Bridges, levees and banking in this country are dominated by government control and that is why you see no consequences or responsibility assigned for their failures. Notice that the peanut, toy and pet food producers are (will be) hurt by their fraudulent or irresponsible actions to the extent that they live in the market.

The Chinese boss associated with the lead toys commited suicide in response to his market exposure. There was a massive recall too. No such action has been taken against or by FEMA or Army Corp of Engineers or any politician (ever?).

Now, government is intertwined in the market place- but the closer entities are to a real market the more accountable they are. Currently it is a matter of degree.

More generically, it is important for a counter force to apply regulation. It is just that government, as a taxing and violent monopoly, has less countering it. The classic liberal question of “Who is watching the watchers?” may come to mind. Markets always have a greater likelihood of off-setting powers because no entity has the prior one-up inherent in the ability to tax and access to arbitrary final ruling in its own disputes etc.

Markets assume horizontal relationships. Government, vertical.

As Ron Paul said earlier, why isn’t the Federal Reserve or Treasury regulated?

Viva Libertarianism! Death to Regulation!

Shop ’til you drop!

http://blog.mises.org/archives/009302.asp

Well, as stupid as they may be, they’re smart enough to realize that spending other people’s money keeps them in power.

It is obscene. Gone are the days when we could pay a debt with only a pound of flesh. Now it takes a whole nation of bodies.

“Jane!! Stop this crazy thing!! JANE!” George Jetson

I bet Peanut Corp uses stimulus money to pay for their legal defence, court fees, fines, restitution- and ad campaigns to restore public confidence.

To think they killed people for peanuts.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/27/AR2009012702992.html

See that graph? That’s a big middle finger, a gargantuan F-You!, to the citizens as our government pushes the debt to new levels in 2010. The “value” of the dollars in your wallet will plummet as the monetary supply is hyper inflated. Does anyone really understand what a trillion dollars looks like?