The Hypocrisy of Trusting the Market, Ever
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Read Matt’s post about mandating the number of parking spots at a barber shop, then read the comments. According to the commenters, apparently the logical way to think about regulation is as follows: if a regulation exists, then there must be a conceivable acceptable justification for said regulation — that if not apparently obvious, only remains unearthed because of shoddy journalism. Therefore, stop picking on the government.
I’ve rarely agreed with Matt over the years, but I do believe he’s a serious thinker. One of the things I’ve found really disheartening about reading his blog over the last few months is how much crap he takes from his commenters whenever he suggests any one little thing that might not be an appropriate use of government regulation.
Of course, serious thinkers also tend to have a contrarian streak, so perhaps the disagreements will push him more libertarian :)
