February 19, 2012

Risk versus reward in America

London's Economist has a story about regulation in America. It says we're being suffocated by excessive and badly-written regulations. A sample:

A Florida law requires that vending-machine labels urge the public to file a report if the label is not there.

The Federal Railroad Administration insists that all trains must be painted with an “F” at the front, so you can tell which end is which.

Bureaucrats in Bethesda, Maryland, have shut down children’s lemonade stands because the kids didn't have a city license. The list goes hilariously on.

But of course, it's not hilarious. It's horrifying.

The Founders wouldn't recognize this country. We've come so far from their original concept that it would probably save time to eliminate the entire government, all agencies and bureaus, all laws and regulations, and start over.

Richard Fernandez notes that under our current system it's far more profitable to be a shakedown artist than to be an entrepreneur. Inventing some scam like Global Warming and inducing your friends in government to adopt a scheme that will pay you to sell "carbon credits" pays far better than, say, drilling for oil.

Moreover, if you run a scam, you can't get sued, whereas if you run a business you're the target of every scam-artist and bureaucrat in the country.

Can anyone of you be surprised that today virtually no highschool kid wants to go into business, but instead wants to head to Hollywood or be a politician?

Do you see that the problem is mainly that by allowing politicians to alter the rules governing risk, reward and hassle, we've allowed them to make business relatively unattractive to kids? Accordingly, how can anyone pretend to be surprised that the kids detect the changed reward scale and choose accordingly?

Bureaucrats, liberals, big-government pols and their helpers in the media have killed this country as surely as a gunshot.

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