From: laird@think.com (Laird Popkin)
Newsgroups: alt.politics.democrats.d,alt.politics.bush,talk.politics.misc,alt.politics.clinton
Subject: Re: Bush is a mother fucker
Date: 12 Oct 1992 20:16:03 GMT
Organization: Thinking Machines Corporation, Cambridge MA, USA
NNTP-Posting-Host: django.think.com

In article <NELSON.92Oct11214326@cheetah.clarkson.edu> nelson@sun.soe.clarkson.edu (Russ Nelson) writes:
>In article <RLK.92Oct11002624@underprize.think.com> rlk@underprize.think.com (Robert Krawitz) writes:
>
>   In article <NELSON.92Oct10233432@cheetah.clarkson.edu> nelson@sun.soe.clarkson.edu (Russ Nelson) writes:
>
>         cea1@Ra.MsState.Edu (Carolyn E. Adams-Price) writes:
>
>         And....to all of you who think the problem with the US is
>         business regulation, I say, I hope you drown in the pollution
>         or are hurt by an end to safety standards that an end to business
>         regulation would cause!!!!!

Something was pointed out to me a few weeks ago on this issue that
surprised me, and I think you guys ight find this point interesting:

What are the strongest economies right now?  Germany and Japan.

Businesses are more regulated and more highly taxed in those countries than
in the US.

That means that if there's something keeping american businesses from being
competitive, it's *not* regulation or the way they are taxed.  (not that
dealing with regulations or taxes is any fun, mind you) -- so all of the
speeches by some unsuccessful businessmen about regulation and taxation are
simply an attempt to make more money by reducing their costs without their
having to do any real work.  German and Japanese companies succeed, not by
(in the main) manipulating the government and whining about taxes and
regulations, but by producing better products more efficiently.  All while
providing their workers safer working conditions and higher wages, and in
an environment which is more regulated and has higher taxes, which
(according to whining american companies) should have them at a
disadvantage.  On the flip side, look at the former-USSR, with no health
and safety regulations at all, and no taxes on business income.  :)

IMHO, there's nothing inherently bad about regulations -- they're simply
the laws governing how things are done.  In the US, there are certain
standards of decency in how a company can treat its workers, and (being a
worker) that doesn't strike me as a bad thing, since it's been demonstrated
that without such standards companies (1) won't install safety equipment,
and (2) won't know what to install even if they do want to keep their
workers safe.  Most businessmen that I've talked to on this issue (when it
comes up in conversation) don't object to regulatons in general, because
the regulations spell out clearly what is expected of businesses, and
protect the businesses if they follow the regulations.  That's not to say
that they won't complain about some specific regulation that they think is
a waste of time and money.  But the only businessmen that I've heard
complaining about "regulation" are those that are badly run and thus are
failing, looking for an excuse.  It's easier to blame "regulation" than to
admit that you run an inefficient company, or produce something that people
don't want...
-- 
- Laird Popkin, Thinking Machines

Connection Machine: Massively parallel supercomputer.  Also a cool black
cube with more blinking lights than you can shake a stick at.
Newsgroups: alt.politics.democrats.d,alt.politics.bush,talk.politics.misc,alt.politics.clinton