“A cosmetology license requires ’25 weeks [of training], more than an EMT, certified nursing assistant or truck driver.’ Ducey views the cosmetology board as ‘bullies’ and is urging the passage of Ugenti-Rita’s bill, which would make it easier to obtain a license.”
Read more: https://fee.org/articles/arizonas-licensing-laws-may-be-getting-a-trim/
“Occupational licensing is corrupt and idiotic. It’s idiotic because no one needs a license to braid hair, arrange flowers, or do interior decorating, or 300 hours of training to shampoo hair, all real examples of occupations subject to licensure. And it’s corrupt because although it’s couched in language about protecting the consumer, it’s actually about fleecing consumers and protecting existing players from competition via government power.”
“The new study adds to the already substantial evidence indicating that licensing laws are a major obstacle to geographic mobility, particularly for poor and lower-middle class people seeking to move to areas with greater opportunity. We have gotten to the point where some 30 percent of Americans have to have licenses to legally work in their respective fields, including even some states that license florists and tour guides. The evidence also suggests that most of these laws do far more to suppress competition than protect consumers.”
“The judge had particularly harsh words for Hall, who indicated in emails that it would be ‘financially disastrous’ for residents to try to improve their homes, because the homes would be demolished anyway. Such statements, coupled with the city’s policy of not levying fines against LLC-owned homes, undermine the goal of maintaining safety, Mount said.”
“Special interests argue that occupational licensing somehow protects people, yet we have real-world examples for all 102 professions of states that have zero licensing restrictions and we don’t have examples of people dying or being harmed because of unregulated florists or rogue cosmetologists.”
Read more: https://fee.org/articles/occupational-licensing-is-just-another-form-of-cronyism/
“It is this licensing which, in some cases, forced students to rack up student debt in the first place to satisfy these barriers to entry. Now, these roadblocks are contributing to unemployment.”
Read more: https://fee.org/articles/the-states-war-on-student-debtors-is-heating-up/
“The law was the crowning achievement of a multifaceted campaign by the drug industry to weaken aggressive DEA enforcement efforts against drug distribution companies that were supplying corrupt doctors and pharmacists who peddled narcotics to the black market. The industry worked behind the scenes with lobbyists and key members of Congress, pouring more than a million dollars into their election campaigns.”
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/investigations/dea-drug-industry-congress/
“A measure extending the bank through 2019 was included in a massive transportation bill that cleared the House and Senate Thursday and is expected to be signed by President Barack Obama. The small federal agency makes and guarantees loans to help foreign customers buy U.S. exports. Business groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce say it’s necessary for U.S. competitiveness, since most overseas competitors rely on similar government help. But conservatives decry the bank as corporate welfare and government interference in the free market. A rarely used procedure in the House forced a floor vote on the bank over the objections of top GOP leaders.”
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-export-import-bank-20151204-story.html
“While the focus among vaunted ‘civil libertarians’ is the resentencing and mandatory minimums, the fact is that the Hammonds should never have been prosecuted to begin with. Their long agony is a clear case of government persecution motivated by avarice and politics—for this is a warning to anyone who opposes the federal government’s campaign to retain and expand its ownership of huge swathes of Western land. They currently control more than 80 percent of Nevada; approximately half of California, Utah, Oregon, Idaho, Arizona, and New Mexico; 42 percent of Wyoming; 36 percent of Colorado; and 30 percent of Washington and Montana. And they want more.”
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/what-is-the-oregon-standoff-really-about/
“In 2015, the iron fist of power clamped down on humanity, from warfare to terrorism (I repeat myself) to surveillance, police brutality, and corporate hegemony. The environment was repeatedly decimated, the health of citizens was constantly put at risk, and the justice system and media alike were perverted to serve the interests of the powers that be. However, while 2015 was discouraging for more reasons than most of us can count, many of the year’s most underreported stories evidence not only a widespread pattern that explicitly reveals the nature of power, but pushback from human beings worldwide on a path toward a better world.”
http://theantimedia.org/15-news-stories-from-2015-you-should-have-heard-about-but-probably-didnt/