Perhaps he's empathic enough to realize what it's like to have few choices, then have a well-meaning but paternalistic social reformer swoop in and take some of those choices away, pat you on the head, and drive off back to his nice neighborhood.
There's another way of thinking about it, that involves no paternalistic behavior. The government forces you to put an accurate price on transactions. For example, say you have a year-old good-condition car. As I understand it, you can sell it for around what it's worth, considering circumstances, or you can give it away, but you can't sell it for $50.
