Market Regulation and Golf in Florida

Florida can be a risky place.  One story on the radio was of a jogger in Miami who went too close to the bushes alongside a mid-city canal and got snapped up by an alligator.  Likewise there are stories of golfers on bayou courses who go looking for that lost ball in the undergrowth and end up losing their best Calloway driver in a fight against one of those living dinosaurs. 

Now, when you’re up to your neck in alligators, you don’t tend to appreciate someone suggesting that, rather than using your No.3 driver, you might be better off using your mashy-niblick!  You’re not short of clubs – you’re real problem is that you’re a bit long in alligators! 

Likewise with market regulations.  The Financial Services industry today is not short of regulations.  Suggesting that the industry needs more rules and more detailed rules is somewhat like suggesting that the alligator-fighting golfer should really be paying more attention to his interlocking grip.  What would perhaps be more appreciated would be someone keeping the alligators off the green in the first place. 

Adding more rules to the game doesn’t necessarily make the game better – it often just makes it more complex.  Policing the rules makes the game better.  Without policing of the rules, the rules have no value in the first place.  Without effective policing, alligators rule!