A little more than a year ago, I posted a note using football as a metaphor for the futility of effective regulation.
Some people dismissed the football metaphor. The Wall Street Journal today has a story about how people design new psychotropic drugs to get around regulation. It may be that these new drugs are more dangerous than banned drugs. In all likelihood, they can design these drugs faster than the government can make regulations.
How in the world can regulators get ahead of financial industry or tax lawyers, even if the lobbyists were not writing the regulations or the tax codes.
Whalen, Jeanne. 2010. "In Quest for 'Legal High,' Chemists Outfox Law." Wall Street Journal (30 October). http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704763904575550200845267526.html?mod=WSJ_World_LeadStory
^^^^^^^^^^ CB: If capitalism is untamable, what miraculously effective regulations of Wall Street is Obama such a traitor to the left for not getting Congress to pass ?