Reader wants less government regulation

DEAR HARRY: Ever since the big hit of 2008, our economy has been slugging along with job creation stunted and unemployment rates stuck in the sky. Unfortunately, our political parties are too divided to get anything done. We should get the government out of the way so industry can create more jobs. Every day, I see on TV and read in the newspapers stories of how regulations are the problem. And now we have all the new stuff with the Affordable Care Act. Maybe they're trying to get more employment by giving private companies more work to do to comply with more and more regulation. If we had less regulation and more freedom, we would be way out of our economic problems. I'm no big-shot top-1-percent guy, but I do stay informed.

WHAT HARRY SAYS: Allow me to inform you further. I first saw the need for government regulation when I read about the many causes of the Depression of the 1930s and of the many frauds committed by the industrial giants that led to it. I then read an enlightening book, 100,000,000 Guinea Pigs, by Arthur Kallet and F.J. Schlink. I learned that American consumers were being treated to unsafe food, health aids and cosmetics. Today, we can add automobiles, banking and virtually every other aspect of freedom from government oversight. Would you like cocaine in your Coca-Cola? How about a car-ignition system that causes fires and inoperative airbags? Or banks with odious rates on credit cards? Do a little research into the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act and its effect on the 2008 recession. When your freedom hits my nose, you need to be restrained.