What Utah Mines and Subprime Have in Common

Regulation has been a dirty word in American politics for decades. Jimmy Carter deregulated the oil and airline industries because he thought it was good policy and he wanted to escape the onus of being a liberal regulator. Reagan and the Bushes railed against regulation. When it came to Bill Clinton and affirmative action, he promised to mend it not end it. No one in the American polity on left or right openly calls for a new era of regulation. But all of the stories in recent weeks that have dominated headlines--from tainted Chinese products to the Utah mine collapse and, closest to home for Portfolio readers, the subprime mess call out for a need for new and better regulations. Of course, there are stupid regulations on the books. But just as we make distinctions between weapons systems that work and those that don't we should be just as discerning with regulation instead of attacking them wholesale. In some areas of life, we need more regulation--much more. And in some, less. A candidate who spoke like that might find a willing audience. I know he or she would be on their way to being a good president.