Posted on 11/08/2011 4:03:03 AM PST by Kaslin
The liberals amongst us will offer this up as “proof” of the “value” of government regulation. I kid you not.
There is a rationale for licensing businesses. There is no rationale for stifling competition.
“No one has to invest a fortune to get the government’s OK to sell tacos or put out a newspaper or practice podiatry”
For now.
Try practicing medicine without a state license, try selling a taco without the state health department's approval and I'm sure there are government hoops to be jumped through to publish a newspaper. Everything is regulated and taxed by government from the smallest local government to the fed.
See #6.
” There is a rationale for licensing businesses. There is no rationale for stifling competition. “
One often seems to lead to the other...
“Just as ‘Democracy can only survive until the populace discovers it can vote itself largesse from the public coffers’, ‘Capitalism can only survive until businesses discover they can coopt the power of Government for competitive advantage’....
There is no rationale for having to get permission from the government to make a living.
We have crony capitalism. Which protects established businesses from any upstarts. And they pay the politicians a handsome fee for “protection.”
One hand washes the other in America.
Yes, easily. If the operators of such business at point X bought enough politicians, it would suddenly become a major public safety issue to limit the number of shoe stores. And the supply of accountants is limited by the cost of CPA licensing, rather than by market forces.
What about health, safety and customer service requirements? The government has a role to play to ensure businesses are honest and serve the community.
What it doesn’t have the right to do is to make requirements so prohibitive that no one can make a living.
In Latin countries, you have la mordida but at least its done in the open. Payoffs just make things regular. Here the corruption is concealed by the hand of government interfering in the market to ensure winners and losers. Its far from being a free market.
Though I agree with the sentiment of the article, this statement is not exactly true. Car Services (radio dispatched) have filled this nitche for decades.
From wiki; "While medallion taxicabs in New York are always yellow, car service vehicles may be any color but yellow, and are usually black. For this reason, these taxi operators are sometimes called “black car” services. Despite the de jure prohibition on picking up passengers who hail on the street, some livery cabs nevertheless do so anyway, often to make extra money. When a livery cab engages in street pick-ups, it becomes known as a "gypsy cab." They are often found in areas not routinely visited by medallion cabs, and authorities tend to turn a blind eye to the practice rather than leave sections of the city without cab service."
In crony capitalism, just like in Communism, the authorities can’t regulate everything. There will always be a black market and eliminating it is impossible. Jailing people for making a living is usually more of a warning not to encroach on official turf. Apart from that people engaged in illicit economic activity can do as they please.
I don’t see how someone can pay a million dollars for a medallion and on top of the costs of operating a cab, make a living. It doesn’t compute
I could see it if the medallion would have been made out of Platinum, but Aluminum? Noway
If NYC can put these puppies on the market and even get away with charging 500,000 bucks for one, NEVER, EVER AGAIN will I listen to ONE SINGLE WHINE about NYC running out of cash!!!
Let the garbage pile up past the first floor! They have control of their destiny!
The cab scene in Manhattan is a wreck.
The power to regulate, tax, or license is the power to destroy. How does regulating taxis benefit the public? Barbers and hairdressers are licensed in many states. As are nail technicians, massage therapists, and daycares. Is the public interest being served by all this “oversight”? Or is it just a modern form of the guild, and a revenue generator for bureaucrats?
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