Public Choice Theory

[The Man in Black]

For those of you who don't know what this means, it's basically the idea that public officials who set economic policies and regulations act in their own self-interest just like the firms they regulate. This implies their predictability in economics, just like we can predict moves of companies in economics.

So what I'm asking here is do you think all or most politicians/policy makers/government officials act in their own self-interest? They obviously have to to some extent, but are all of them simply predictable? I'd say no, but it's gotten to the point where lobbyists nearly run the corporate regulation world. The idea here is that the government undergoes "government failure" in which it becomes literally the "tool" of rent-seeking firms to maximize profits and decrease consumer welfare/efficiency. Do you think this is incredibly widespread? I do. What measures corrective measures, if any, should be taken for the future? Should government take a minimalistic approach to the economy, or should it keep all regulatory powers it has now?