Richard J Kinch wrote in message ...
bill writes:

"Protecting the consumer" and "raising standards of professionalism" is
precisely why we have licensing.

No, those things are perfectly well achieved with voluntary standards that
intelligent people can pay for if they choose.

Thanks, you just made me blow Coke out of my nose. You owe me a
nnnneeeewwww kkkkkkkkeeeeeyyyyybbbbbbooooaaarrrrddd.

Time and again it has been shown that even intelligent people can be
at a loss in an area outside their expertise. Without being an expert
in HVAC or some close-related engineering field, how is one qualified
to judge whether the unlicensed "contractor" standing before him is
competent to be entrusted with the potential bomb in the basement? As
intrusive as I find the government system of licensing, inspections
etc., it has its purpose. I'm not so much worried about blowing up my
own house or whatever, because I am qualifed to do the work myself or
to judge who can. However I'm damn glad that my clueless neighbor
can't buy his own HVAC system or hire some complete nincompoop to do
it for him. You see, I just don't want to come home and find the
remnants of his house all over my property. This isn't about
protecting the consumer, it's about protecting me from other
"consumers."

When the government forbids, ultimately with threats of force, a willing
buyer and willing seller to exchange in an honest transaction, because of a
lack of a trade license, then that has nothing to do with consumer
protection or professionalism. It is motivated by greed, of the tradesman
who benefits from higher prices and less competition, and of the politician
who gains a moneyed special interest.

Absolutely no benefit to society at large, nope, not a bit, no lives
have ever been spared by restricting certain kinds of work to those
qualified to do it, nuh uh, never, nada, nyet.

In the extreme, the government itself will decide who will do the work and
tax us to pay for it, like the public schools.

That has happened, or something like it as I understand, in the case
of septic systems in some locales. People got tired of swimming in the
neighbor's ****, complained to the lawmakers, and got the protection
from the neighbor's incompetence they asked for.

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