Quote:
Originally Posted by alan
Energy
Insurance
Finance/Banking
Healthcare
In no particular order, the above 4 things are the most highly regulated industries in the US.
Why is it that those 4 things are also the most fuc**d up industries that the common person has to deal with?
Why is it that some continue to call for more regulation of those industries? Do they not see the government track record thus far when imposing those regulations?
I'm not seeing the value.
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. ~ Albert Einstein
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Banking/finance were unregulated in the twenties (maybe beyond- don't know). After the GD began regulation was instituted. That stood us in good stead until the late 70s /early 80's when the Gramm bill took down much protection. The results we have seen in Texas later in that decade and more recently with our nation wide down turn.
I don't know if the Dodd bill goes far enough. I haven't read it.
Teddy Roosevelt of course started the regulation of meat packers and other food production/distribution after reading Upton Sinclair's book The Jungle. Instead of concentrating on the socialist themes of the book the great President was sickened by a page/page and a half of a caricature/mixture of the dangers of that industry.
I truly don't know when the health laws began to be watered down but enough inspectors were not hired to keep up with our growing population and their authority was diminished.
The word regulation indicates a restriction of safety infractions. In modern times the word is kind of empty. You can ask any one who used to work factories or food processing before the 80s and also observed the same businesses afterwards. The quality of work and safety /cleanliness have dropped sharply. The salmonella and e-coli are extreme and evident results. We have no idea how many infractions of simple safety and cleanliness rules we use as a matter of course in our own kitchens are committed on a routine basis.