How the State destroys

Zoning, licenses, legal inspections, and building codes destroy entrepreneurship and competition. So it goes in Newmarket. The owner is fighting back.

I'm not quibbling over whether this coffee shop has the right or wrong license. I'm arguing the very existence of the license. Why in the world does the State need to extort money from someone to run a business? Well, t's a nice tax stream for bureaucrats. And, it's a good way for people to use the strong arm of the law to knock down competition in the market.

In the world of voluntary exchange, all you have to ask is: is this business turning a profit? If so, it is satisfying consumers' demands. All these legal hoops reduce consumer satisfaction by increasing the cost of doing business.

"But wait," you say, "think of the children! If not for the State, we'd all be eating e.coli from dirty dishes!" Unlikely, for at least two reasons. First, even a whiff of foul play is terrible advertising--I am curious to know what damage the linked article above might do. Second, without government regulation, people wouldn't be so complacent about assuming that food is safe to eat. There probably would be a great demand for voluntary consumer reporting. In fact there already is: tripadvisor, yelp, google reviews, facebook reviews...all pro bono work, by the way, with no cut of the tax loot.

We don't need no stinkin' State.