How dare they!, ...sell cheap gas?

You've really got to love the "economics" of the left. (and, it would seem, of the right...)

Actually, not too much for me to comment on here. The author does a pretty good job of displaying the absurdities involved here.

I'd just like to add some insult to injury: remember that your tax dollars are actually paying to have a cadre of busybodies sit around monitoring prices to make sure they don't violate some code or other. Of course, since everyone is necessarily in violation of these laws, one does have to wonder how this sort of thing is determined.

-Inspector

The funniest part IMO is that there is no one watching. Customarily, legislatures make these rules to pander to the mob during some crisis of the moment and then walk away and forget them. Later when some competator (or a group of them) are getting pounded by another business, they tell their lawyers to dig something up. They then run whining to the State or Fed or whatever and file a regulatory complaint. Sometimes a lawsuit.

Remember here, and this is the important thing, companies most often bring these sorts of things on themselves. They know the law in many cases, much better than the government bodies nominally chaged with enforcing them.

Legislation is a competative tool now, we're very Venician like that.

Of course, why didn't I see it before!

The rule of the playground. The law only enforced when some child comes whining. Of course, even so it is as arbitrary and capricious as I insinuated.

But good point: the biggest support for the regulation of business comes from business itself.

This is one reason why supposedly "pro-business" Republicans have been inconsistent defenders of the free market at best. Business leaders themselves are far too willing to regulate their competitors, take the subsidy, or hide behind a tariff whenever its in their short term best interests.

I suppose its essentially the same problem that we saw in government appropriations in recent years, with Congressmen spending like drunken sailors. Some of them may even understand that the pillaging is wrong and ultimately self-destructive, but they're certainly not going to let go of their cut of the loot.

Ah, the false moral/practical dichotomy at work...

A bit, but its more insidious than that. For example, you can vote against something because you think its wrong, but if it passes anyways or is likely to, you also don't want to be stuck with your constituents paying for it without enjoying any of the short-term benefits. If you're going to have to pay, you might as well get something out of it.

Its a systematic failure that no single representative can hope to fix. Even a small block of them would be easily overwhelmed. Nothing short of a principled majority could even hope to approach it.

Quite so. And nothing short of a principled cultural movement could achieve that.