Regulatory capture is the natural side effect of regulatory control of industries. Look no further than Barney Frank asking the companies he regulated to hire his SO.
A balance of power between multiple branches and levels of government, and aka oversight, can mitigate that.
Not perfect, but neither is nonregulation.
There is no perfect solution, and complain as I do, we still have something good and fixable.
In general I prefer less regulation and smaller government so we can let the market handle resource allocation for us. The less pie for the govt to waste, the better we are.
I believe regulation is definitely needed where there are externalities: pollution, access to education, basic r and d...
