Market Externalities - Pollution Control, or the Failure Thereof

The idea that production (quantity) restrictions and taxes on fuel will reduce pollution is simply farcical, a rose-tinted theory at best, whose practical application ends up with more unintended economic and social consequences than if the supply and use of fuel were left unregulated. Chalk up another loss to state economics in the face of real-world situations. Social benefits are much more simple in theory than in application, with simple formulas yielding results that are not typical of the complex markets that exist. Left alone, pollution can be naturally regulated through educating the consumers to the negative aspects of petro-fuels on the environment. Using the state's monopoly on the use of force, we only dumb down the population,

Sadly, there is more call for increased regulation of markets after massive failures, which are a direct result of those failed attempts at control. What's the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over, but expecting different results. The level and frequency of failure increases as the level of manipulation of markets by the state increase. It's hard to refute that without coming off as a statist, Left- or Right-flavored. That's herd mentality, group think in all it's fallacy in today's terms.

And now for something completely different...