Friday :: 03 July 2009 :: 08:44 PM
175 days to Christmas!
"She's never going to get out of our faces. . . She's like some hellish housewife who has seen something that she really, really wants and won't stop nagging you about it until finally you say, 'fine, take it, be the damn president, just leave me alone.'" The New Republic's, Leon Wieseltier, on Hillary Clinton
CL Homeowner's View Of Contractor Licensing
I to do not believe that we need contractor licensing for the following reasons:
1. I do not believe that government needs to be regulating business that already has been regulated. To my knowledge every builder is required to follow national standards to build a house, thus the need to buy the very expensive government mandated building permit. If the building inspectors cannot find the problem with the construction then how is a bureaucrat at a desk who is handing out the contractor licenses going to know the quality that a builder puts into the construction ? This brings me to my second point.
2. This requires a fee that is to be paid to the state so that they can say "look this person or company is licensed," but who is going to pay? The purchaser of the product will. This license does not mean that the person or company is necessarily going to be a better builder, just because of the license, but since there will be a lack of competition, it will mean that most or even all will have higher rates, as most licensed professionals usually have higher rates, and can be expected to raise them when there is less competition.
3. The most important reason that I believe this regulation needs to be sent to the round file is that today they will regulate through licensing the construction market. Then tomorrow, since they already have the department, they, the misled non-freedom believing big government hacks, will start wanting to license other trades. This will drive up costs for the people who use the products produced and cause unnecessary paper work for those who are trying to run a business. Thus the number of businesses that our economy could have in it will decline, thus putting people into lower income brackets. This is the type of government meddling that has choked the middle class out of America .
Let us not become like the State of Washington that has started falling apart economically because of its belief that big government is the only way to govern. This is not the role that the State of Idaho wants to play, at least not the role that I want to see.
Neil Oliver
Random Humor: The Mule, The Monkey And The Man
God created the mule, and told him, "You are mule. You will work constantly from dusk to dawn, carrying heavy loads on your back. You will eat grass and lack intelligence. You will live for 50 years."
The mule answered, "To live like this for 50 years is too much. Please, give me no more than 20."
And it was so.
Then God created the dog, and told him, "You are dog. You will hold vigilance over the dwellings of Man, to whom you will be his greatest companion. You will eat his table scraps and live for 25 years."
The dog responded, "Lord, to live 25 years as a dog like that is too much. Please, no more than 10 years."
And it was so.
God then created the monkey, and told him, "You are monkey. You shall swing from tree to tree, acting like an idiot. You will be funny, and you shall live for 20 years."
The monkey responded, "Lord, to live 20 years as the clown of the world is too much. Please, Lord, give me no than 10 years."
And it was so.
Finally, God created Man and told him, "You are Man, the only rational being that walks the earth. You will use your intelligence to have mastery over the creatures of the world. You will dominate the earth and live for 20 years."
The man responded, "Lord, to be Man for only 20 years is too little. Please, Lord; give me the 20 years the mule refused, the 15 years the dog refused, and the 10 years the monkey rejected."
And so God made Man to live 20 years as a man, then marry and live 20 years like a mule working and carrying heavy loads on his back. Then, he is to have children and live 15 years as a dog, guarding his house and eating the leftovers after they empty the pantry; then, in his old age, to live 10 years as a monkey, acting like an idiot to amuse his grandchildren.
And it is so ...