We Write Letters

And sometimes they get published:

Editor:

Debra J. Saunders ("Harry beats Goliath," Feb. 10), draws a very peculiar conclusion from the saga of Bernie Madoff: that "regulation, too, can fail."

I would suggest a more precise and useful conclusion: that when regulation is put in the hands of people who are ideologically hostile to regulation, it is guaranteed to fail.

TOM HILTON
San Francisco

Of course, to Republicans that's a feature, not a bug; the guaranteed failure of their own efforts is what allows supporters like Saunders to say regulation doesn't work.