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Saturday, September 15, 2012

Great Moments in Government Regulation: Massage a Horse in Nebraska, Go to Jail for Up to 20 Years

The Institute for Justice is reporting that a woman in Nebraska could face up to 20 years in prison for massaging horses without a license.

“That’s the absurd fate Karen Hough could face if she wants to continue her business in Nebraska. A certified instructor, Karen has been massaging horses for years. Massaging a horse is believed to deliver many health benefits, including relieving tension, improving circulation, and alleviating muscle fatigue.”

“Earlier this year, she applied for a license in equine massage but was told only veterinarians can become licensed. A 2007 memo from Nebraska’s Board of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery asserted that “no health professional other than licensed veterinarians and licensed veterinary technicians may perform services/therapies on animals.” This means Karen would need to spend thousands of dollars and seven years of her life just to acquire a government permission slip to do what she’s been doing for years.”

Read more here.

18 comments:

  1. here's another:

    In New Orleans, you apparently cannot preach on the streets at night...

    http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501363_162-57513256/on-bourbon-street-party-but-dont-preach-at-night/

    probably yet another job killing Obama regulation, eh?

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  2. These days where everyone becomes indignant when you rub them the wrong away, I'm not surprised horses would, too.

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  3. Well except for the grief its giving Ms Karen Hough this story would be funny...

    Horse rubbers have been round for a few millenia or so, a lot longer than Nebraska bureaucrats...

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  4. Larry, do you suppose that regulations written by Bush are perceived as better? I don't perceive them that way. I think you'll find that to the people who are hampered by these regulations, the guy at the top of the political pyramid at the time the reg went into effect is irrelevant.

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  5. Not written by Bush, but during the Bush regime I meant.

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  6. Methinks - I think regs ...lots of "job killing" regs have been around long before Bush and Obama and will continue whenever Obama is gone.

    regulation is an integral part of governance - always will be - even non-govt institutions.


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  7. No, it's not integral at all, Larry. The financial markets existed long before the SEC. People cut hair long before there was a licensing board for that.

    The ceaseless attempt to enslave the population it governs is a characteristic of all governments and the need to capture that power and use it for their own purposes is consequence. But that begs the question: why are you so comfortable with that and why do you so desire to cede even more of your liberty to your would-be masters?

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  8. all institutions have regulations Methinks.

    HOAs, professional societies, corporations, etc

    there are inherent to any form of governance.

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  9. I can't see these type of regulations as having any benefit to governance. These regulations were simply passed to protect a crony's interests.

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  10. They are, Hancke, and they're sold to the public as a protection of the public interest.

    Most of the public doesn't care because these horse regulations don't concern them and consumers are not an organized interest group anyway while industry groups are. Consumers don't spend all their time trying to figure out how to seek rents, industry groups do.

    In search of protection, people like Larry shoot themselves in the foot and then cry "no fair". You get what you ask for.

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  11. Speaking of horses, here is a much higher profile case of barriers to entry that I co-authored with my colleague Phil Coehlo:
    http://00prcoelho.iweb.bsu.edu/Barriers%20to%20Entry.PDF

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  12. BTW, Unlike most academic research, the publication on stud services was important in ending restrictive breeding practices in the quarter horse industry; the link below is to documents filed that led to alterations in that industry. The best moment in my career was seeing the graphs from a publication of mine in an affidavit that changed an industry: http://www.spectrumeconomics.com/specpdfs/affidavit.pdf

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  13. Licensing and certification of various occupations and professions implies a level of competence that the unlicensed cannot possess. If this were truly the case, why would one attorney be better than another and able to charge more for his services? Wouldn't people simply go to the barber nearest their home? Shouldn't any licensed electrician be able to wire up your MRI machine?

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  14. That is true, however think about the level of doctors, lawyers, teachers and other professions we would have without any certification or standard. Many complete the college requirements but cannot get past the certification exam. Of course there are still incompetent licensed doctors, lawyers and teachers. I can see that some level of consumer protection, public safety and standards are necessary. However, this article points out the absurdity of cronyism and government regulations.

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  15. "I don't perceive them that way. I think you'll find that to the people who are hampered by these regulations, the guy at the top of the political pyramid at the time the reg went into effect is irrelevant"...

    Maybe and maybe not methinks...

    Sometimes quanity has a quality all its own...

    Now obviously you're right when it comes down excess regulation being wasteful in resources, time, and effort regardless of which political hack's party is in charge...

    Sadly this has been going on for quite awhile: Ten Thousand Commandments

    Sometimes the quanity of these inane regulations being generated can spike though and make it almost a whole new ballgame: Under Obama, 11,327 Pages of Federal Regulations Added

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  16. 17 mutilated bodies found in Mexico.

    But, hey, it's worth if if we keep just one kid from ever trying pot. Right?

    http://news.yahoo.com/17-mutilated-bodies-found-central-mexico-183548193.html

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  17. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  18. Funny thing, when I go to the Mexican newspapers I don't see any immediate allusion to these murders and the drug trade...

    Impacto

    Milenio

    La Jornada de Michoacán

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