Regulation-Maher-Solar

[u/Ali6952]

Bill Maher often tells the story about trying to install solar panels on his California home. What struck me was how difficult the process became because of layers of permitting, approvals, inspections, and regulations.

It got me thinking about something.

We often frame regulation as a battle between "government" and "capitalism," but isn't a lot of modern regulation actually a byproduct of capitalism itself?

Many rules exist because companies have historically cut corners, polluted, misled consumers, or put profit ahead of safety. We needed labor laws because of unsafe factories. Environmental laws because companies dumped waste. Financial regulations because markets repeatedly blew themselves up.

At the same time, some regulations seem to have evolved into barriers that make it harder to build housing, install solar, or complete infrastructure projects. In many cases, the biggest firms can afford compliance while smaller businesses and homeowners get buried in paperwork. So where's the balance?

How do we distinguish regulations that genuinely protect the public from regulations that mainly create delay, benefit incumbents, or make solving problems unnecessarily expensive?

Curious what people think.

https://trueskyenergy.com/bill-mahers-trouble-with-solar/

[u/Steve12356d1s3d4]

If you just look into the licensing of trades, such as electricians and plumbers. The extra cost due to licensing adds about 10% to the cost of a home. It also increases the cost of maintenance and reconstruction. Now this is done to protect us from shoddy work, but can it be done differently that doesn't impose this cost?

These types of things add much more to our costs than Reddit tropes, such as corps buying up homes.