Regulating the Regulators

Let us say you are in the business of selling sandwiches. You are an honorable man and there is nothing dishonorable in selling sandwiches. A few years ago, we all know, a petty handful of unscrupulous operators sold inedible and even poisonous sandwiches, and as a result the Federal Government established the Civil Sandwich Authority pursuant to the provisions of the Civil Sandwich Act of 1938. You, being an honest gent, were permitted (with a few friends) to stay in business. No one else has been able to get into the sandwich business since 1938. You are a member of a cartel. Congratulations!

But there are problems even then. The Civil Sandwich Act of 1938 announced that it is in the public interest that sandwiches be generally available at a fixed price. This has meant, in practice, that you must sell sandwiches at three in the morning for the same price you get for sandwiches during the noon rush hour. There can be no great astonishment when you discover that very few people are looking for sandwiches at three in the morning and a great army of them desire them at noontime. Nevertheless the Civil Sandwich Authority has decreed: Thou Shalt Deal with an Even Hand, and in practice this means that what you sell for x dollars at three in the morning you must sell for x dollars at noon also.

WR

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William F. Rickenbacker

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Let us say you are in the business of selling sandwiches. You are an honorable man and there is nothing dishonorable in selling sandwiches. A few years ago, we all know, a petty handful of unscrupulous operators sold inedible and even poisonous sandwiches, and as a result the Federal Government established the Civil Sandwich Authority pursuant to the provisions of the Civil Sandwich Act of 1938. You, being an honest gent, were permitted (with a few friends) to stay in business. No one else has been able to get into the sandwich business since 1938. You are a member of a cartel. Congratulations!

But there are problems even then. The Civil Sandwich Act of 1938 announced that it is in the public interest that sandwiches be generally available at a fixed price. This has meant, in practice, that you must sell sandwiches at three in the morning for the same price you get for sandwiches during the noon rush hour. There can be no great astonishment when you discover that very few people are looking for sandwiches at three in the morning and a great army of them desire them at noontime. Nevertheless the Civil Sandwich Authority has decreed: Thou Shalt Deal with an Even Hand, and in practice this means that what you sell for x dollars at three in the morning you must sell for x dollars at noon also.