Quotation of the Day…

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… is from pages 164-165 of philosopher Michael Huemer’s new book, Progressive Myths (original emphasis):

But as it turns out, government behavior is not very well predicted by asking what they are supposed to do. It is better predicted by asking about the process by which government agents are selected and the incentives they face. The bureaucrats who make regulations generally have no incentive to protect the public, apart from the warm feeling inside that goes along with doing what one is supposed to do. If they make a regulation that causes prices to rise while having no effect or a slight negative effect on quality, nothing will happen to them. They won’t lose money, they won’t lose their jobs, and most members of the public will never even realize that they did that. If members of the public even hear about the regulation, most will assume that the agency had to do it to protect the public.