"Smart" to Habs is someone who is expert in word and context manipulation to support their own personal worldview.

 

Amen Frank_S. That was what I was getting at. Smart is a relative term. What one might find smart, the other might find dumb.

 

Yes many prescription drugs that were touted as miracles and were approved by the FDA. Much of the evidence and testing is done by the manufacturer. The FDA uses that to make its decisions. Many side effects take time (more than some trials) and aren't caught until the masses start using it.

Microsoft has yet to put out a "perfect" version of their software. Same thing with medicines. They invest money and have to get it to market to make money. What would happen if there was no regulation?

In the early 1900's companies put all kinds of crazy claims on meds and devices. Most were snake oil of course.

Get rid of the FDA and you will see all kinds of craziness. What do you do when the stuff kills someone? Sue them? You can't get $ if they are bankrupt.

I know they may be corrupt and not perfect but I would rather have some oversight than none at all.

 

Perfect doesn't exist on any level of anything. People are flawed by nature. That is why increasing regulation is good on paper but bad in practice. Reducing regulation will deliver the same result, but with a lower tax burden.

 

Good luck eating some of that non-inspected meat and tainted drugs!!! Yummy!!

For the rest of us that don't want to get sick and die...I guess we need the FDA.

If you can find a way to make the regulators better or less corrupt please do. Still some regulation is better than none.

 

I think progressives have made their own definitions for a lot of terms. In the ealy 1900's the progressives were intent on modeling our country after the Soviet Union under Stalin. They succeeded in at least implementing some of their agenda under FDR. This was after Hoover, the republican progressive, advanced the agenda under the guise of helping our country out of hard times.

The mindset of the progressive elites is still very much alive today. They are a very determined bunch and will exploit every opportunity they can. You need not explore history to find examples as it's happening in real time.

It's an amusing, and apparently effective, to frame everything in black and white. Don't talk about the vast gray areas though, it's not part of the narrative.

To progressives, smart is advocating a fundamental transformation of our country.

 

What about contracting a private company to replace the FDA. Could probably achieve the same result with half the man power and significantly less cost. but even that road has its bumps.

Any time you call to increase government regulation, you are making a mistake. Plenty of regulations and laws exist, enforce them. The only way to make the groups held accountable is to elect officials that will do an audit of their services, and make them prove their worth.

 

I don't have any problem with privatizing the inspections as long as the inspectors aren't the same people that own the manufacturing. If they have a vested interest in the product then of course they will turn the other way and let all kinds of crap happen. The privatized inspectors also should have some teeth to their inspections too. All of the inspecting in the world is futile if there is no penalty for harm.

I hate when people say, "well if they hurt you, sue them." Most people don't have the money or time to litigate things. Think of how long the people of Alaska litigated with Exxon over the Exxon Valdez accident. Most large companies can either drag things out in the courts for decades or they go bankrupt. Either way the loser is the one harmed.

In Chicago they privatized the parking meters. The city turned control over to a private company on a 75 year lease. The meters were broken and not fixed. People were given tickets at meters that wouldn't accept money. The parking rates quadrupled. Failed!

Yes we have to have officials enforce the rules on the books. Oversight should be as transparent as possible. Certainly efficiency needs to be incorporated. It isn't perfect.

Government is elected whereas big corporations are not. I don't want to take the right to make money away from small business owners. They aren't the ones I fear. I do fear large corporations that only worry about their stock price instead of what tomorrow brings.

If you get rid of all regulations, most of these companies would become monopolies. Why not? If you are the only game in town, you can charge what you want. You want to see only one large oil company? Bet gasoline that is $3/gallon will be $10/gallon by morning. People won't have a choice but to pay it or walk. If you are the corporate heads of these companies you would be stupid not to join up. Supply and demand works to a point. There are some things that's price is what it is and people will pay it no matter what. Econ101

 

The FDA does this all of the time. Not too long ago a drug manufacturer had a product that was supposed to increase the survivability of people with prostrate cancer. The drug was fast tracked and preliminary results showed that it was relatively effective and safe. When the manufacturer went before the FDA board they were denied approval until a full study could be conducted. Fast forward two years later and sure enough the full study showed the exact same thing the original study showed. If the company was simply told they would not be able to fast track the drug then they would have saved the time and expense from the original study and the drug would have been on the market much sooner. One of the senior people on the FDA's board was a member of the board of directors for a competing drug manufacturer working on the same type of drug. Tell me he didn't have a vested interest in slowing down the process for this company.

Nobody is tauting remove all regulation. What is being called for is reduced regulation and actual enforcement of the remaining regulation. The federal government and many people are yelling for immigration reform. the biggest reason is that the current version is viewed as having failed. It is not the regulation or laws that have failed it is the administrations that have failed to enforce the laws and regulations. HSI has been placed in handcuffs and can't do their job properly. BP and OFO have the same problem. The laws are there it is just that nobody can enforce them vigorously. I have personal experience with this back to Clinton and none of the administrations have done jack about the issue. Look at AZ all their law stated was they would start enforcing the federal laws on the books. It resulted in a mass exodus of illegal immigrants from the state.

 

The problem that no one understands with AZ and immigration is more than just carrying paperwork. So much of the documentation these people have is forged and many are good fakes at that. The only way to confirm it takes the Feds weeks to respond because they are backlogged. I work for a Univ and to receive title iv funding they have to prove citizenship/perm residency. Anyone not born in the US is initially flagged as SS databases don't recognize them. The system is so flawed that innocent people could spend weeks at a time in detention while being checked out. Think if that happens multiple times?

If you want to kick the illegals out, go ahead I'm all for it. Just fix the system first.

 

The only beef, and the majority of pork that I eat is raised by my grandfather and brother-in-law. We raise it and slaughter it locally, no FDA stamp of approval. I never get sick from it and I eat the beef as rare as rare can get.....

and don't get me started on the wild game....

 

The fix for this is giving LEO's access to one or several of our various systems. It literally takes about five minutes to check someone's immigration status, especially if they have supposed immigration documents in hand. Do you realize how difficult it would be to grant that access to the local agencies? All it would take is the POTUS to say give them access. The system requirements are no different than that of typical LEO systems used to run NCIC databases. The only time it becomes difficult is when schools become involved. I hate working with SEVIS, but I'll hit it hard with any of the other various immigration systems I use.

P.S. I'm not a deputy any longer, I'm a fed.

 

I hope the tea party gains members and really takes off even more!

They are what this country needs

 

As in FBI agent? I may need to PM you for some of the details.

 

Nope I deal mainly with customs and immigration issues. I won't go any further into my job description for my own protection.