Comment by maerF0x0

> Not all regulation is bad, and some of it is wildly effective at not just achieving the letter of the law but actually solving the problem it was defined for.

You missed a key component - Cost. It must not only work, be enforceable, but it also must cost less than alternative options and the value of the externality it's aiming to fix.

Solving ProblemA could be agreeable. But if ProblemA causes $100 a year in problems, and the regulated fix is $110 then it's not a good regulation. If the Regulated fix is $110 and there is a market solution for $75, then it's not good regulation. If the regulated fix $100 but it is over-applied into 2x as many scenarios, then it's not good regulation.

Often the government loses out not in it having bad ideas, but that they break the flexibility of better options that require nuance and context to see.