Regulations and other insanities

Reading about the difference between eggs in the US and in the UK is a cautionary tale of regulations run amok.  Having grown up on a chicken farm in the 1950s, I remember grading eggs in a cool basement under one of the coops.  We gently washed the eggs and stored them at room temperature until they were picked up or we delivered them.  An occasional spot of chicken poop was removed with a thumbnail wash and I don't recall many people complaining.   The chickens, while mostly kept indoors had plenty of room to roam and the handmade laying nests were checked morning and evening for new additions.  As far as I know, there was little regulation.  Fast forward to today.  Chickens in the US basically live and die in a cage they can barely turn around in.  They have become egg laying machines.  The eggs are washed and sanitized in 90 degree water and refrigerated from that point on.  The shells are scrubbed and the cuticle which defends the egg from contamination is removed.  The Brits still do their eggs mostly the way we did 50 years ago.  According to taste tests, anyone can tell the difference.  The big problem is price.  To do what we did when I was a kid, the price of eggs would have to be $6.00-$8.00 per dozen.  Would anyone pay that price for good eggs?