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1. 

   Bubba_Boo said, 4 months ago

   Too True.

2. 

   furnituremaker said, 4 months ago

   How come colleges now teach “ethics” courses? I thought that was a parent’s job. That is the reason that businesses need to be regulated…non-ethical behavior.

3. 

   dwyant said, 4 months ago

   The free-market system is self regulating to the point of a business becoming a monopoly. Then, and only then, should government get involved, since they cannot regulate anything (themselves as a start).

4. 

   Gary Kleppe said, 4 months ago

   I see, so it’s fine if businesses are poisoning our peanut butter, as long as there are more than one of them doing it. Brilliant!

5. 

   parkersinthehouse said, 4 months ago

   luvya Prof. Kleppe

6. 

   jabo said, 4 months ago

   Not enough jelly!

7. 

   Gladius said, 4 months ago

   The biggest enemy of capitalism is a successful capitalist. This is why free market economics has such a bad name. It has been hijacked by people who want a return to laissez faire capitalism. This hijacking has been welcomed by the opposite side to the detriment of the free market centrists who understand the need for regulation.

8. 

   Gary Kleppe said, 4 months ago

   Glad: Who are you considering to be the opposite side?

9. 

   Gladius said, 4 months ago

   Sorry, opposite side is a bit misleading. Opposers of free market ideas are not confined to one political party or specifically left or right wing. Opposition appears in both nationalistic protectionists and social welfare proponents. Anti- globalization advocates hate it. Part of the problem is that it has never been truly attempted. So called free trade treaties have so many exceptions that you could sail an aircraft carrier through them. NAFTA is a good example. Ask our Canadian friends here whether Canadian goods sail through to the U.S. Mexican trucks are prevented from U.S. access through contrived saftey policies.(and other regulatory measures.) A full explanation would cause me to commit the great sin of lengthy ranting on the board. If you are interested in the concept of free trade, look for yourself and draw your own conclusions. At the end, you certainly don’t have to agree with me. My real beef is with a continued belief that Free Trade is nothing more than old style capitalism from the Gilded Age.

10. 

    oldlegodad said, 4 months ago

    RERUN IDIOTS!!

11. 

    David said, 4 months ago

    Yes, but some want the government to regulate business. Different poison, just as deadly. Government has clearly demonstrated that it cannot regulate itself to save its own life. Now we want them to regulate businesses. If you can’t manage your own affairs you certainly can’t manage someone else’s.

    Better yet, the regulators are being paid by the regulated by proxy (lobbyists). So we think MORE of this is going to solve the problem?

    Is that how some Americans think things work? If a gallon of spoiled milk is not drinkable does it make sense to add another gallon of the same spoiled milk?

12. 

    Gladius said, 4 months ago

    Analogies are always suspect and yes, regulation can work. It requires transparency and a public that is willing to hold the government accountable.

13. 

    dtroutma said, 4 months ago

    The real fact is that FDA was reduced in staff and pulled off under Bush and companies “inspected” themselves. Contamination cases increased, and safety was ignored for a little increased profit, and that’s a fact. That may be turning around based on yesterday’s announcements.

14. 

    Gladius said, 4 months ago

    It’ll only work if Congress will finally fund the FDA properly. Announcements are the equivalent of “the checks in the mail.” I’ve been fulminating over that long before I started posting here.

15. 

    M Kitt said, 4 months ago

    Agreed DT, regulation has become a joke, particularly for U.S. investment markets.

    Discarding Glass-Steagall, derivatives that are unregulated by design, fixing of energy market prices by speculation and control of availability, predatory loan marketing, these are all symptoms of ineffective or near complete lack of oversight/regulation, disaster capitalism where carrion eaters pick over what’s left after the current market bubble collapse and CEOs walk away with plush retirement packages.

    Looked at from another direction, these problems could all have been prevented if enough concern and attention had been applied in advance since they’re all well known from a historical perspective, comparable to failing to replace or repair a levy before the inevitable storm hits coastal areas prone to flood damage, stupid and disastrous given enough time.

    Instead of watching for these conditions everyone was busy filling their accounts using deceptive practices to gain dishonest $.

    Removal of the regulations that were put in place after the first (most extreme) market crash tied to the great depression in order to yield short term profits was not only stupid, it will hobble and intrude on our current recovery as we try to prevent threatening bankruptcy of the U.S. economy. Meanwhile we tolerate sacking of the treasury by the same wall street speculators that caused the crash, a financial Katrina brought to us courtesy of the investment firms (Goldman Sachs was also prominently involved in the 20s-30s crash).

    I say we throw the wall street profiteers out on their collective a$$.

16. 

    M Henri Day said, 3 months ago

    The task of regulating the market is precisely that of the government, dwyant, while the tak kof regulating the government rests with the citizens. As it says in the US Declaration of Independence,

    «… whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it …»

    Given that, with few exceptions, the US government has been of, by, and for the rich since the end of the 19th century, it might not be a bad idea to break out those pitchforks….

    Henri