certainly, when there is regulation, it needs to be implemented well. the cases sighted at the beginning of the article are examples of poor regulatory enforcement and they are terrible. the administration's distain for regulation and general atmosphere of incompetence probably contributed to this failure.
there are downsides to regulation as well. regulations are often designed in a why that don't just prohibit certain practices, but incentivizes others. this can limit innovation and create inefficient markets. ethanol subsidies can be seen as part of this problem.
that said, i think there may be an increasing need for regulation. eli, we've discussed complexity, bounded rationality and cognitive overload. in this increasing complex world, it is hard for the average person to make informed decisions because the amount of information required is too great and time is too short. because regulation is a very paternalistic way of solving this problem, i'd prefer non-profit/3rd party organizations to do the evaluations on behalf of consumers rather than the government.
for instance, there is a wide variety of tv shows. good ones, bad ones, dirty ones, etc. now, if i'm a evangelical christian, i can go to the family research council and get their recommendations on good tv. if i am a liberal new yorker, i could go to virginia heffernen's column in the nytimes. this is better than having the government withhold programs that it considers "bad."
now, as what's "bad" become more universal (like drug's side-effects or poisonous food) then regulation is less problematic to me. i was thinking the other day about regulation and food--prompted your factory farming animation. in this case, regulating these farms increase the cost of food in the short term (people don't debeak because they want to, they do it so they can produce chicken cheaper by stuffing 1000 of them together in a shoe box). whether it will increase food prices in the long term is less clear. will some other technology come along to make the non-factory system more efficient? how many people will starve in the meantime?
one fear i have about universal healthcare is that more and more will get regulated as the government has to pay to clean up individual's choices. cigarettes will be banned right quick (the government doesn't want to pay for my lung cancer). beer and wine serve little useful purpose other than generating car-accidents. they should be banned right away! bungee jumping? skydiving? forgettaboutit. now that's extreme, but it is important to note that the incentive is there.
