Too much Regulation or too little?

This was a statement from another forum:

"Over the last 30+ years we have averaged more than 200 pages of new Federal Regulations every calendar day. We don't need more regulations.

What we need are folks with above average intelligence, competency and lack of political agenda to interpret the results."

The last bit I agree with.  I disagree that we need less regulations.  I think it is inevitable that we need more.  Why?  Look what did not exist 30 years ago: (and I am sure I am missing many more)

Credit Default Swaps
Internet Hackers
Autonomous vehicles
Identity theft
E-commerce
True cell phones
Social Networking
Cryptocurrency
3d Printing
CRISPR gene editing
Automation of jobs
E-Commerce
Cyber warfare
Climate change (whether man-made or not)
Globalization
Green Technology
Retirement plans - like all versions of 401Ks
Artificial Intelligence

Now just counting the number of pages is of little use:

“A Congressional Research Service study found that in 2015, less than a third of total pages in the Federal Register were about rules and regulations, and the number of final rule documents published in the Register has declined since the ’70s. When you winnow down to “major” rules, it’s usually less than 100 per year.”

https://www.marketplace.org/2018/01/19/counting-pages-regulations-waste-time-and-paper/

So as the world becomes more sophisticated, as things change, we need rules to reflect this change.  Think of all the rules that did not exist before the automobile - rules about roads, traffic signs, car designs, driver's licenses, and all the bureaucracy that went along with it.

Today we still cannot decide if a web browser is still an essential part of an operating system....

So here are my guidelines for new rules: (and we will need a rule for these guidelines - see how crazy it becomes - I will use rules for laws and regulations)
1. They need to have a purpose that can be understood by the common man - and needs to be stated in the beginning - sort of like the Prime Directive for each rule or change.
2. They need to encompass or replace the existing rules so there is no duplication or conflicts.
3. They need either a sunset or review date - unfortunately this implies growth in government workers, as if there are more rules it takes more people to monitor them - which should be in the rules
4. There should be no unfunded mandates.  All decisions should be economically sound.

"What we need are folks with above average intelligence, competency and lack of political agenda to interpret the results."

This is the challenge - and one of the biggest obstacles is collective selfishness, which will be the subject of my next post.

ChrisZ