Unpopular opinion time! As I've gotten older, I've gotten a little softer on the hard-line libertarian "Keep your damn regs off my car, I'll throw tires in bonfires if I want, THE ATMOSPHERE IS MY TRASH CAN!"
Okay, I never really believed the last bit. But I did rather disagree with sweeping environmental regulations that impose massive costs on us, the end consumers. Let the consumers make their choices, and keep the government out of it.
But when I'm driving down the road and I'm behind:
- A beater 90's Honda the driver of which spent thousands on aftermarket bolt on crap, but couldn't be bothered to replace the valve seals that are dumping oil into the cylinders
- Someone that's irresponsible enough to think illegally modifying their diesel truck and "rolling coal" has any redeeming value.
- Someone who you can tell, by smell, doesn't have a catalytic converter
- Old diesel triaxles that billow clouds of incomplete combustion when they accelerate
...or countless other examples, I think that maybe I don't really want this crap in the air I'm breathing?
Free-market capitalism doesn't do a good job of dealing with negative externalities.