How To Completely F*ck An Economy By Outlawing Babysitting
NOW, OK, this is a trivial little thing on its own. But it is symptomatic. Indicative if you like, of how you go about completely and entirely fucking an economy over.
The nanny state impulse runs strong in the Golden State, where the State Assembly has passed a bill that would virtually regulate babysitting out of business. After 2 hours of babysitting, a mandatory 15 minute break must be give, meaning that a stand-by babysitter must be present. Then there are the paperwork requirements, and the severe penalties that kick in for any parents who fail to dot the i’s and cross the t’s.
Yes, I agree, babysitting is a fairly trivial part of the whole thing. But both here and in the US we’ve been making these sorts of rules for well on a century now. The idea that we don’t send the kiddies down the mines is easy enough to accept: the idea that a 19 year old looking after the kids while you go for dinner and a movie requires a rest break every two hours is insane.
But as I say, we’ve been larding the entire economy with these sorts nonsenses for a century and more. The entire thing is so constrained by ridiculous rules (anyone and everyone working with a kid stacking shelves in the supermarket must have a CRB check, etc etc) that it’s becoming near impossible to do anything.
And the real problem with this is that large companies have departments that can handle all the paperwork: but large companies don’t provide the jobs. Nope, sorry, the great job creation engine of an economy is new companies, small companies, starting up and trying to grow. And they are exactly the people who cannot understand, let alone deal with, all of these insane rules.
Which is, of course, why we’re fucked. A century of well intentioned, by and large, restrictions on what we can do. To solve it, we’ve got to tear up that rulebook, have a bonfire of that red tape, and start again.
Posted: 12th, September 2011 | In: Money Comment (1) | TrackBack | Permalink
