All it is really accomplishes is forcibly transferring wealth from one party to another.

These transfers can actually create new market failures by forming barriers to market entry, and creating unfair competitive advantages through subsidies, tariffs, tax-breaks and regulations that favor one party over another.

Fundamental to the notion of government regulation is that its purpose is to eliminate unfairness in competition. However, powerful businesses have huge influences on policy making in the United States that make this an ideal rather than a reality. They hire lobbyists, create ad campaigns, and court politicians to gain influence. Companies compete for bureaucratic power just as much as they do for market power.

Because of the advantages government regulation can offer, firms try to out-regulate each other rather than to just out-compete each other in the market. Government regulation has invited businesses to become involved in government and the best way to put...
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