In yesterday’s post, from a PBS special which aired in 1982, we learned that it is better to be a cab driver in Washington D.C. than it is in Philadelphia, Pa. Well, the big government Democrats in D.C. are about to change all of that. They are about to pass a new law which would regulate about a third of D.C.’s cab drivers out of business. Thanks to the left’s, “looking out for the little guy,” it will now be possible for large companies to buy the limited amount of cab licenses, lease them out at their choosing, and make Millions without owning a single cab. The increased cost for the cab companies who own businesses based solely on trading the newly formed medallions, well the consumer will get to pay that. This video is the perfect example of what government regulation does to all of us, and it does this every day in ways that we have hidden from us.
I realize that some very limited regulation is necessary. Those which prevent fraud, promote transparency, and in the very few industries where standards of ability need to be guaranteed. (Medical Doctors and pilots being the only real examples I can think of for now.) The D.C. cab example is very clearly a way for a politician to make a buddy rich by screwing an entire city a very little bit at a time. They figure, and so far they’ve been correct, that if they only steal a couple of pennies from at a time from each citizen, then no one will get angry enough to do anything about it. This is not capitalism, competition, or anything resembling a free market, which is what their slickly worded media campaign is claiming it to be. What it is is crony capitalism, where a politically appointed panel of bureaucrats get to pick the economies winners and losers based on nefarious considerations. This type of big government overreach is the reason why Boeing can not open a plant to build airplanes in South Carolina. It is the reason why tens of thousands of previously high paid oil rig workers in Louisiana have lost their jobs. It is one of the reasons why our economy is in such bad shape today. November of 2012, that is the time we can reverse this national damage.
Cross Posted at Musings of a Mad Conservative.
Tags: D.C. Cabs, Government Regulation
