Do We REALLY Need Government Regulation?

I don't think so. Yes, we do need government for some things; such as building and maintaining highways and police and fire service. But do we need it to regulate business? Probably not. We know government regulators are quite lax when it comes to regulating airlines, but flying has never been safer. I think their message is that airlines "put profit before safety." But how much profit does an airline make from an air crash resulting in the death or serious injury of hundreds of people, each of which will sue them for "big bucks?" Seems like they'd make more profit from safe flights. But that's not the message the government sends you. And why is that? They want YOUR MONEY to use in "regulating" the airline, even though they don't. They only "go through the motions" and make loud noises after a crash that is sometimes CAUSED by their indifference to safety problems. Then they blithely blame it on the airlines "putting profits before safety." Baloney! Their basic message is: "profit is a dirty word." That's what they preach, everywhere, all the time (not just about airline safety), all the time making a LOT of "profit" themselves by taxing airlines, "to pay for the regulating, of course." But little of that money goes into really regulating the airlines. Most of it goes into other things they do to buy votes. We never know where all that tax money goes, and anytime there is a crash, private enterprise (the airlines) gets the blame. When someone comes up who says it's the fault of the government, they "poo-poo" them. Such is the "conceit" of federal regulators. "The latest 'crisis' was launched when the FAA fined Southwest Airlines, which has an excellent safety record, $10.2 million for missing inspection deadlines. When Rep. Oberstar criticized the FAA for being too close to the airlines, the agency sprung into overreaction. An industry-wide ‘audit’ commenced, and FAA inspectors set about finding something -- anything -- to show Mr. Oberstar and other Congressional overseers that the agency was up to the job of enforcing federal maintenance requirements to the letter,' said The Wall Street Journal." What they fail to understand is this: "Fortunately, the market, and in some cases the liability system, provide sufficient incentives for firms to behave in a socially beneficial manner.” What they're saying is, it’s not profitable to have air crashes with the loss of millions of dollars' worth or aircraft and millions of dollars they have to pay the injured and the survivors of the dead. So profit works both ways. That's what they don't want you to know.[Emphasis mine. -RT] (John Stossel/The Atlasphere)