The NBA’s Hong Kong Fiasco, the Boeing 737 Crashes, & the Opioid Crisis Prove De-regulation Must End: Corporations Cannot Be Trusted to Prioritize Ethics over Profit

Shammas, Michael. "The NBA's Hong Kong Fiasco, The Boeing 737 Crashes, & the Opioid Crisis Prove De-Regulation Must End; Corporations Cannot Be Trusted to Prioritize Ethics Over Profit." The Good Men Project, 13 Nov. 2019. (Revised 23 Nov. 2019).

3 Pages Posted: 11 Dec 2019

See all articles by Michael Shammas

Michael Shammas

New York University School of Law; Tulane University School of Law; Harvard Law School

Date Written: November 23, 2019

Abstract

Our problems today seem complicated. Climate change. An obscene gap between rich and poor. Unjust wars fought as much for profit as for geopolitical gain. Religious and racial radicalism. Abusive employers and overworked employees. The roots of so many of these issues are obvious; they are those identified by most wisdom traditions as vices, things like greed, envy, etc.

Unfortunately, even though the fundamental solution is a reorientation in values, humans are imperfect. So until universal enlightenment, we only worsen our problems by de-regulating government and forgetting the fundamental truth that, as James Madison knew, “all men” are far from “angels,” and government is therefore absolutely essential to ensure that life doesn’t become (to echo Hobbes) “nasty, brutish, and short.”

Slavery didn’t end because of an unregulated free market. It ended because of the 13th amendment. Child labor didn’t end because of an unregulated free market. It ended because workers and unions lobbied for laws to stop greedy old men from abusing their souls, bodies, and spirits. And so on.

So the problem is simple: Human evil. The solution is simple: good policy, good laws, the “wise restraints that make us free.” Institutions — not private ones, but public ones guided by morality instead of profit.

Keywords: the wise restraints that make use free, law, elizabeth warrren, bernie sanders, nba, hong kong, opoid crisis, boieng 737 max, tort deform, tort reform, good men project, michael shammas, profit motive, government regulation, free market, laissez-faire, de-regulation, regulations, mixed economies

Suggested Citation

Shammas, Michael, The NBA’s Hong Kong Fiasco, the Boeing 737 Crashes, & the Opioid Crisis Prove De-regulation Must End: Corporations Cannot Be Trusted to Prioritize Ethics over Profit (November 23, 2019). Shammas, Michael. "The NBA's Hong Kong Fiasco, The Boeing 737 Crashes, & the Opioid Crisis Prove De-Regulation Must End; Corporations Cannot Be Trusted to Prioritize Ethics Over Profit." The Good Men Project, 13 Nov. 2019. (Revised 23 Nov. 2019). , Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3492214

Michael Shammas (Contact Author)

New York University School of Law ( email )

Wilf Hall
40 Washington Square South
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504-756-9100 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://www.civiljuryproject.law.nyu.edu/

Tulane University School of Law ( email )

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New Orleans, LA 70118
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Harvard Law School ( email )

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HOME PAGE: http://https://hls.harvard.edu/

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