Ya know...I keep hearing the rightees constantly talk about deregulation. It will Free business from the shackles of govt meddling and let people get rich as they want. I can kinda respect not tying businesses hands with unnecessary red tape. But being in HS in the late 80s , I just remember all the deregulation fiascos.

Airlines- How healthy are they now?
Banks- Saving and loan debacle in the 80s, Big commerical banks now
Energy- Enron
Phones- I think that one did work but only after MA-bell got broken up
TV/Cable- more channels less choices on who ya get

Maybe I missed something? any ideas? Maybe I'm full of [censored]....Could be.

Deregulation would be great if greed, deception, and avarice weren't common human conditions, especially when it is practiced by those who have no economic need to be greed, and employed against those who can least afford it...

The "free market" is a misnomer already...it doesn't exist. The "market" wouldn't exist at all without being created and operated by the government...and since they create the context in which this so-called "free" market lives, they should control the greedy bastards who will use it to screw the other 99.8% of us.

Fish on...

Todd

You missed something.........stuffing your head in your ass and pretending that Laissez Faire policies are where it's at.

It started with Reagan, continued with Bush 1 and Clinton, then during Bush 2 the hen came home to roost and was completely ignored ( in fact Phil Gramm kept singing the praises of deregulation of the banking industry which led to the CDS catastrophe), and now we're seeing the results of decades of deregulation.

Nice work, you donkeys.

When the unemployment numbers come out next month, anyone still singing the praises of deregulation should be immediately shot.

Wasn't Phil Gramm key to gutting the Glass-steagal act and then went to work for UBS a few years after?

Yes.

And somehow, he hasn't been drawn and quartered for it.

just a old turd...

Airlines--Can you say Braniff?
Banks--1929 all over again. There was a reason Roosevelt put a stop to Investing on Margin (getting a loan for money to invest.)
Energy-Enron, yes, Haliburton, Exxon, Chevron too....
Phones--Thanks to Deregulation and disregard to the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, AT&T is one merger away from becoming MaBell again.
TV/Cable--You have a choice: Comcast or Dish. Both suck.

For some reason our national utilities are privately owned. If anything in this world should be nationalized, it's the Utilities and industries such as transportation and the businesses that keep them running.

I agree with what Todd said, kind of.

Greed gets in the way of good intentions....


....and you know which road is paved with good intentions, don't you?

There does need to be some sort of a free market society, because otherwise you run into manufactured shortgages, like the gas crisis in the 1970's.

Unfortunately, nobody has figured out the correct formula to allow for moderate growth and investment in business. Economics is a tightrope we walk. Gotta keep all of those balls in the air.

The problem with most laws is that they are written by the lobbiests.

And WHAT allows lobbyists to have so much influence over legislation?

DEREGULATION!

All the cash and gifts there putting in the pockets of our corrupt congressman.

thank you

What would STOP lobbyists from putting cash and gifts into the pockets of corrupt legislators JoJo?

REGULATION perhaps?

I think we need less regulation, and we should all collectively ask them to not be greedy and continue to screw us...if we ask nicely, I bet they'll stop.

Fish on...

Todd

P.S. There seem to be a lot of folks who actually believe this will work. I'm not one of 'em.

And don't forget about "think tanks" - people who directly influence members of congress, the senate, and oval office, yet neither you nor I ever VOTED for any of these people. They hijack government policy in effect (and offer jobs to former gov't employees, etc, etc, etc....) and they can't be touched.

It's gonna take some bloodletting to get these folks to stop. Like in 'The Godfather' it's "time to go to the mattresses."

It we can ask Iran nicely to not produce a N bomb and expect that to work why woudn't it work with lobbyists?

What does Iran have to do with deregulation?

Fish on...

Todd

Its a balancing act at best. Regulaation can be just as corrupt as deregulation. Just depends on what you want. Regulations are what help the big oil companies to create monopolies. Deregulation helps them manipulate those monopolies. Deregulation and regulation are just phrases and not the problem or solution, the problem is corruption. Allow the free market to fill demand and use regulation to make sure no one is hurt as a result. What we have been seeing is the use of regulations to limit the free market and deregulation to allow those in control of the market to harm at will. Oil is the perfect storm. Use regulations to make it impossible for new competition form and then use deregulation to allow the existing companies to increase and fix prices, expand on monopolies and degrade the enviroment.

. Deregulation and regulation are just phrases and not the problem or solution, the problem is corruption

I think that is hitting the nail on the head.To me blaming our problems on anything but corruption by [censored] heads is the same as saying guns kill people.