[quote=SK in CV]The question is which would have been more likely to prevent it: More and/or better government regulation or less?[/quote]
Difficult to say, and one reason why this whole thread is going to be a little “sticky.” That is the right question, though.
I’m going to speak more in terms of the “free market” rather than “Libertarianism” for reasons mentioned by davelj.
I tend to agree that this situation was under-regulated. This isn’t to say a free-market would have done less to prevent it. In fact, in a free market, where regulations are based on preventing property-rights violation, BP may not have been there in the first place.
As a free-market guy, I have no issues enforcing rules limiting those who put others at risk. As I see it, the fact that the govt gave license to drill there under the conditions that it did is not a failure of the free market. Under-regulation can make a market “not free” just as much as over-regulation.
It is important to understand that neither free-markets nor government-controlled markets are “mistake-free.” Also, neither are static. When something like this happens – how does each react ?
So, the fact that this happened is only part of the picture. The question is – how will it affect rules going forward? Government may overreact here.
