Americans love their myths, or, put another way, America is a delusional state.
There are lovely ideas which have never got close enough to reality to warrant anything but a mythical status, like unicorns and the tooth fairy, they bring a smile to the face of an otherwise beleaguered nation.
There is the myth of meritocracy, the myth of the efficiency of private enterprise, the myth of the citizen who pulls himself up by his own boot straps, the myth of the home of the free land of the brave, the myth of the valiant policeman who wishes only to serve and protect, the myth of the patriotic soldier who wishes only to free others, the myth of justice to be found in courtrooms, the myth of health insurance companies who care about your health, the myth of Supreme Court justices judging cases as umpires call balls and strikes, the myth that any child can grow up to become President, (or should want to), the myth of America as the leader of the free world, the myth of the "role model," the myth of the President of the United States as the most powerful man in the world.
But the myth of the "free market" in America is a special case . It rises above all the others as an article of faith and an emperor without clothes.
If you ever believed we have a free market in these United States, just read the editorial in the New York Times which attests that lobbyists for automobile dealerships have managed to exclude the sale of Tesla electronic cars directly to the public in Utah, Texas and Connecticut. Apparently, if these low emission cars are going to be sold in these states, the auto dealerships want their cut.
We can see what happens when markets become freer in the case of Uber and Lyft. Once these ride services became available, the licensed taxis were nigh on annihilated. Just as horse drawn carriages gave way to motor cars, the taxi medallion went the way of the mastodon.
Makes one ask why there was any need for taxi regulation and licensing in the first place, although in the days before GPS, one might have argued you didn't want taxi drivers driving you if they were constantly lost. But the yellow cab in New York was the ultimate collusion between a monopolistic private enterprise and a governmental licensing agency. Everybody got paid. Everybody got happy. The consumer got taken.
Certification and licensing were sold as quality control programs, meant to protect a public which needed knowledgeable people to vouch for the competence of the electrician, plumber, doctor and dentist. But that whole scheme has been so corrupted and distorted by the profit motive, whether it be profit for the government or for a non governmental organization, the whole notion of protecting the public has long since vanished.
I just got notified my federal Drug Enforcement Administration license needed to be paid for. This DEA license is required for me to practice in any state, and which allows me to write prescriptions for codeine and testosterone and it allows some central DEA computer to track my prescriptions to be sure I'm not selling them wholesale. But now, I need a new and separate federal license for each state where I have an office, so I need one for Massachusetts and one for New Hampshire. This is like saying you need a separate passport for each state where you own property. So if you live in Massachusetts but have a summer cottage in Maine, you need two passports.
My wife is a certified nurse midwife. She used to have to pay the certifying organization for the courses she needed to pass the three biannual exams she needed to "maintain" her certification and she paid for the exams and then the licensing fee.
Of course, they've been delivering babies pretty much the same way for centuries, but she needed to update her tests just to be sure she hadn't forgotten how; next they'll make us all take our driver's license exams every three years, just to prove we are competent drivers and to be sure we've kept up with all the new developments in driving on interstate highways. Did you know the road signs are color coded now? What does an orange sign mean?
She's retired now and the certifying organization, ever eager to seize a profit from somewhere, called her to ask if she would consider taking only one of the three required tests so she could continue to write "CNM" after her name.
"Why would I want to do that?"
"So you can be carried on our rolls as a 'certified midwife in good standing.'"
"And why would that matter to me?"
"Well, you never know."
Electricians have to take exams with algebraic equations they never use in practice. Barbers have to be licensed, even though they no longer wield razors.
Pediatricians, who have to pass a whole variety of exams to be licensed, have to pass yet another exam to be called "board certified."
If you are board certified you can advertise that fact as a bragging right to put down those questionable practitioners who are not. And some hospitals, out of laziness, make board certification a requirement for hospital privileges--it's easier asking for the certificate than trying to evaluate doctors on their own. And some states now even require these certifications for licenses to practice medicine.
But the organization that sells this exam was not content to gouge these low paid doctors for the courses, the exams and the "educational" materials used to prep for the exams; the certifying association realized it could make the certifications and never ending source of revenue and profit and so they decided all pediatricians needed to be "re certified "every three years.
Finally, the pediatricians had enough. They discovered the CEO of the certifying organization made $3 million a year, while they were lucky to pull in $90,000 a year in New York City and they organized a resistance and refused to take any more exams.
The Free State Project, that libertarian group based now in New Hampshire, has tapped into resentment about this sort of corruption and railed against all licensing. But they say this sort of protection can be done by private companies. If experience is any guide, the private enterprise version of protecting the public is even more corrupt than the government version.
In an age where you cannot possibly assess the competence of people who perform services for you, we need something.
What we've got currently is not that.
There are lovely ideas which have never got close enough to reality to warrant anything but a mythical status, like unicorns and the tooth fairy, they bring a smile to the face of an otherwise beleaguered nation.
 |
| The myth of the virile tough guy |
There is the myth of meritocracy, the myth of the efficiency of private enterprise, the myth of the citizen who pulls himself up by his own boot straps, the myth of the home of the free land of the brave, the myth of the valiant policeman who wishes only to serve and protect, the myth of the patriotic soldier who wishes only to free others, the myth of justice to be found in courtrooms, the myth of health insurance companies who care about your health, the myth of Supreme Court justices judging cases as umpires call balls and strikes, the myth that any child can grow up to become President, (or should want to), the myth of America as the leader of the free world, the myth of the "role model," the myth of the President of the United States as the most powerful man in the world.
But the myth of the "free market" in America is a special case . It rises above all the others as an article of faith and an emperor without clothes.
 |
| Emission free car |
If you ever believed we have a free market in these United States, just read the editorial in the New York Times which attests that lobbyists for automobile dealerships have managed to exclude the sale of Tesla electronic cars directly to the public in Utah, Texas and Connecticut. Apparently, if these low emission cars are going to be sold in these states, the auto dealerships want their cut.
We can see what happens when markets become freer in the case of Uber and Lyft. Once these ride services became available, the licensed taxis were nigh on annihilated. Just as horse drawn carriages gave way to motor cars, the taxi medallion went the way of the mastodon.
Makes one ask why there was any need for taxi regulation and licensing in the first place, although in the days before GPS, one might have argued you didn't want taxi drivers driving you if they were constantly lost. But the yellow cab in New York was the ultimate collusion between a monopolistic private enterprise and a governmental licensing agency. Everybody got paid. Everybody got happy. The consumer got taken.
Certification and licensing were sold as quality control programs, meant to protect a public which needed knowledgeable people to vouch for the competence of the electrician, plumber, doctor and dentist. But that whole scheme has been so corrupted and distorted by the profit motive, whether it be profit for the government or for a non governmental organization, the whole notion of protecting the public has long since vanished.
 |
| Climate control is a Chinese Plot |
I just got notified my federal Drug Enforcement Administration license needed to be paid for. This DEA license is required for me to practice in any state, and which allows me to write prescriptions for codeine and testosterone and it allows some central DEA computer to track my prescriptions to be sure I'm not selling them wholesale. But now, I need a new and separate federal license for each state where I have an office, so I need one for Massachusetts and one for New Hampshire. This is like saying you need a separate passport for each state where you own property. So if you live in Massachusetts but have a summer cottage in Maine, you need two passports.
My wife is a certified nurse midwife. She used to have to pay the certifying organization for the courses she needed to pass the three biannual exams she needed to "maintain" her certification and she paid for the exams and then the licensing fee.
Of course, they've been delivering babies pretty much the same way for centuries, but she needed to update her tests just to be sure she hadn't forgotten how; next they'll make us all take our driver's license exams every three years, just to prove we are competent drivers and to be sure we've kept up with all the new developments in driving on interstate highways. Did you know the road signs are color coded now? What does an orange sign mean?
She's retired now and the certifying organization, ever eager to seize a profit from somewhere, called her to ask if she would consider taking only one of the three required tests so she could continue to write "CNM" after her name.
"Why would I want to do that?"
"So you can be carried on our rolls as a 'certified midwife in good standing.'"
"And why would that matter to me?"
"Well, you never know."
 |
| I am a board certified coal miner |
Electricians have to take exams with algebraic equations they never use in practice. Barbers have to be licensed, even though they no longer wield razors.
Pediatricians, who have to pass a whole variety of exams to be licensed, have to pass yet another exam to be called "board certified."
If you are board certified you can advertise that fact as a bragging right to put down those questionable practitioners who are not. And some hospitals, out of laziness, make board certification a requirement for hospital privileges--it's easier asking for the certificate than trying to evaluate doctors on their own. And some states now even require these certifications for licenses to practice medicine.
But the organization that sells this exam was not content to gouge these low paid doctors for the courses, the exams and the "educational" materials used to prep for the exams; the certifying association realized it could make the certifications and never ending source of revenue and profit and so they decided all pediatricians needed to be "re certified "every three years.
Finally, the pediatricians had enough. They discovered the CEO of the certifying organization made $3 million a year, while they were lucky to pull in $90,000 a year in New York City and they organized a resistance and refused to take any more exams.
 |
| Show Me Your Certificate |
The Free State Project, that libertarian group based now in New Hampshire, has tapped into resentment about this sort of corruption and railed against all licensing. But they say this sort of protection can be done by private companies. If experience is any guide, the private enterprise version of protecting the public is even more corrupt than the government version.
In an age where you cannot possibly assess the competence of people who perform services for you, we need something.
What we've got currently is not that.
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