Government Regulation Licenses to Control Everything

Goodness!  What we have hear is the political class saying the general public is to stupid to make decisions on their own, and the general public believing they can't make these decisions because they are too stupid or unqualified to know what's best for them.


The bottom line here should be 'buyer beware'. One should always be aware of someone that is looking to take advantage of your ignorance. In other words, the citizen has to take responsibility for their own action and decisions.

To think that every decisions that we make, down here in the trenches, has to be prefaced by some government regulation or license is nonsense. This is just a tool of the politicians to keep control of everything we do and to stymie independent thought. Individuals that think on their own will probably vote out these power brokers in the next election and that's unacceptable. 


After we get burned once or twice, it will be a good lesson on how the world actually works, and those of us that learn from our mistakes, the future will be much brighter. For those that get burned over and over again, good luck feeding your self.

Licensed to Decorate
Source: Matthew Yglesias, "Licensed to Decorate," Slate, May 20, 2012.

A recent survey conducted by the Kauffman Foundation in partnership with Thumbtack.com found that state occupational licensing requirements impose a substantial burden on businesses, especially small ones, says Matthew Yglesias, Slate Magazine's business and economics correspondent.

•A recent comprehensive survey of state licensing practices by the Institute for Justice reveals little consistency or coherent purpose behind most licensing.
•Nevada, Louisiana, Florida and the District of Columbia, for example, all require aspiring interior designers to undergo 2,190 hours of training and apprenticeship and pass an exam before practicing.
•In the other 47 states, meanwhile, there's no legal training requirement.
•Similarly, New York barbers need 884 days of education and apprenticeship before they can practice, whereas New Jersey requires only 280 days and Alabama has no requirement at all.

Not all licensing requirements necessitate training or experience -- many simply place conditions on what type of person may apply. Becoming a locksmith, for example, requires a high school diploma in New Jersey or 21 years of age in Oklahoma. States should ask themselves if these requirements are worth it if they define broad swathes of unemployed workers out of vital labor markets.

Additionally, researchers have noted that these licensing requirements are spreading rapidly.

•Morris Kleiner of the University of Minnesota and Alan Krueger of Princeton University have found that in the early 1950s, less than 5 percent of the population worked in occupations covered by state licensing rules.
•Today it is well over 20 percent.
•Perhaps most essential here is that many of the occupations that are newly licensed should not need regulation -- being a below-average interior decorator, for example, undermines the decorator's ability to get future business.

States should seriously reconsider the proliferation of these licensing requirements, taking into account their negative impacts on employees and small employers.