This may not be as important as an IRS agent killing a small business with an audit. And we can certainly imagine dismal scenes of bureaucrats denying health care to sick people in America’s future, and those also would be more important. But when a city official shuts down a lemonade stand because an eight-year old girl did not have a license to operate a busines, that surely is a symbol of government that is both stupid and overbearing:
Eight-year-old Daniela Earnest has made lemonade out of lemons in more ways than one this week. Hoping to raise money for a family trip to Disneyland, the Tulare girl opened a lemonade stand Monday. But because Daniela didn’t have a business license, the city of Tulare shut it down the same day. …The story began Monday morning when Daniela and her stepmother, Marisa Earnest, set up shop at Cartmill Avenue and Hillman Street in north Tulare. The lemonade was freshly squeezed and priced at $2 for a 32-ounce plastic cup. Richard Garcia, a Tulare code enforcement officer, happened to be at the same intersection… Garcia told Daniela and her stepmother that their lemonade stand — on the northwest corner of the busy intersection — was not safe, and also that they needed a business license to sell lemonade.
[…] and political stupidity (see here, here, here,here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here) that will make you laugh, cry, yell, or all of the […]
[…] This story belongs in my “Great Moments in Local Government” series, which features examples of bureaucratic and political stupidity (see here, here, here,here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here) that will make you laugh, cry, yell, or all of the above. […]
[…] and political stupidity (see here, here, here,here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here) that will make you laugh, cry, yell, or all of the […]
[…] To answer that question, let’s start with this simple example of a kid’s lemonade stand. Here’s how much money it spent and how much revenue it generated (before it was shut down by overzealous bureaucrats). […]
[…] To answer that question, let’s start with this simple example of a kid’s lemonade stand. Here’s how much money it spent and how much revenue it generated (before it was shut down by overzealous bureaucrats). […]
[…] I imagine the plastic straw will be a gateway for operating an unlicensed lemonade stand! […]
[…] pay to become entrepreneurs. Which oftentimes translates into painful lessons for young people about government […]
[…] are making people pay to become entrepreneurs. Which oftentimes translates into painful lessons for young people about government […]
[…] United Kingdom for our third and final example. It seems lemonade cops don’t just exist in California, Georgia, and Oregon, they also patrol the mean streets of […]
[…] knows that selling water without a license is a gateway drug to the ultimate underage crime of operating an unlicensed lemonade stand. Or maybe even shoveling snow, cutting grass, or selling worms without government […]
[…] knows that selling water without a license is a gateway drug to the ultimate underage crime of operating an unlicensed lemonade stand. Or maybe even shoveling snow, cutting grass, or selling worms without government […]
[…] so, I imagine Daniela Earnest and Julie Murphy can offer the mayor some useful […]
[…] couple of kids from operating an unlicensed – gasp! – lemonade stand (the same thing happens in California, Georgia, and […]
[…] kids from operating an unlicensed – gasp! – lemonade stand (the same thing happens in California, Georgia, and […]
This is absurd. Shutting down a lemonade stand-I think I would open my own as an act of spite against people who shut other stands down.
[…] have heroically thwarted rogue operators of unregulated and unlicensed lemonade stands, in California, Georgia, and […]
[…] have heroically thwarted rogue operators of unregulated and unlicensed lemonade stands, in California, Georgia, and […]
[…] and political stupidity (see here, here, here,here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here) that will make you laugh, cry, yell, or all of the […]
[…] unregulated and unlicensed children’s lemonade stands. Why? Because bureaucrats (like ones in California, Georgia, and Oregon) won’t be prowling the streets to shut them […]
[…] Previous versions can be seen here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and […]
[…] and political stupidity (see here, here, here,here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here) that will make you laugh, cry, yell, or all of the […]
[…] and political stupidity (see here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here) that will make you laugh, cry, yell, or all of the […]
[…] about local government? Well, read this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, and this and decide for […]
[…] Other local governments have been guilty of this type of petty harassment, but what’s remarkable about the Midway story is that the Barney-Fife-wannabee police chief shut down the lemonade stand, in part, because the girls “didn’t know how the lemonade was made.” […]