We all want safe products. Regulating products is a bit like the war on drugs. Drugs are bad, so you criminalize it. Seems logical, right? In reality, we have m

We all want safe products. Regulating products is a bit like the war on drugs. Drugs are bad, so you criminalize it. Seems logical, right? In reality, we have many case studies where this has actually worsened the situation, as it pushes the drugs into the underworld. This is how regulation can be counter-intuitive. I'm so cynical and passionate about this overregulation because I've had to deal with it myself in aviation and medical. When you read the regulations, everything makes sense. It basically says: "reduce risk". In reality, companies spend (in my experience) insane amounts of resources on paperwork to prove they are safe, which is completely detached from reality. It's a paper excercise. It's bureaucratic bloat that slipped in over the years. It seems to make sense at the surface, but actually is counterproductive. Why? Any sane business wants to minimize risks at all costs. Those who don't, will at best get a terrible reputation. There should be regulation of course, just no overregulation. It's like bloated code. There should be code of couse, just no needless abstractions as it just drags everything down. It's just that I'm seeing a pattern where we are cynical towards other countries and are simply too self-congratulating with our own regulatory situation. As a continent/union we're showing signs being a bad sport. Instead of saying how bad everybody else is, why not make good stuff ourselves instead? We can't compete because our energy is insanely expensive. Zoning and compliance get in the way of business. Lack of raw resource acquisition (we have to import raw materials). High taxes. Labour shortages, overly strong unions. All the ugly things we'd rather not talk about, the "boring" problems that have to be adresses one by one. We're inefficient and cannot compete on many things globally and have to rely on imports. That inefficiency needs to be adressed!