5 ms·
That's a nice straw man you're arguing against. Lobbying for less regulation, lower taxes and free markets is one position. Lobbying for increased oversight of
by skorgu 17y ago
That's a nice straw man you're arguing against.
Lobbying for less regulation, lower taxes and free markets is one position. Lobbying for increased oversight of potentially damaging behavior, increased transparency in industry, reduced rent seeking and universal standards of safety is another. The right mix is somewhere in between the two extremes of course and each side can point to massive failures of the other's philosophy.
Implicitly framing one side as "people who don't like profits or jobs" is distasteful and frankly surprising to see here.
- CWuestefeld 17y agoLobbying for free markets necessarily implies eliminating rent seeking. You'll not that the only way that rent seeking is possible is when the government gets its claws into the industry. Government regulation becomes the tool of those it claims to watch. It happens every time: well-meaning regulators get subverted toward the ends of business lobbyists. Is there any reason to believe that something will suddenly turn this around so that the government is never suberted?
- skorgu 17y agoI'm not sure that rent seeking requires gov't intervention, I suspect there are instances of monopoly- or oligarchy-driven rent-seeking behavior but I don't have the desire right now to do a comprehensive search. Fundamentally I don't disagree, and I think my comment is pretty clear. I'm not making a specific argument on where the balance of regulation ought to exist. I take issue only with the framing of the debate in terms that make it impossible to hold a conversation. No offense is meant towards anyone, I'd just prefer to keep the discussion at a bit more civil tone. We already have a reddit. Edit: nuked two paras that didn't come out right.
- CWuestefeld 17y agoI concede the finer point. It's probably true that rent seeking can be accomplished with the intervention of government as such. I maintain that, because government is so accessible and because they carry such a big stick, the vast, vast portion of rent seeking is accomplished by subverting government regulation. That said, I'm up-voting your reply because it is a relevant argument. I just watched a TED video with Paul Romer where he talked about the effect of societal rules on development: not just governmental laws, but broader societal norms that might prevent progress.
- skorgu 17y agoI concur entirely, it's a risky bargain especially considering the temptation to fight rent-seeking with more regulation with the attendant second- and third-order effects. Well said.