Friday, October 26, 2012

The Government is just trying to protect us

Many people argue that the government has too much control over our economy, and they claim that they want more of a free market.  However, what they do not realize is that a lot of the regulation that the government imposes is there in order to protect us.  I agree that the market should be more free than regulated, but there are certain areas in which it is necessary for the government to intervene.

When the government regulates industries such as farming, they are trying to make the profession more safe for those who are involved.  For example, the government puts a regulation on the price of crops because farming is a risky job and it doesn't always produce.  However, these regulations make sure that the farmers make some sort of money because otherwise no one would want to be a farmer which would affect the whole country and possible certain parts of the world. Another situation in which I feel the government should be able to regulate is when people's well being is at risk.  An example would be the U.S. Food and Drug Administration because they make sure that there are no harmful food or drugs in the market.  The reason why the government's intervention is necessary is because the American people are simply too uninformed to know what is truly good and bad because companies will say anything to get people to buy their products.  Another example would be if the government were to put regulations on an industry in order to reduce their pollution.

http://economics.about.com/od/howtheuseconomyworks/a/regulation.htm

This source is from About.com from the U.S Department of State section so I want to say that it is pretty relevant.



http://blog.charitynavigator.org/2009_10_01_archive.html
To what extent should the government be able to control industries?

7 comments:

  1. Where do we draw the line between too little and too much regulation?

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  2. How does the Government know what is good for me?
    They are making laws on what they think is a great idea but what i think is good is different to what they think. Why do i have to follow those rules?

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  3. Who is to say that the government always knows what's best for certain industries?

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  4. So you guys don't want the government to make sure the food you buy is safe to eat? Have fun testing everything you consume in the future.

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  5. "For example, the government puts a regulation on the price of crops because farming is a risky job and it doesn't always produce."
    *you should maybe try elaborating on why and how the agriculture sector can struggle in certain scenarios. just to make your opinion more firm.

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  6. Everyone that commented might want to look at this video by an economist, Milton Friedman who argued that we can get rid of the Food & Drug adminstration and be better of as a society. It's an older video but he raises interesting arguments. Check it out:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZL25NSLhEA

    ReplyDelete