If you ask a liberal policy writer or a mainstream straight-news reporter, there’s a decent chance you’ll hear that free enterprise is a pro-big-business economic policy.
College kids at George Washington University are learning the opposite lesson, at least in the realm of food trucks:
Regulations are a tool to protect incumbent businesses from competition, at the expense of the consumer and the entrepreneur.
National Journal has the story:
Norquist says that if Republicans do a better job of showing that they are fighting for the little guy, it can go a long way. And it’s not just food trucks. D.C. had a similar fight last year over whether the Uber car service had the right to compete with the long-established taxicab commission.
These aren’t freak exceptions. Regulation, by its nature, falls heavier on smaller businesses, and often benefits whoever can hire up the former congressmen or city officials as lobbyists — and that’s never Mom & Pop.
I’ve got plenty of other examples ranging from cigarettes to toys, with tax-prep and truckers in between.
