Why Government Regulation is Necessary

Here are a couple of arguments against government regulation that I've seen thrown around the internet and from people I personally know such as coworkers and why I think they're wrong. I'm curious about /newpol/'s position on this.

1. If agencies like the EPA and FDA were disbanded companies would not do things like destroy the environment and sell toxic substances as food and hygiene products because if they did, consumers would be outraged and not buy their products.

My response: Every time a large company decided to cut corners then much damage could potentially be done to the environment and many people harmed before their actions were recognized and anything done about it. Its better for these things to be monitored so that at least some of this stuff gets stopped before it has a chance to harm lots of people. Americans still buy Chinese products even though Chinese companies do things that they should not.

2. If there were no minimum wage then businesses would still pay a decent living wage because they want to attract the best workers and because it is in the best interests for businesses to maintain a large pool of people that can afford to buy the products and services they provide.

My response: Businesses do not seriously compete for talent for many if not most jobs. They do for specialized jobs that require lots of education, training, or experience but not for factory workers, store clerks, and lawncare or farm workers. Without a minimum wage huge numbers of workers would not be paid reasonably because they are not considered skilled. This was demonstrated back when there were no unions and factory workes worked in dangerous conditions hardly being paid enough to live. Even though they are unskilled they still should be paid a living wage because they do important jobs. Many businesses hire illegal workers or send their production overseas for cheaper labour and do not pay their employees enough to buy the products that they are making. They are made to be bought by other people that make more money. Nothing is wrong with making high quality products that factory workers cannot afford to buy, but this does show that businesses will rely on other sectors do generate demand for their products and will not necessarily keep their own wages reasonably high just to increase their employees' purchasing power.

Statements 1 and 2 are not strawmen, I've heard both these positions taken by multiple people.  So what are /newpol/'s thoughts?

>>11

If we're in agreement that there are companies that do things that could be harmful to people or the nation and both realize that the free market doesn't fix this issue on its own do to ignorance, laziness, or lack of morals on the part of consumers then why shouldn't the government get involved? I've heard people make the argument that the government shouldn't regulate businesses because the free market is good at fixing problems. You're pretty much admitting that there are issues that the free market does not properly address, but still think the government should do nothing about. This makes no sense to me, societies ought to at least try and deal with problems that they encounter instead of just accepting that thats just how things are and letting them continue or potentially get worse. I know a guy who said that the Russian and Japanese governments should not pay people to have more kids and that the Indian and Chinese governments should not pay people to have fewer kids because regulating birth rates is not the governments job. He acknowledges that these countries have serious or even catastrohic demographic problems but does not think its right for the governments to be involved simply on principal, no matter what this ends up doing to the countries. Aren't you applying the same logic to the economy?

>>13

Thats great as long as there are plenty of jobs, but its not so great when there is a job shortage at home. Also,the money that goes to paying foreign employees leaves the American economy and is spent by those employees in their home countries.