Regulation has gone astray. . . . Either because they have become captives of regulated industries or captains of outmoded administrative agencies, regulators all too often encourage or approve unreasonably high prices, inadequate service, and anticompetitive behavior. The cost of this regulation is always passed on to the consumer. And that cost is astronomical.
Interpretation
This quote critiques regulatory bodies for failing to effectively control industries, leading to higher costs for consumers.
Edward Kennedy's quote highlights the shortcomings of regulatory agencies that are supposed to oversee industries. He argues that these agencies either become too aligned with the industries they regulate or they are stuck in outdated practices, resulting in approval of high prices and poor service. Ultimately, this failure leads to excessive costs that are borne by consumers, raising concerns about the effectiveness and accountability of regulation.
In practice
In a speech addressing the flaws in regulatory bodies in the finance sector.
Immigrant families have integrated themselves into our communities, establishing deep roots. Whenever they have settled, they have made lasting contributions to the economic vitality and diversity of our communities and our nation. Our economy depends on these hard-working, taxpaying workers. They have assisted America in its economic boom.
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With Barack Obama, we will turn the page on the old politics of misrepresentation and distortion. With Barack Obama we will close the book on the old politics of race against race.
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Individual faults and frailties are no excuse to give in - and no exemption from the common obligation to give of ourselves.
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A policy of subsidizing failures will end in an economy strewn with capital-guzzling industries long past their time of profitability - old companies that cannot create jobs themselves, but can stand in the way of job creation.
Poorly paid labor is inefficient labor, the world over.
If you increase the quantity of money, you bring about the lowering of the purchasing power of the monetary unit.
The free market is not only a more efficient decision maker than even the wisest central planning body, but even more important, the free market keeps economic power widely dispersed.
If you go back to the really long-run questions that interested me, the big question was why, over the centuries, the millennia, has growth been speeding up?
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