On the agenda for today...more government regulation

HB 4770, 4771 and 4772 are bills regarding "Interior Designers". This is a classic example of expanded government regulation to protect a small group of individuals or companies, at the expense of the rest of the population. Consumers will only be forced to pay higher prices for interior design services as the "cartel" corners the market. The "Interior Design Freedom" website, http://www.interiordesignfreedom.org/ explains it quite clearly...

"...HB4771 and HB4772, both introduced by Rep. Andy Meisner on May 16th, 2007, outline a restrictive title and practice act for Michigan’s interior design industry. In Michigan, this legislation is championed by the Coalition for Interior Design Registration. Michigan’s interior designers, much like their colleagues in numerous other states, face special-interest lobbying groups pushing for restrictive measures in seeking a monopoly over the practice of interior design." Go to the website above for more specific explanation.

The Detroit News published an excellent op-ed on the subject. http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007710080321 They said this:

"House Bill 4772 would force all interior designers to obtain a license from the government before they could practice interior design, or even call themselves "interior designers." The small group of interior designers pushing the bill (for the third time) seeks to create a cartel. That is, they want to establish government-imposed barriers to entry into the industry to limit competition."

Adam Smith, in that little book he wrote in 1776, "The Wealth of Nations", could not have said it better:

"People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices. … But though the law cannot hinder people of the same trade from sometimes assembling together, it ought to do nothing to facilitate such assemblies; much less to render them necessary."