Regulation
I've been meaning to do something longer about regulation that weaves together the various prevailing theories over the last 60 (count 'em) 60 years starting from the New Deal. Such and impetous comes from reading Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead. Ms. Rand's philosophy "objectivism" is the guiding philosophy of one Alan Greenspan and is what, I think, led to his shameful endorsement of the large tax cut in 2001. More on all of that later, but I wanted to put this quote out there because I think it should be the founding principle of a new era of government regulation:

"It does not follow from the fact that regulations are imperfect that unregulated markets are perfect. The fact is, all human constructs, including markets, are imperfect in one way or another; perfection is beyond our reach. That is where fundamentalist beliefs, including market fundamentalism, are always wrong: They lay claim to ultimate truth."

- posted by levinson @ 9/05/2002 01:45:00 PM