Obama on Auto-Defrosting Refrigerators - Jeffrey A. Tucker - Mises Daily

I’m the guy who just last week managed to find a plumber who would increase the water pressure in my entire house, defying government controls and thereby causing all appliances to work better.

It’s not surprising that this was necessary. Government regulations have made a mess of our daily lives. Whether it is banning effective products or mandating inferior functionality in our appliances and fixtures, government’s role here is indisputably to degrade our quality of life.So I was stunned to hear President Obama claim exactly the opposite in a speech to the US Chamber of Commerce.

ridiculed those who predicted disaster from government regulations as far back as 1848. “It didn’t happen,” he said. “None of these things came to pass.” Then he went further to say that government regulations “enhanced” industry and “made our lives better.” Regulations “often spark competition and innovation.”What immediately came to mind is a picture of a race in which some overlord is clamping shackles on the runner’s feet.

No, that does not stop the race. The runners develop innovative ways to keep going. Nor does competition stop; it might even become more intense as runners develop new skills they would otherwise not need. All that’s true, and yet we wouldn’t look to this race as the one that is going to set new speed records. Everyone would be better off without shackles…………..

via Obama on Auto-Defrosting Refrigerators – Jeffrey A. Tucker – Mises Daily.

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