When Government Shirks Its Regulatory Role, People Suffer

See something of a pattern?

Oil drilling was permitted in the Gulf of Mexico without meaningful inspections and disaster plans.

Local public buildings in Milwaukee somehow manage to get constructed without effective oversight.

The local utility, We Energies, continues to spew out pollutants in the heart of the city.

Interlocked investment funds, banks and insurance companies were allowed to create, sell and manipulate bound-to-fail loans and exotic derivatives - - with executives collecting massive bonuses even as bondholders and shareholders and homeowners drowned in the collapse.

All these problems were enabled and accelerated by the failure of public officials to do their jobs for the people who paid their salaries.

The public interest was sacrificed to expediency, ideology or corruption - - depending on the situation or venue - - as regulators chose or were told to shelve their regulatory role.

Or to select the least onerous path as defined by the business supposedly being regulated.

If government isn't going to fulfill its regulatory responsibilities - - and push hard for cleaner air, safe oil drilling, by-the-book building construction and inspection, or financial system oversight - - then why have it?

Do we simply want a facade?

After what happened at O'Donnell Park, absolutely not.