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In the USA, we believe we don't need regulations, the Free Market(tm) will punish corporations that don't behave in a way that benefits their customers! Insane

In the USA, we believe we don't need regulations, the Free Market(tm) will punish corporations that don't behave in a way that benefits their customers! Insane to me that so many people believe this...

op00to 2y ago
I’ll certainly never buy another Korean car.
- thfuran 2y ago
  And never an American one after the Pinto, and never a German one after the VW testing scam, and never a Japanese one after the recent safety scandal? I guess you can still get a Jaguar, so your mechanic won't complain.
  - worik 2y ago
    I drive a car made in the 1990s I was planning to upgrade it I might not...
    - thfuran 2y ago
      I had been planning to keep driving my car for quite some time, but recently it's developed a weird engine noise and a check engine light that nobody can resolve. I'm not sure I'll be able to give EV charging a few more years to sort itself out.
  - Dylan16807 2y ago
    VW didn't really affect the customers. How big of a difference was the actual safety of the Japanese cars? Are the corrected numbers poor, or still pretty good?
throw10920 2y ago
Citation needed for the claim any significant fraction of the US population believe that regulations are completely unnecessary. This runs directly contrary to my lived experience here, so unless you can provide evidence it sure seems like you're just stereotyping an entire nation to engage in ideological warfare.
- dsr_ 2y ago
  It doesn't need to be the population believing that regulations are completely unnecessary. It just needs to be a sufficient number of politicians understanding that their donors and prospective donors find specific regulation of their industry overbearing.
  - throw10920 2y ago
    That's absolutely true (and a very good point), but that's not what the GP was claiming.
- fearmerchant 2y ago
  Forty-nine states recklessly allow florists to sell flowers without a license. Only the good people of Louisiana are safe from dangers of unregulated flower purchases.
beerandt 2y ago
The problem isn't that we need better locks, but that we need locks at all. Within my lifetime we've gone from leaving the backdoor unlocked at night and leaving the car keys on the seat (or in the ignition) from being the normal practice to being unthinkable. You're focusing on the wrong govt policies.
- killdozer 2y ago
  Please, nobody ever left their doors unlocked all the time, if trust was _really_ that high there wouldn't have been locks at all.
  - Loughla 2y ago
    We did when I was a kid. Nobody locked their doors in my town. In fact multiple people just had blanks over the holes meant for deadbolts. Then the local powerplant shut down, and the manufacturing associated with it left as well. The largest employer in the area besides those two moved operations to China. Then methamphetamine became popular and then heroin, too. Now you can't leave anything unlocked or outside.
    - consteval 2y ago
      > We did when I was a kid. Nobody locked their doors in my town. In fact multiple people just had blanks over the holes meant for deadbolts. Yeah, because you guys had a warped perception of crime. Virtually all crime now is significantly lower than it was just 20 years ago. You might not believe that, but it's true! What's happening here is people's perceptions are being warped, almost certainly due to political propaganda. But the numbers don't lie, just take a look at the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
      - Loughla 2y ago
        I hear you, and nationally that is probably true. But locally it's just not. There genuinely wasn't crime here outside of drunk fights once a year at the local pool hall. Now there is genuine crime. Drugs and murder. I'm not saying you're wrong. I'm saying that your argument doesn't apply on the local scale. Using macro data for micro experience is a bad idea. This is also the reason that argument falls flat in a lot of places.

op00to 2y ago

I’ll certainly never buy another Korean car.

thfuran 2y ago
And never an American one after the Pinto, and never a German one after the VW testing scam, and never a Japanese one after the recent safety scandal? I guess you can still get a Jaguar, so your mechanic won't complain.
- worik 2y ago
  I drive a car made in the 1990s I was planning to upgrade it I might not...
  - thfuran 2y ago
    I had been planning to keep driving my car for quite some time, but recently it's developed a weird engine noise and a check engine light that nobody can resolve. I'm not sure I'll be able to give EV charging a few more years to sort itself out.
- Dylan16807 2y ago
  VW didn't really affect the customers. How big of a difference was the actual safety of the Japanese cars? Are the corrected numbers poor, or still pretty good?

throw10920 2y ago

Citation needed for the claim any significant fraction of the US population believe that regulations are completely unnecessary. This runs directly contrary to my lived experience here, so unless you can provide evidence it sure seems like you're just stereotyping an entire nation to engage in ideological warfare.

dsr_ 2y ago
It doesn't need to be the population believing that regulations are completely unnecessary. It just needs to be a sufficient number of politicians understanding that their donors and prospective donors find specific regulation of their industry overbearing.
- throw10920 2y ago
  That's absolutely true (and a very good point), but that's not what the GP was claiming.
fearmerchant 2y ago
Forty-nine states recklessly allow florists to sell flowers without a license. Only the good people of Louisiana are safe from dangers of unregulated flower purchases.

beerandt 2y ago

The problem isn't that we need better locks, but that we need locks at all. Within my lifetime we've gone from leaving the backdoor unlocked at night and leaving the car keys on the seat (or in the ignition) from being the normal practice to being unthinkable. You're focusing on the wrong govt policies.

killdozer 2y ago
Please, nobody ever left their doors unlocked all the time, if trust was _really_ that high there wouldn't have been locks at all.
- Loughla 2y ago
  We did when I was a kid. Nobody locked their doors in my town. In fact multiple people just had blanks over the holes meant for deadbolts. Then the local powerplant shut down, and the manufacturing associated with it left as well. The largest employer in the area besides those two moved operations to China. Then methamphetamine became popular and then heroin, too. Now you can't leave anything unlocked or outside.
  - consteval 2y ago
    > We did when I was a kid. Nobody locked their doors in my town. In fact multiple people just had blanks over the holes meant for deadbolts. Yeah, because you guys had a warped perception of crime. Virtually all crime now is significantly lower than it was just 20 years ago. You might not believe that, but it's true! What's happening here is people's perceptions are being warped, almost certainly due to political propaganda. But the numbers don't lie, just take a look at the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
    - Loughla 2y ago
      I hear you, and nationally that is probably true. But locally it's just not. There genuinely wasn't crime here outside of drunk fights once a year at the local pool hall. Now there is genuine crime. Drugs and murder. I'm not saying you're wrong. I'm saying that your argument doesn't apply on the local scale. Using macro data for micro experience is a bad idea. This is also the reason that argument falls flat in a lot of places.