Somewhere along the way, during the last 50 years, the critique of capitalism changed from condemning its failure to spread the wealth to condemning the very opposite. Suddenly the great sin of capitalism was that it was producing too much, making us all too materialistic, fueling economic growth at the expense of other values, spreading middle-class decadence, and generally causing society to be too caught up in productivity and too focused on the standard of living.

This is from Jeffrey A. Tucker, “The Decivlilizing Effects of Government.” Tucker gives chapter and verse on how governments are making it illegal for us to have some of the comforts of civilization, from relief from bedbugs to nice, strong showers.

Another paragraph:

The New York Times had a headline story on how the return of bedbugs has baffled scientists. Later in the article, however, the text says that chemicals can control them, but that all those chemicals are currently banned. Well, if the answer is before us but we are forbidden by government to use that answer, or retailers and exterminators are too intimidated by the threatening political culture to take the risk, I don’t see that there is much reason to be baffled by the problem. What is it about cause and effect that these people do not understand?

The whole thing is worth reading.