Intervention Leads to More Intervention
28th July 2014
Shipping oil by train is much more dangerous than shipping by pipeline. But the federal government has a number of regulations that slow or even prevent building of pipelines. One intervention–preventing the construction of pipelines–leads oil to be carried in more hazardous ways. In response, the government does not reduce the regulation that slows the building of pipelines. Instead it regulates shipping by train.
High taxes motivate businesses to move their operations overseas. The government’s response is not to improve the tax climate, but rather to make it illegal to move operations overseas. Same principle.