The potential implications could be quite serious as entrepreneurs second-guess every advance they make and wonder whether this will cause a pack of government lawyers to descend upon them. But Dr. Friedman is somewhat more optimistic than this. There are costs, but in his view, the ingenuities of the private sector will limit the damage that government can do. I think that the main harm which will be done, will be the waste of resources that could otherwise be used productively. But you won't prevent competition, you won't prevent further advance, you'll slow it down.
Steel is another good example.
One of those infant industries was steel. It's a dramatic example of why you'd better not get started along this line, because once you do, you get enmeshed. That's the great mistake that Silicon Valley has made, because they called government in on themselves. You shouldn't have to waste ingenuity in getting around government regulations. That ingenuity should go to improving products.