Ed Markey: “I hate to say this because there is a bit of the capitalist, the unregulated capitalist in all of us. But when I had my…”

“I hate to say this because there is a bit of the capitalist, the unregulated capitalist in all of us. But when I had my Fudgsicles, my chocolate eclairs, my strawberry shortcakes, my twin fudges, and Mr. Softie wasn't coming down the same street, there is a tendency to try to raise the price because there is no one else in the market and there is no regulator going up and down those streets. And if you are outside Fenway Park and there are 35,000 fans coming out and there is no regulator around to say what you can charge as an audience is coming toward you in desperate need of a Popsicle, of a Fudgsicle or a Coke, you have a tendency without a regulator to charge unconscionably high prices. Now at the time, I didn't think of it that way because, of course, the capitalist never thinks that way. That is why you need regulators to protect consumers against anyone who is selling any product in the marketplace. And that's the lesson I learned. And I decided early, I was not going to do that any longer, I was going to move over to the regulatory side to protect consumers against human nature that sometimes can affect certain corporate chieftains, especially in the oil industry, to tip consumers upside down and take advantage of them.”