4 ms·

> America is drowning in unnecessary regulations/taxes/red tape. You must be joking... - Unlike most OECD countries, the U.S. lets employers fire workers with

by belter 1y ago

> America is drowning in unnecessary regulations/taxes/red tape. You must be joking... - Unlike most OECD countries, the U.S. lets employers fire workers without “just cause” or severance. - The U.S. is the only OECD country with no national paid parental leave mandate. - There is no federal privacy law or something like GDPR - No nationwide rules or regulations on Payday lending caps with interest often >450% APR - Fines for U.S. workplace safety penalties are flat and modest - TSCA lets many chemical substances stay on the market, while for example in the EU, the REACH program requires precautionary testing and registration. - U.S. oil & gas flaring rules are a joke

yostrovs 1y ago
Just because some regulations that you would like to exist, but don't, doesn't mean there aren't regulations that exist, but shouldn't. I'm most US states you need a license to cut hair. I'm summer states you need a license to braid hair. These licenses are actually expensive and hard to obtain, keeping a lot of talented people from actually working in the field. I bet in China you can just cut someone's hair.
- legacynl 1y ago
  On the other hand, just because you can point to some regulations that exist, but you rather wouldn't, doesn't mean that regulation in itself is bad. 99% of cases, we started out without regulation, but then something bad happens what made us create the regulation. In china everybody might be able to cut hair, but also anybody is able to drill water wells, and cause massive sinkholes and subsidence all across china. In china you can pollute all you want, and the citizens just have to deal with warnings about toxic air outside on the weather forecast. Also I'm sure that if you were to ask an actual barber about that licensing they would be able to tell you plenty of good reasons for why that exists. It's not entirely impossible for a barber to screw up somebody's scalp when bleaching their hair for example.
  - yostrovs 1y ago
    I ask every new barber I use why the regulation. The answer is the same every time: "You don't want your ear cut off by accident". But I know why the regulation exists: it's to protect existing barbers from unlicensed competition.
    - legacynl 1y ago
      > But I know why the regulation exists: it's to protect existing barbers from unlicensed competition. Ah okay, so you ask them why, and if they don't give an answer you agree with, you conclude that you're right anyway and they secretly have an ulterior motive? What kind of answer would be able to change your mind?
      - yostrovs 1y ago
        The barbers I talk to weren't the ones who wrote the regulation. I'm just curious about their personal opinion.
  - thworp 1y ago
    The situation in China is actually even worse. There are environmental regulations, but enforcement is easily evaded through bribes or CCP connections. Every so often there is a disaster that forces the government to start a much-publicized campaign. A few of the worst or least connected offenders get punished and then it's back to business as usual. So really, if you're just anybody and start polluting, you'll quickly be stopped. Meanwhile the state-owned steel mill next door has been blasting out unfiltered coal exhaust for decades.
    - munksbeer 1y ago
      It is very difficult for us in the West to actually know truth from fiction when it comes to China. I don't mean offence, but how would the average person (me) in the West know if what you wrote above is true or not?
      - 1y ago

by belter 1y ago

yostrovs 1y ago

Just because some regulations that you would like to exist, but don't, doesn't mean there aren't regulations that exist, but shouldn't. I'm most US states you need a license to cut hair. I'm summer states you need a license to braid hair. These licenses are actually expensive and hard to obtain, keeping a lot of talented people from actually working in the field. I bet in China you can just cut someone's hair.

legacynl 1y ago
On the other hand, just because you can point to some regulations that exist, but you rather wouldn't, doesn't mean that regulation in itself is bad. 99% of cases, we started out without regulation, but then something bad happens what made us create the regulation. In china everybody might be able to cut hair, but also anybody is able to drill water wells, and cause massive sinkholes and subsidence all across china. In china you can pollute all you want, and the citizens just have to deal with warnings about toxic air outside on the weather forecast. Also I'm sure that if you were to ask an actual barber about that licensing they would be able to tell you plenty of good reasons for why that exists. It's not entirely impossible for a barber to screw up somebody's scalp when bleaching their hair for example.
- yostrovs 1y ago
  I ask every new barber I use why the regulation. The answer is the same every time: "You don't want your ear cut off by accident". But I know why the regulation exists: it's to protect existing barbers from unlicensed competition.
  - legacynl 1y ago
    > But I know why the regulation exists: it's to protect existing barbers from unlicensed competition. Ah okay, so you ask them why, and if they don't give an answer you agree with, you conclude that you're right anyway and they secretly have an ulterior motive? What kind of answer would be able to change your mind?
    - yostrovs 1y ago
      The barbers I talk to weren't the ones who wrote the regulation. I'm just curious about their personal opinion.
- thworp 1y ago
  The situation in China is actually even worse. There are environmental regulations, but enforcement is easily evaded through bribes or CCP connections. Every so often there is a disaster that forces the government to start a much-publicized campaign. A few of the worst or least connected offenders get punished and then it's back to business as usual. So really, if you're just anybody and start polluting, you'll quickly be stopped. Meanwhile the state-owned steel mill next door has been blasting out unfiltered coal exhaust for decades.
  - munksbeer 1y ago
    It is very difficult for us in the West to actually know truth from fiction when it comes to China. I don't mean offence, but how would the average person (me) in the West know if what you wrote above is true or not?
    - 1y ago