air and water?

Reader comment on: Obama Backtracks on Regulatory Reform

Submitted by ben (United States), Aug 2, 2011 22:13

In his statement today he clearly mentions regulations that keep people safe, whereas his op-ed of January dealt with streamlining government and ending EXCESSIVE regulation. I know that Future of Capitalism will read everything that Obama does or says with the utmost cynicism, but at some point, we need to pay attention to the actual words he uses and the context in which they are said.

His quote from today is likely in response to the growing desire among the Republicans to gut clean air regulations. Unless one loves acid rain and all its negative health and economic effects, I would say the clean air act is not excessive at all, and therefor, these two quotes are not the least bit contradictory. The free market does not solve environmental problems - tragedy of the commons. (which is why we need a carbon tax).


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The Future of Capitalism replies:

The January op-ed also said some regulations are needed, but emphasized getting rid of the growth- and job-retardant ones. (A "balanced" approach.) Yesterday, he made zero acknowledgement that any regulations might hurt jobs and growth, and made it sound like it was just pro-pollution Republicans who think regulations might affect growth.

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