While most politicians and most journalists seem to assume that big business generally wants to be left alone by government, the truth of the matter is that most regulation that actually gets passed has the backing of the largest players in the industry being regulated. We have seen this very recently with the toy industry, the food industry, and the tobacco industry.

Big business has many reasons for wanting  to be regulated–it disproportionately hurts smaller businesses, keeps out competition, gives an advantage to those with better political connections, insulates against torts, and gives an air of credibility. A NYTimes op-ed today by the Allstate Insurance CEO offers another reason for wanting federal regulation: