This is a book-end to Nick's complaint about House Dems eagerly raising certain taxes. Lets not ignore Senate Repubs led by Sen. Patti Birkholz, who yesterday were right back to their usual regulate/micromanage-everything-under-the-sun ways, as if the GOP's recent performance had just received a ringing endorsement. Specifically they jammed through a new regulatory regime on computer manufacturers and retailers. When Sen. Cassis complained about that, and pointed out that many stores are already doing this, Birkholz huffed, "the industry came to us and asked for this."

Ah Patti, apparently you've never learned of the concept called rent-seeking - which among other things suggests that large, established players in an industry often welcome new regs which they can easily handle but which raise barriers to potential competitors. Worse, you forget that the purpose of a free economy is to serve the interest of consumers, not "the industry."

"People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices," taught Adam Smith. In this instance, the conspiracy advanced on the Senate floor yesterday, 32-4.