{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Killing Innovation","description":"The economic fallout from COVID-19 is highlighting one challenge that entrepreneurs face all time: regulation stifles innovation. Entrenched interests You don\u2019t have to look farther than the recipient list of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan program to see how even well intentioned regulations \u2014 in this case, to protect small businesses from collapsing \u2014 end up serving entrenched interests far more than the people they purport to help. Among the list are Kanye West, Grover Norquist\u2019s  Americans for Tax Reform Foundation, perhaps most galling, the Ayn Rand Institute. Especially in a crisis, people look to regulations as the solution. But added regulation almost never helps the entrepreneur just starting out who wants to build a better economic future for their family. Instead, it favors the entrenched interests who can afford to lobby government officials. Via negativa Most often the solution is not additive. Rather, it\u2019s what Nassim Taleb calls via negativa \u2014 it\u2019s removing something often actually makes things more possible rather than adding another benefit to people.  I couldn\u2019t schedule a dentist appointment for a period of time here in Colorado, but I could go to the pot shop. That\u2019s the result of lobbying power. That regulation is not protecting my health as much as it\u2019s protecting the entrenched interests of the pot industry. CEO bailout We bailed out the airlines, and in exchange they agreed to keep all employees on until the end of September, at which point they\u2019ll lay them off. So we essentially took Americans\u2019 money and set it on fire by filtering the dollars through the airlines.  Theoretically it helps employees, but only a little bit and for a little period of time. In reality it helps the CEOs who\u2019ve made terrible decisions for a decade.   Resources Three Felonies a Day, by Harvey Silverglate ","author_name":"Smith Sense","author_url":"http:\/\/smithsense.com","html":"