Policy

Reason Writers Around Town: Matt Welch Discusses SEC Porn at CNN.com

|

Over at CNN's website, Reason Editor in Chief Matt Welch argues that we should not be surprised when the reality of regulation fails to conform to our fantasies. Excerpt:

Try as governing Democrats and their supporters might to convince you of the contrary, there is a moral to this story. It is this: Expecting regulators to do their job well, let alone magically prevent whatever private-sector outcomes we do not like, is as fantastical as the assertion that George W. Bush was a deregulatory president.

Wait, what? Didn't we just read in Time magazine that "From the start, Bush embraced a governing philosophy of deregulation"? That's a comforting narrative for those trying to "restore" regulatory oversight of Wall Street. But it's false.

Read the whole thing here.