From: demon@desire.wright.edu (Stupendous Man)
Newsgroups: alt.politics.clinton,talk.politics.misc,sci.econ
Subject: Re: Regulation/Deregulation
Date: 15 Oct 92 00:48:24 EST
Organization: Demonic Possesions, Inc.

In <1992Oct14.200307.12123@m5.harvard.edu>, borden@head-cfa.harvard.edu (Dave Borden) writes
...
>An interesting tidbit: I've heard that George McGovern did say that he wished
>he had run his hotel business before going into politics.  I don't know quite
>what he meant - it may have been what you said about state regulation.
>
>I have mixed feelings myself about such regulation - I feel basically that
>businesses should be free to do what they will, as long as it does not
>adversely affect the rights of others.  I include environmental protection
>among those rights of others, and hence approve of strict environmental
>regulations.  Everyone should have to clean up their own mess, or pay for it
>to be cleaned up.  Safety standards are also among those rights of others.

	There are other ways besides pre-emptive rules.  If businesses know
that they will be made to pay (either through lawsuits, government action,
etc.) and that consumers will be watching out for companies that pollute/have
unsafe conditions, then business will respond.  The problem with today's system
is we have agencies that are supposed to be watching, but aren't.  Agencies
that are supposed to be assessing damage but aren't.  Consumers that are
supposed to be aware, but are not.

>You do have to be careful about deregulating, in any case.  Reagan deregulation
>paved the way for the S&L crisis and for junk-bond driven corporate

	MMMM.  Carter began that deregulation.  And it was not deregulation
that was bad, but the half-deregulation.  If financial institutions had indeed
been fully deregulated we'd be ok.  Instead government said "take more risks"
but didn't say "but we're not going to cover you anymore".  An important
distinction.

>takeover/destruction warfare, which was not good for the economy at all, and
>probably is one of the reasons for the recession.  The father of a friend of

	The recession has one primary cause: higher taxes.

>mine does consulting for businesses, helping them design new programs and
>strategies to succeed in the market.  Mr. Henderson' philosophy in business
>is to use money to make things to make money.  He's pro-responsible business,
>but he considers the business tactics of the eighties irresponsible, in that
>they were using money just to make money, not using money to make things to
>make money.  A lot of individuals became very wealthy by creating mere paper
>wealth, which they passed along to others in the form of bankruptcies and
>unemployment.  Mr. Henderson blames the corporations for the inflicting huge
>damage on American business, and he holds Reagan and Bush responsible with
>them.  Mr. Henderson is a die-hard Republican, according to his son, but he's
>voting for Bill Clinton.

	Well Mr. Henderson is entitled to his opinion, but he offers no
evidence why the rest of us should believe in his powers of reasoning :).

	The "derailing" series, posted in alt.politics.clinton (again) offers
real numbers about the recession and the 80s.

>Sorry for digressing - but there is a central point here.  The point is that
>businesses do have certain responsibilities: safety and sound ecology are
>two.  I include another one, which is long-term security and productivity -
>keeping the business sound, for the security of the workers and the long-term
>good of the country.  Total deregulation allows greedy individuals to take
>all that they can get and screw everyone else.  Certain types of responsible
>deregulation would undoubtedly be healthy and even just.

	The market weeds out those who cannot compete over the long term. 
Regulation helps those uncompetative companies last a lot longer.
	Deregulation is a healthy dose of reality for business.

Brett                                                      
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