A Sign of Over-Regulation of Financial Matters

We are told that regulation is important to prevent financial meltdowns. Much of what we get, however, does very, very little, to prevent this. What it does is add to the cost of government and to the services for which we pay.

Today’s example: A booklet a mutual fund company has to send to its investors, entitled “Privacy.” It has to do with how they share information with third parties. How many investors must be told this information periodically? Are they really interested to know this? Over and over again?

This information already is in the regulations, and investors take much of the tiny-print they do not understand for granted.

One thing is certain, aside from the government appearing to be doing something: Each notification comes, eventually, from the investor’s pocket.

This is all the doing of government regulation, not the fund’s idea, I can assure you.