Sunday, February 19, 2012

Two Sides of Regulation

A January 24 article in my local paper announces that the U.S. Dept. of Transportation is imposing new regulations on airlines to protect consumers from unexpected baggage fees and other hidden costs. With so much anti-regulatory talk in political circles, one would expect an outcry over additional regulations of any kind. But there is none mentioned, except for an airline representative who asks why other industries, such as hotels, are not similarly regulated.

Government regulation, then, is both widely reviled as detrimental and quietly accepted as necessary to protect consumers.