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[James Dasher <jdasher AT ibiblio.org>]

On Oct 9, 2004, at 12:31 PM, B wrote:

> Don said:
>
> <...>
> > Lost in the fast food pessimism, is one of the best benefits...clean
> > restaurants where the water won't give you dysentery. Before chains, 
> > and
> > uber-competition, there was no telling what you might get in a 
> > restaurant
> > you weren't familiar with. <...>
>
> **Government regulations** are what make it safe to eat in a strange 
> restaurant without worrying overmuch about TB, dysentery, etc., etc. 
> **Government regulations** allow us to sip municipal water from the 
> tap without fear, purchase raw foods from unknown markets with 
> impunity, drive over bridges without thinking twice, et cetera.
>
> Government. Regulations.

That's one way to solve the problem, but not the only way.

Government regulation did not foster the spread of bottled water.  
Before the Clean Water Act passed in the mid-1970's, people in this 
country weren't getting dysentery from the local Checker's, or Big Boy, 
or McDonald's.

South of the border, in the heavily-regulated Mexican market, people 
are still getting dysentery from drinking the water.  FSRs are hardly 
paragons of environmental virtue, and they had lots of government 
regulation.

Corruption is as prevalent in government as it is in private 
enterprise.  The difference, though, lies in alternatives.

There's no alternative to government regulators.  There are 
alternatives to bad - unhealthy, corrupt, etc. - private enterprises.  
If somebody dies because of a mistake in the enforcement of government 
regulations, the corrupt or incompetent government regulator may get 
fired or go to jail, but that somebody's relatives can't even sue for 
reparations because of sovereign immunity.  If you die from an 
unsanitary meal at your local greasy spoon, the owner will have hell 
(and lawyers) to pay - and possibly a permanent "closed" sign on the 
door.

--
James Dasher
misterdasher dot com
IM misterdasher