For those of you looking for a concrete example of the staggering cost of regulation, I've got one for you today. It turns out the trucking industry is about to be hit with new regulations requiring all companies to digitize the logs they use to track driver miles.

The U.S. trucking industry, already suffering from a shortage of around 30,000 drivers, is highly fragmented. Many of those who transport our goods around the U.S. are independent operators or work for small trucking firms. This means many small, independent drivers and companies will unable to comply with the new regulations and will either be purchased by larger companies or will simply go out of business.

It's just one of the ways companies use government and its power to regulate to protect themselves from competition and limit the number of companies in the market.

This particular regulation has some added consequences as well like reducing driver productivity. This requires trucking companies to hire additional drivers (drivers they can't find) to transport the same amount of goods.

All of the extra cost that comes from decreased productivity and increased regulatory burden will eventually be passed on to you, the consumer. Higher prices on the goods you buy and less money in your pocket. All so the government can save an estimated 26 lives per year.

All that and much much more today on the show.

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