BrianGarst.com

Progress is a near constant in human affairs. In some times and places it occurs much faster than in others, but human beings tend to naturally seek ways to better our lives. Government certainly plays a role, and is often the institution that is being improved. Some of us have progressed from tyrannical dictatorships to representative government, for instance, and thus bettering the existence of the people living under those governments. We’ve also progressed through our governments via the establishment of basic rule of law, which has allowed economies to flourish.

Government is also a double-edged sword. It carries with it significant power to move backwards not found elsewhere in human society. A free economy, once established with property rights and contract enforcement, will progress at tremendous rate when left alone. Nor is any captain needed to helm the economy. Yet politicians will invariably try to steer economies anyway, seeking to create winners and losers of their own choosing for their own selfish (electoral) reasons. A consequences of this interference is negative progress, where not only does progress in a certain area stall, but our standard of living is actually reduced over time.

Consider this recent example of such meddling from the Wall Street Journal:

It might not have been the most stylish, but for decades the top-loading laundry machine was the most affordable and dependable. Now it’s ruined—and Americans have politics to thank.

In 1996, top-loaders were pretty much the only type of washer around, and they were uniformly high quality. When Consumer Reports tested 18 models, 13 were “excellent” and five were “very good.” By 2007, though, not one was excellent and seven out of 21 were “fair” or “poor.” This month came the death knell: Consumer Reports simply dismissed all conventional top-loaders as “often mediocre or worse.”

…The federal government first issued energy standards for washers in the early 1990s. When the Department of Energy ratcheted them up a decade later, it was the beginning of the end for top-loaders. Their costlier and harder-to-use rivals—front-loading washing machines—were poised to dominate.

…When the Department of Energy began raising the standard, it promised that “consumers will have the same range of clothes washers as they have today,” and cleaning ability wouldn’t be changed. That’s not how it turned out.

In 2007, after the more stringent rules had kicked in, Consumer Reports noted that some top-loaders were leaving its test swatches “nearly as dirty as they were before washing.” “For the first time in years,” CR said, “we can’t call any washer a Best Buy.” Contrast that with the magazine’s 1996 report that, “given warm enough water and a good detergent, any washing machine will get clothes clean.” Those were the good old days.