Regulations suck! The Free Market isn't free! Get Big Government out of the way and let business get down to business! Such are the cries from Republicans, Libertarians, and Tea Partiers, who all seem to live in a utopia where large corporations never do anything wrong, and government ALWAYS does everything wrong (Goofus and Gallant, as it were). History shows, however, that left to their own devices, business will always put profits before the public good, and the two are often not compatible. It also matters WHO is in government when one makes judgments about how effective and competent it is. Allowing the foxes to guard the henhouse is a sure recipe for disaster.

The ongoing catastrophe in the Gulf is a vivid example of this. By all accounts, the disaster could have been averted with proper equipment, and possibly stringent adherence to existing regulations. This did not happen. Why? Because it was cheaper for BP to cut corners. It was a gamble and they lost. Of course - so do the rest of us, with their screw up destroying our coastline, and with it the environment and livelihoods of small businesses all along the coast. Why were they able to do this? The problem can be chalked up to weak regulations and poor enforcement of them.

The weakening of regulations can be directly attributed to Dick Cheney (who just happened to be the head of Halliburton - one of the guilty parties in the Gulf spill - prior to 2000). One of the first things Bush did after taking office was to create the Energy Task Force, with Cheney as its Chair. The members and its meetings were secret. However, a list of known participants reads like a who's who of drilling and mining interests. Did the oil companies help write their own regulations? We'll never know for certain, but sure seems that way.

The other side of regulation is enforcement, which falls under the auspices of MMS. One would hope that the government entity charged with regulating the oil industry would not be in bed with them - literally. But of course - we all know better:

In essence - the oil companies were screwing the government, and the government was letting them. Of course - that's what happens when you have an oil tycoon as president. Was deregulation better in this case?

That energy task force that Cheney created to allow business to rape and pillage our country's natural resources for obscene profits extended beyond the oil business. Coal was another focus. Over the next few years, the Bush administration actually reduced the fines for mine safety violations. Who was put in charge of mine safety? - a former coal company executive. When people wonder why government doesn't seem to work sometimes, they should consider who's working for government, and who those people are really working for. Was deregulation better in this case?

Besides the loss of life and destruction of the environment, the other side effect of all this is the cost of energy. Deregulating utilities was supposed to make our energy costs cheaper, because "competition" was supposed to allow us to choose who we buy our energy from. The reality is that we had a choice for all of about 6 months before all the companies merged and were bought out. Remember Enron? Do you think the people of CA had a choice? They ended up with blackouts and astronomical electric bills while Enron played with the electric faucet. Was deregulation better in this case?

We are all still suffering the hangover from the drunken debauchery on Wall St. and in the banking industry. That whole scenario is a poster child for what happens when you remove carefully crafted controls and let the Free Market run unfettered. We had one of the most revered economic systems in the world until the meltdown happened in fall of 2008. How did we manage to screw it up? Free Market proponents in Congress rolled back the Glass Steagall Act by passing the Gramm Leach Bliley Act. This allowed federally insured banks to take risks previously only allowed to commercial banks (ie: gambling houses). It allowed monopolies to form (ie: Too Big To Fail). Was deregulation better in this case?

This sort of thing has been endemic for years: gutting regulations that have protected Americans for decades in the interest of promoting capitalism, and putting industry hacks or incompetent small-government lackeys in positions of power, so that enforcement of weakened laws is nearly non-existent. Why? It reinforces the notion that "government is the problem, not the solution", so that it can be drowned a little more in the bathtub.

However, that sort of approach results in tainted beef, oil spills, mine explosions, economic meltdowns, and in general - large businesses running roughshod over the Regular Joes that we all are. Is deregulation the answer?... or is it the problem? Even football games have rules and referees.