Each time there’s a crisis, the government looks to build on top of broken regulations instead of creating a lean regulatory backbone.
The government never seems to focus on eliminating broken
regulations, instead, it looks to create more regulation. While some liberals may support this
ideology, people do not realize what the government regulations are costing
consumers. Cost can come straight from
taxes needed to fund the ever-growing size of government. When the government pulls the funds from
private enterprise, the consumers who interact with those institutions face
increased costs to fund them.
In the case of financial regulatory reform, people who bank
will have to pay the price. As the Wall
Street Journal recently reported, banks are preparing to place fees on
consumers’ checking accounts. The
Journal added that low balance and low activity accounts will likely be charged
a monthly service. Does this help low
income families?
This reminds me of tobacco taxes at the state level. States tax cigarettes in order to raise money
for social programs, however, most politicians don’t realize the most negative
effects of cigarette taxes are on
low income individuals. Cigarette
taxes and financial regulatory reform are two examples of where consumers lose
when the government over-regulates.
Liberals may point to these price increases as greedy, but
let’s be realistic. Do we expect
businesses to simply sit there and take the loss? Think about this from the individual point of
view. If an individual’s taxes are
raised (or any other cost for that matter), wouldn’t you expect that person to
seek an increased income?
Instead of having government trust funds, fines, and costs,
let’s think rationally when looking at financial regulatory reform.
