Tim Carney: Regulation is supposed to exist toprotect consumers, workers, or the environment. But some regulations mostlyjust protect existing businesses from what? From competition. It's not rare tosee businessmen embrace regulation. Why? Because regulations often serve asbarriers to entry. Barriers to entry exist in most industries. The lower thebarrier is, the easier it is for new, small businesses to come on to the scene.Regulations are a major barrier in many industries. When new rules pop up,established businesses are fine, but new businesses will find it very tough toget in. For instance, when food trucks started to blossom in cities around thecountry, politicians in places like Chicago, El Paso, or Grand Rapids passed orpreserved regulations to limit the trucks' ability to operate downtown. Some ofthe proposed rules directly involved food safety, but many rules were nakedlyefforts to protect restaurants from competition.
蒂姆·卡尼：管制的存在本是为了保护消费者，工人或环境。但有些管制基本上只是保护现有企业免于？免于竞争。商人拥护管制并不罕见。为什么？因为管制经常是作为准入门槛。准入门槛存在于绝大多数行业。门槛越低，新的小型的企业进场就越容易。管制在许多行业都是主要障碍。当新规章涌现，已有企业没事，但新企业会发现很难进入。举例来说，当快餐车开始在全国各城市兴起，政客们在一些地方，比如芝加哥、埃尔帕索和大激流城通过或维持管制以限制快餐车在市中心经营。一些建议规定直接涉及食物安全，但许多规定赤裸裸地是为了保护餐厅免于竞争。
Suzie Diaz: We wanted this ordinance in place tohelp established restaurants keep their business.
苏茜·狄亚兹：我们希望这一条例落实以帮助已有餐厅保住他们的生意。
Michael Hill: That requirement was put in in 2009to address concerns of the fixed food establishment vendors who didn't...didn't think would be good for a mobile to park right outside their business.
迈克尔·希尔：这一要求在 2009 年提出，为了解决已有固定食品商贩的担心，他们不希望汽车停在他们店铺外面。
Tim Carney: And there are two obvious victims tothis sort of regulation. First are the customers.
蒂姆·卡尼：这类管制还有两个明显的受害者。首先是消费者。
Angella O'beirne: I like the convenience of themand I like that I can get different kinds of things, there are differentcultures here. It can grab and go. But for DC, you can grab and sit anywhereyou want.
安吉拉·奥布莱恩：我喜欢他们的方便而且我喜欢可以买到不同的东西，这里有不同的文化。我可以拿起就走。但在特区，你可以拿着坐到任何你想坐的地方。
Kiran Wattamwar: Food trucks seem more ephemeral. It'stemporary, so it feels like you want to go there while it's there.
基兰·瓦曼沃尔：快餐车似乎更稍纵即逝。它是暂时的，所以它在的时候你会有想去的感觉。
Jacob Brown: You feel good to be able to sit outhere and enjoy a nice good meal. I love it here. I love it.
雅克布·布朗：能够坐在外面享受美味丰盛的一餐感觉挺好。我喜欢这里。我挺喜欢。
Tim Carney: Regulation leaves customers with fewerchoices and higher prices. The more acute harm is accrued by the businessesregulated out of business.
蒂姆·卡尼：管制使得消费者选择变少而费用变高。企业因管制而退出则造成了更大伤害。
Sam Tahmasbi: Food truck business is not reallynew in this town, but still... we don't have clear rules about food truckbusiness. Some rules we don't know.
山姆·塔马斯比：快餐车行业在这个城市并不怎么新鲜，但仍然……我们没有关于快餐车业的明确规定。有些规定我们也不清楚。
Novlette Ashmeade: There's a lot of paperworks andtapes and stuff that you have to go through. Don't make it too hard on us,because we really love doing what we're doing.
纳芙莉特·阿什米德：有很多条条款款之类的你必须仔细过一遍。不要太刁难我们了，因为我们真的很爱我们在做的事。
Tim Carney: Overbearing regulation can kill abusiness, cut into its profits, or prevent it from expanding. For everybusiness killed or curtailed by unnecessary regulation, there are a dozen morevictims: businesses that never come to be. These are hidden victims ofregulation. It's hard to count them because their business has never failed...they were blocked from ever coming into being. But there's another victim:public safety. By killing competition, some regulations actually make thepublic less safe. Let's take an issue related to food trucks: the 2009 FederalFood Safety Modernization Act. This bill had the support of big food producerswho could afford the costs.
蒂姆·卡尼：专横的管制会扼杀企业，减少它的利润或阻止它扩张。至于所有被不必要管制扼杀或遏制的企业，其中还有更多的受害者：那些从未诞生的企业。它们是管制的隐藏受害者。很难去计算它们，因为它们的企业从未失败……它们一开始就被阻止诞生。但还有另一个受害者：公众安全。通过扼杀竞争，一些管制实际上使得公众更不安全。让我举一个和快餐车相关的例子：2009 年联邦的《食品安全现代化法案》。这个法案得到了负担得起其成本的大型食品制造商的支持。
John Dingell: And we have brought in industry whichsupports the bill. It will protect the American food industry, the processors,the manufacturers, and the growers against unfair competitions in places likeChina.
约翰·丁格尔：我们请求行业支持这一法案。它将保护美国食品行业，加工商、厂商和种植商对抗来自中国这样的地方的不公平竞争。
Tim Carney: Small farmers though found theregulations too burdensome.
蒂姆·卡尼：可是小农场主觉得这些管制太让人受不了。
Wayne Cawley: Every additional crop that we go togrow is more paperwork, is more time. We're not lawyers, we're farmers, weenjoy actually growing a crop, actually being in the field. I can't beexpected, as a small producer, to do the same procedures as a multi-milliondollar facility. I'm not Driscoll's. I'm not Del Monte. I'm not Dole. If you'relosing money year in and year out, it doesn't matter how much you enjoy it.You're not gonna be doing it.
韦恩·考利：我们每多种一点粮食都意味着更多文件，更多时间。我们不是律师，我们是农民，我们喜欢的是种庄稼，是在田地里。你不能指望我，一个小生产商，像百万大厂那样做相同的程序。我不是德里斯科尔。我不是德尔蒙特。我不是都乐。如果你在一年年亏钱，你有多喜欢这一行都没用。你不会继续做的。
Tim Carney: And here's the thing: By forcing out smallplayers and driving consolidation in the food industry, these regulations canactually make food less safe. The Centers for Disease Control and Preventionhave noted, quote, 'An increasingly centralized food supply means that afood contaminated in production can be rapidly shipped to many states causing awidespread outbreak.' All of the above costs of protective regulation addup to less choice for consumers, more costs to small businesses, lesscompetition as some businesses are kept out, and more risk to the public. Thisadds up to slower economic growth. Thus, the fifth victim of this sort ofregulation is the economy. So next time you hear someone say, 'This regulationis even supported by business,' realize that it's supported by some businesseswho are profiting at the expense of everyone else. And those are the victims ofcronyism.
蒂姆·卡尼：这就是问题。通过逼走小厂家并推动食品行业合并，这些管制其实会使得食品更不安全。疾病控制和预防中心指出，「越来越中心化的食品供应意味着生产过程中受污染的食物将被快速运往许多州，造成疾病大规模爆发。」以上所有这些保护性管制导致消费者选择变少，小企业成本变高，一些企业由于无法进入导致竞争减少，公众的风险变大。这还会减慢经济增长。于是，这类管制的第五个受害者是经济。所以下一次你听到某人说：「这个管制甚至受到企业支持，」要意识到它当然受某些因此获益的企业支持，而代价是由其他所有人承担。它们都是裙带关系的受害者。
翻译：mangosteen
校对：FungChuh
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