What's it gonna cost us to regulate that industry?

So the latest news that has progressives all excited is that the Obama administration is set to tap Elizabeth Warren to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Progressives LOVE her. But Warren is another example of the endless cult of personality theme that runs through leftist political thought: If you just install the right person into a leadership position, the smart and caring person that says all the things you like to hear, then all will be fixed just as right as rain. BWAHAHAHA!

I don't care for Warren. Her answer to everything is "let's regulate it," while never discussing what the cost is to wanton regulating. Just because an industry is heavily regulated doesn't mean that it will be more safe, efficient, or less costly: Public Choice economists figured that out long ago.

The problem with regulation

Can you say regulatory capture? Economists have been studying this phenomenon for decades but some people simply are not convinced that it really does happen.