[Nursie]

> the consumer will decide what they want to buy

Except people don't actually buy in a way that's consistent with enlightened self interest, making the free market at best a poor approximation to reality.

Consumers buy what's advertised, what's 'influenced', what their friends have and what's shiny, ahead of what might actually be useful for them. Micro-level decisions people make rarely take into account macro-level consequences.

This is not to say I think regulation is an amazing solution to everything, but more that I think there is a religiosity to free-market proponents that credits market participants and markets themselves with more than their due.