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One enduring theme of American economic history has been a continuous debate about when, and how extensively, government should intervene in business affairs. American history has seen the pendulum swing between laissez-faire principles and demands for government regulation. Liberals and conservatives alike have sought to reduce or eliminate some categories of economic regulation, both agreeing that the regulations wrongly protected companies from competition at the expense of consumers. Laissez-faire is the French term for "leave …

…that the economy operates best when government leaves businesses and individuals to succeed or fail on their own qualities in open, competitive markets. But exactly how "free" is business in America's free enterprise system? The answer is, not completely. A complex web of government regulations shapes many aspects of business operations. Every year, the government produces thousands of pages of new regulations, often spelling out in detail exactly what businesses can and can not do.