Had Enough Government 'Regulation' Yet?

[mick silver]

http://strike-the-root.com/had-enough-government-regulation-yet

[Phoenix]

"We don't want to get electrocuted when we touch a toaster or vacuum cleaner, for example, and the makers of electrical devices (and their insurance companies) know that killing customers would be bad business, so – in this case – early in the industry's life, a young electrical engineer founded Underwriter Laboratories, a non-profit safety and testing firm."

This is a myth, as is shown by the fiasco of the Ford Pinto, and Lee Iacocca's preference to let customers die or be maimed, than proactively fix the problem.

"Self-regulation" is the proverbial "fox guarding the hen house." Both "industry regulation" and government regulation are subject to bribes and other corruption. The problem is not government regulation, but corrupt people running government. UL rating is not merely a "product" offered by the industry; in many cases, it's required by law, which makes this "free market" solution a fraud, since it wouldn't have survived solely on consumer confidence.

[K_Flynn]

"We don't want to get electrocuted when we touch a toaster or vacuum cleaner, for example, and the makers of electrical devices (and their insurance companies) know that killing customers would be bad business, so – in this case – early in the industry's life, a young electrical engineer founded Underwriter Laboratories, a non-profit safety and testing firm."

This is a myth, as is shown by the fiasco of the Ford Pinto, and Lee Iacocca's preference to let customers die or be maimed, than proactively fix the problem.

"Self-regulation" is the proverbial "fox guarding the hen house." Both "industry regulation" and government regulation are subject to bribes and other corruption. The problem is not government regulation, but corrupt people running government. UL rating is not merely a "product" offered by the industry; in many cases, it's required by law, which makes this "free market" solution a fraud, since it wouldn't have survived solely on consumer confidence.


UL is not industry self-regulation, it is an independent test lab. The important thing is that you have the choice of using them, or not using them. Doing it any other way results in government bureaucracy reducing your choices by force. caveat emptor and take responsibility for your own choices.