Proponents of occupational licensing believe that without licensing…
- Barbers would give customers bad haircuts.
- Cosmetologists would ruin their hair.
- Fire-alarm installers would incorrectly wire fire alarms.
- Bartenders would mix us the wrong drinks.
- Coaches would never win a game.
- Funeral attendants would not properly dress one’s dead grandmother.
- EMTs would allow patients to die.
- Travel agents would book travelers on wrong flights.
- Accountants would prepare incorrect financial statements.
- Security guards would allow burglars to break in.
- Child-care workers would molest children.
- Skin-care specialists would damage customers’ skin.
- Taxi drivers would drop passengers off on the wrong street.
- pest-control applicators would not be able to kill bugs,
- Sign-language interpreters would tell deaf people the wrong thing.
- Pharmacy technicians would give out the wrong drugs.
- Taxidermists wouldn’t stuff a dead pet properly.
- Auctioneers would not be able to sell anything.
- Milk samplers would allow sour milk to be distributed.
(From chapter 6 of “The Free Market, The Free Society“, by Laurence M. Vance.)
As Laurence Vance concludes:
There is absolutely no reason that all occupations could not be privately certified just as auto and truck technicians are. Government licensing, aside from its many other problems, crowds out private certification and should be eliminated.