[crazy_geek]

I find it interesting that when the government distorts a market via pricing controls, taxes, or other means, the law of unintended consequences almost inevitably kicks in and it's result is either "bad luck" or calls to "fill in the loopholes!" Distort the market and people are rational-enough agents and will change their behavior, just not necessarily entirely in the way you hope/want. There is no free lunch.

Either the economic distortion makes it cost-effective to pay people to find ways to dodge the distortion and come up with strange, but legal, means to avoid it, or there are shortages, or the price of things go up.

It's like trying to squish one part of a water balloon -- the other part of the balloon will deform in some way.

Some examples: "The Double Irish arrangement" for tax avoidance, ObamaCare effectively limiting part timers to 30 (or 35, I forget which) hours/week, or strict zoning laws causing property values to skyrocket due to lack of supply of housing in SF.