We libertarians are nuts for thinking that the free market could police the safety of products–right? Only government can do that, after all. Greedy profiteers care only about the bottom line, not about their customers.

Well, Wal-Mart is now instituting its own quality standards for products made in China, going far beyond the Chinese and U.S. governments’ regulations. After all, Wal-Mart has far more to lose if the products its sells harm its customers than any government has.Meanwhile, what is the U.N.’s proposed solution to the problem of tainted products from China? What else? More government regulation!

In its report released Wednesday, the United Nations recommended that China tighten oversight focusing on high-risk areas of the food chain, have an all-encompassing food safety law that would cover the whole industry and hold businesses responsible for the products they sell. . . .

Additionally, China needs a unified regulatory agency, the report said, and a place consumers can go for reliable information. The task is currently split between different government agencies, creating uneven enforcement that is further complicated by numerous laws.

People foolishly trusted government regulators to protect them, and Wal-Mart is stepping into the breach to provide genuine protection, while the U.N. just prattles on about the same old failed government “solutions.” Yeah, we libertarians are just a bunch of utopian nuts for trusting the market over the state.