Thursday, March 22, 2007

Interior decorators vs. Western libertarianism

George F. Will - Wallpapering With Red Tape - washingtonpost.com: "In Nevada, such regulation has arrived. So in Las Vegas, where almost nothing is illegal, it is illegal -- unless you are licensed, or employed by someone licensed -- to move, in the role of an interior designer, any piece of furniture, such as an armoire, that is more than 69 inches tall. A Nevada bureaucrat says that 'placement of furniture' is an aspect of 'space planning' and therefore is regulated -- restricted to a 'registered interior designer.'

Placing furniture without a license? Heaven forfend. Such regulations come with government rationing of the right to practice a profession. Who benefits? Creating artificial scarcity of services raises the prices of those entitled to perform the services. The pressure for government-created scarcity is intensifying because the general public -- rank amateurs -- are using the Internet to purchase things and advice, bypassing designers."