Austin Petersen takes on occupational licensing at Stossel debate
While Republican Presidential frontrunner, Donald Trump bellows loudly, “I will be the greatest jobs President that God ever created”, most of America acknowledges that no President or any other part of government produces jobs. Government needs to get out of the way.
Austin Petersen
Image/Libertarian Party of Pinellas County
The topic of jobs came up at the Libertarian Party debate hosted by John Stossel of Fox Business News and one of the Presidential hopefuls brought up something no one in either “major” party did on this most important topic.
Austin Petersen, former Director of Production at FreedomWorks and was an Associate Producer for Judge Andrew Napolitano’s show, “Freedom Watch” said, “Liberty is the opposite of license. We got to get rid of the occupational licensing in this country!
“Why do you need a license to braid hair? The government has got to get out of the way. Occupational licensing is one of the greatest threats to liberty and entrepreneurship that we have.”
In 1962, economist Milton Friedman stated in his book, Capitalism and Freedom”:
As long ago as 1938 a single state,North Carolina, had extended its law to 60 occupations. One may not be surprised to learn that pharmacists, accountants, and dentists have been reached by state law as have sanitarians and psychologists, assayers and architects, veterinarians and librarians. But with what joy of discovery does one learn about the licensing of threshing machine operators and dealers in scrap tobacco? What of egg graders and guide dog trainers, pest controllers and yacht salesmen, tree surgeons and well diggers, tile layers and potato growers? And what of the hypertrichologists who are licensed in Connecticut, where they remove excessive and unsightly hair with the solemnity appropriate to their high sounding title?
Even the White House said recently concerning this issue: “The practice of licensing can impose substantial costs on job seekers, consumers, and the economy more generally.” Eliminating irrational regulations “would improve economic opportunity.”
In 2012, the Institute for Justice published a study that demonstrated the occupational licensing has become much more broad than when Friedmen wrote his book and the absurdity has increased. Watch a video introducing the study below:
Thank you Austin Petersen for bringing up this job killing policy in a 2016 debate.
[…] Austin Petersen takes on occupational licensing at Stossel debate […]
[…] Austin Petersen takes on occupational licensing at Stossel debate […]