The problem with regulation   It is less universally known that
regulation was the method that the pre-war fascists used to
pursue their political ends, contrasting with communism which
sought instead to own the means of production. Post-war,
regulation re-emerged in the 1980s when it was used to control
newly-privatized state monopolies to make privatization
politically acceptable. And every country that followed the U.K.
in their own privatization programs adopted regulation as the
means of maintaining state control.  These privatized industries
are still regulated today, with the addition of financial
services and less obviously perhaps most other aspects of
economic life. European socialists reinvented themselves by
dropping their commitment to ownership of the means of
production in favor of the fascist model. Thus, the policies of
the right and left became joined at the hip.  The objective of
regulation may be to protect the consumer but the weaknesses are
multiple. In framing and operating the rules, g