Do We Need Government Regulation?

Can you imagine if the government didn’t ensure that milk was fresh?  Or eggs?

What if there were no safety standards for cars?  Or houses?

Can you imagine what the world would be like if we didn’t have the government looking out for us?

Well, it just might be better.

The cost of regulation isn’t zero; we pay out a ton of money for these regulating bodies.  Further, when they make mistakes, we lose out either because the product turned out not to be safe or, because some inventor didn’t even bother to bring his widget to market.

But anyway.  Do we need regulation?  Do we need the government involved in a purchase at the grocery store?  For example, when someone wants to sell milk, they have to meet a minimum set of government regulations.  Before it hits the shelf, that gallon of milk is required to pass government inspection.

It shouldn’t have to.

We should be able to regulate our own selves.  And that responsibility, combined with already in place fraud legislation, should be enough to keep milk producers and grocers from selling us tainted milk.

And if it didn’t, the market would generate the regulating body to make sure that our milk was pure.

For example, take consumer products.  Anything.  Let’s take … the new iPhone for example.

It’s a bust:

The iPhone 4 is here, in our immaculately manicured hands, and here’s the first thing we noticed: the aerial, so cleverly forged into the frame, loses several bars of signal when you hold it in your hands. This seems like something of a flaw, to say the least.

And do you know what Apple did to fix the problem?

Apple will give all iPhone 4 owners free bumper cases that will prevent reception problems plaguing the new smartphone, Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs said today. The offer is good until September 30.

Customers who have already bought a bumper — a plastic cover that prevents human contact from disrupting the antenna signal — will qualify for a refund.

And the results of that fix?

(CBS) Consumer Reports said Apple’s offer of free cases for the iPhone4 to alleviate reception problems are “a good first step” towards identifying and finding a solution for reported signal-loss problems with the new phone.

But the magazine is still not recommending the latest iPhone

“Apple has indicated that this is not a long-term solution, it has guaranteed the offer only through September 30th, and has not extended it unequivocally to customers who bought cases from third-party vendors,” the magazine noted in a statement posted on its website Friday.

“We look forward to a long-term fix from Apple. As things currently stand, the iPhone 4 is still not one of our Recommended models,” Consumer Reports said.

THAT is huge.  Apple knows it has issues and can’t afford to have Consumer Reports reporting bad press like this.  They’ll fix their phone and make it better than ever before.  All without the slightest government involvement.

And government?  How do they do?  Consider OSHA and workplace fatalities.  Check this out from John Stossel:

Not one single indication that the entire mess that is OSHA has done anything to change the trend.

Government regulation…who needs it?

Not me.

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