BrianGarst.com

Government regulators often work at the behest of business cartels that desire to limit competition. The result is silly rules like this:

Joe Grondin has been a barber for more than 30 years. But there are some questions that, until very recently, he had never really pondered.

For example: “At what point on a man’s sideburn does hair end and the beard begin?”

Or: “When does a trim become a shave?”

“It’s crazy to be thinking about this,” he admitted.

It might even be splitting hairs. But to Texas’ 13,000 or so barbers, matters of shaving are worth fighting over. While state law permits both cosmetologists and barbers to groom hair, state regulators have consistently ruled that only barbers may scrape a man’s cheeks.

Read the rest of the article to get a clear picture of how ridiculous things get when government busybodies think they are needed to “license” this or that profession.

Government licenses everything these days.  Yet it is poorly situated to accomplish the goal it claims in so doing: protecting consumers.  What it really does is protect established industry from upstart competition.  The result from this protectionism is always a net harm to consumers.  So much for the pursuit of happiness.