From: Corey Edwards <[email protected]> > Here's the crux of where we disagree. Government regulation > is quiteoften necessary and very beneficial. Can it be > abused? Sure. That does not mean that the principle is > invalid and that we should toss out the baby with the > bathwater. I for one do appreciate that my meat is inspected, > gas pumps are tested for accuracy and schools have minimum > standards of education. These are things where incentives > exist for people to game the system and by regulating them > we are all better off, even if the USDA or Department of > Education are imperfect.
After reading "Everything I Want to Do is Illegal", I have a *lot* less faith in government inspection. It took me a couple of months before I could comfortably eat USDA Inspected beef again, without wanting to throw up. It's nice to think that government inspection of everything could make this a better place. But in many cases, it's just Yet Another Burden. ____________________________________________________________ Penny Stock Jumping 2000% Sign up to the #1 voted penny stock newsletter for free today! http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL3131/4bc4b195509e526c698st05vuc
Steven Alligood wrote: > Government regulation, in general, is bad and looses a little more of > our freedoms each and every time it happens. It eliminates the benefits > of the free market, and costs more money to do so. Here's the crux of where we disagree. Government regulation is quite often necessary and very beneficial. Can it be abused? Sure. That does not mean that the principle is invalid and that we should toss out the baby with the bathwater. I for one do appreciate that my meat is inspected, gas pumps are tested for accuracy and schools have minimum standards of education. These are things where incentives exist for people to game the system and by regulating them we are all better off, even if the USDA or Department of Education are imperfect. The question then becomes, is the Internet something that needs to be managed or is the market capable of taking care of itself. For the most part yeah it does work OK, but we're seeing a trend away from the traditionally open nature of the Internet and I personally see value in creating incentives to correct that. Note that I didn't say regulation, necessarily. If that's what it takes, that's what it takes. But a government-run Internet monopoly isn't our only option. Corey
signature.asc
Description: OpenPGP digital signature
/* PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug Don't fear the penguin. */
