It’s a protection racket
Dentists lobby for rules that prevent dental hygienists from performing teeth-whitening; the lawyers guild sustains extortionate rates in part by making sure that less-credentialed workers are blocked from performing even basic administrative legal tasks; college administrators earn top-flight salaries while the federally-enforced accreditation system suppresses alternative education models; the American Medical Association strains to minimize the scope of work available to nurses and nurse practitioners; and hedge fund managers push finance regulations make sure they have a leg up on less-sophisticated investors.
March 30th, 2016 at 8:27 pm
It may be “Cronyism” but whatever resemblance it bears to capitalism I fail to see. I thought capitalism was simply the equal protection of human rights, and so what you’re describing would be the opposite of capitalism.
Then again; I don’t recall where the American founders ever used the word “capitalism”. It sounds like something a Progressive made up as a way to make what would otherwise simply be called “liberty” appear to be a sinister plot against the poor by the evil rich.
So anyway; what the fuck are we even talking about, really? Some of us want to be left un-fucked with and to leave other people un-fucked with in a mutually un-fucked with society, and that’s “capitalism” but when people are fucking with each other like crazy, we call it some other form of “capitalism”.
Forgive me if I don’t play along with the ruse.
March 30th, 2016 at 11:23 pm
And of course electricians, plumbers, roofers, GC’s, and other tradesmen protect their exorbitant fees by pressuring licensing and permitting boards to limit handymen doing basic work?
March 31st, 2016 at 12:01 am
I can speak on the lawyer part and it’s ridiculous how protected it is. You know what a law degree gives you? The opportunity to take another test. One that only test that you have a a minimal understanding of the subject matter. Until you pass that test, anyone who tells someone “the law says” you are setting yourself up for jail time. Stupid.
March 31st, 2016 at 9:42 am
The law and medicine should be treated as trades and require (maybe) a 4 year degree, short apprenticeship and a test. It’s how it is done in most countries and it works fine.
March 31st, 2016 at 11:39 am
Were it not for the lawyers, medicine would be practiced much more rationally in the United States. So we are back to determining who goes up against the wall first, rather than arguing about trades limiting competition.
March 31st, 2016 at 4:46 pm
@mikee, no love lost for esq’s for me mikee, but still there’s a cause and effect thing going on, lawyers are needed to deal with deciperhing the labyrinth of medicine and other trades, of course the laws governing all are mostly created by lawyers for lawyers so…
And I wasn’t much ragging on trades so much as tweaking unc on the pot/kettle black thing.
March 31st, 2016 at 7:26 pm
Yup. True story. I’m a CPA also. I’ve never in my life done taxes, not even my own. I was a financial guy. Some random protectionist thing was passed requiring a certification to do tax work. A girl working for me had done taxes for over 20 years. And ran our tax department. She was not a CPA but college educated and learned on the job. I, who only knew enough about taxes to pass the CPA exam, could “do our taxes”. But the woman who filed tens of thousands of returns could not.