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Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Three cheers

for the second amendment. "A man who broke into a house in Portland, Oregon, called police -- afraid the homeowner may have a gun." Granted, this doofus sounds like he would have had trouble making his way out of a paper bag. Even so, I contend that an armed society could be a polite society.

I also saw an interesting article today in the Journal about Food Cart permits in New York. Similar to the competitive market for taxicab medallions, there has been a surge in value for food carts. Though the cost is only $200 to the city every year, "[some] permits fetch as much as $20,000 for two years, vendors say. In the case of Ms. Sultana, the hot-dog vendor, she says the permit holder told her someone else was willing to pay $15,000 for the permit she previously paid $7,000 for two years ago."
"The city's competitive street food culture has created a thriving black market for mobile food vending permits issued by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. The city charges a mere $200 for most food-cart permits, which must be paid every two years when they are renewed. But it only issues 3,100 year-round permits plus an additional 1,000 seasonal permits—not enough to satisfy demand. Transferring or renting these permits to another vendor is illegal but everyone, including the city's Health Department, acknowledges, that it happens.

Two years ago, the city's Department of Investigation did an undercover probe of improper permit transfers, which led to six arrests. The department recommended, among other things, that the Health Department move to a competitive sealed-bidding process to help "eliminate the criminal conduct found in the investigation."
It is interesting to see the lengths people will go when government perverts the market.
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7 comments:

  1. To the government we are all criminals whom they just haven't caught yet ... especially if you are making money ...

    ReplyDelete
  2. The suspect, Timothy James Chapek, was in the bathroom taking a shower when the homeowner returned to the house Monday night... He was booked for criminal trespass

    At least he's all washed-up now.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wouldn't it just be awful if anyone who makes a great hot dog could sell them. Darn them entrepeneurial rebels trying to make a living for their families. It would just be awful if a family rose up from the despair of a welfare check to the dignity of self employment. Better make sure we keep those people in check.

    Thank you Mafia government.

    ReplyDelete
  4. What excuse does the NY Dept. of Health give for only granting 4,100 permits a year?

    ReplyDelete
  5. "The Health Department has distributed 292 year-round permits for food carts since June 2007 through a lottery system, forcing most new carts and trucks to navigate their way through brokers and middlemen who sell the permits, or the permit holders themselves, most of whom are retired vendors. According to a list of permit holders from the Health Department, some live as far away as South Carolina, Texas and Arizona."

    What. The. H@&&! I smell kickbacks here, anything like an efficient permit system wouldn't allow rent-seeking like this.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'd guess pressure from brick and mortar interests to prevent competition.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Kennesaw, Georgia, is a town where owning a gun is both popular and mandatory.
    "When the law was passed in 1982 there was a substantial drop in crime ... and we have maintained a really low crime rate since then," said police Lt. Craig Graydon. "We are sure it is one of the lowest (crime) towns in the metro area.

    ReplyDelete