Which is worse: Regulation or De-Regulation?

clipped from www.informationclearinghouse.info " -- -- Libertarians preach the morality of the market, and socialists preach the morality of the state. Those convinced of the market’s morality want de-regulation; those convinced of the state’s morality want regulation. In truth, neither seems to work. The US--the “land of liberty”--has the largest prison population in the world. With 5 percent of the world’s population, the US has 25 percent of the prison population. The US has 1.3 million more people in prison than crime-ridden Russia, and 700,000 more prisoners than authoritarian China, which has a population four times larger. In the US the number and kind of crimes have exploded. Prisons are full of drug users, and the US now has “hate crimes” such as the use of constitutionally protected free speech against “protected minorities.” It is in the self-interest of prison investors to agitate for yet more criminalization of civil liberties and ordinary human behavior.