> I wouldn't trust a governmental agency to aggressively fulfill it's mission. My impression is that in general they're too much at the mercy of politicians.
I think this sort of attitude is a big problem - instead of throwing our hands up and deciding that regulatory agencies have always been and thus will always be toothless, we need to give said agencies more power to enable them to actually enforce the rules. Right now, companies regularly weigh the costs of compliance against the costs of non-compliance because to a multinational corporation, the usual fines and punishments just don't hurt that much.
Companies that break the law should regularly never, ever recover financially.
> Companies that break the law should regularly never, ever recover financially.
Personally I would have this reworded to "Companies that regularly break the law should never, ever recover financially."
As much as I believe things are tilted too far in favor of companies these days, it is true that over-harsh regulation on business can be very bad — particularly when it becomes harder to start new businesses.
But I agree with your sentiment. To a large degree the government is as good as we make it.
This is an important point, I think. If our ultimate goal is to incentivise good practice, we have to deal with a range of problems from simple ignorance of good practice or what the law requires through to gross negligence or "wilful ignorance" situations. If you have a business that is acting in good faith but makes an error in judgement or isn't aware of some specific regulation, there is no sense taking a punitive stance. Obviously if their actions have caused damage to another party then compensation may be appropriate, but otherwise constructive engagement is likely to work best. On the other hand, if you have a business that is knowingly and deliberately acting in bad faith, there may be little point in being constructive, and the penalties need to be significant enough to force them to change (or their business to fail).
I think this sort of attitude is a big problem - instead of throwing our hands up and deciding that regulatory agencies have always been and thus will always be toothless, we need to give said agencies more power to enable them to actually enforce the rules. Right now, companies regularly weigh the costs of compliance against the costs of non-compliance because to a multinational corporation, the usual fines and punishments just don't hurt that much.
Companies that break the law should regularly never, ever recover financially.