freedom index doesn’t even include the US: https://www.heritage.org/index https://www.heritage.org/index. (It does however include the entire rest of the Anglosphere.)

entropea 7y ago
>who are ostensibly left-leaning They absolutely are not. They're capitalists, neoliberals, in all senses. There are no left wing economic policies being created anywhere in the western world right now.
- tptacek 7y ago
  They would have to be, because they favor deregulation. You can't define your way out of an argument. If "everyone in the western world" operates this way, you're making his point for him.

OCASM 7y ago

Does that make them wrong?

equalunique 7y ago

It's also pushed by genuine people. Read Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal by Joel Salatin.

tryptophan 7y ago

This oversimplified "regulation is good" idea is pushed by a lot of think tanks (e.g. Brookings, center for american progress, The Commonwealth Institute) set up by the Soros and Clintons. They have close links with the media, which is why these weirdly specific views get parroted a lot. If you've ever read a story about the evils of low taxes (for instance), it's from them. They have been on a crusade for regulation since a lot of their fights with the environmental protection agency. | Great comments. Lets keep this up! (This comment is intended to show that simply pointing out that a group advocates for something doesn't make it wrong and dismissable because of that.)

pytester 7y ago
>This oversimplified "regulation is good" idea is pushed by a lot of think tanks (e.g. Brookings, center for american progress, The Commonwealth Institute) set up by the Soros and Clintons. It's not though. They make a case for certain kinds of regulation and they don't try to tell a "all regulation is good" story.

concordDance 7y ago

It's also pushed by people who just observe how many things are legislated, read a bit of history (monopolies granted by kings, guilds stamping out competition via force, etc) and how cost disease has gotten so much worse.