Since I’ve spent the past 25 years analyzing government, I’m used to spectacular levels of waste and incompetence. Examples of pork such as “$27 light bulbs” and the “turtle tunnel” barely cause me to raise an eyebrow.
It takes something really amazing to grab my attention, so I’m almost grateful to Ike Leggett, the head bureaucrat of Maryland’s Montgomery County. He has restored my faith in the extreme foolishness of the political class with a proposal that would require bums to get a panhandling license from the government.
Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett is pushing for a state law that would allow the suburb to ban all roadside solicitation without a permit.
Just think of the new bureaucracy that could be created! Imagine all the new patronage jobs, the new forms that would be required, and the new leases to be signed!
Best of all, think of how much fun it will be to fleece taxpayers to pay for this nonsense. Other bureaucrats and politicians will be jealous of Ike for this new racket.
[…] people for rescuing children from savage dog attacks, leaving a dead body in a pool for two days, requiring permits to be a bum, poisoning water supplies, and paying bureaucrats not to work for 12 […]
[…] people for rescuing children from savage dog attacks, leaving a dead body in a pool for two days, requiring permits to be a bum, poisoning water supplies, and paying bureaucrats not to work for 12 […]
[…] people for rescuing children from savage dog attacks, leaving a dead body in a pool for two days, requiring permits to be a bum, poisoning water supplies, and paying bureaucrats not to work for 12 […]
[…] people for rescuing children from savage dog attacks, leaving a dead body in a pool for two days, requiring permits to be a bum, poisoning water supplies, and paying bureaucrats not to work for 12 […]
[…] people for rescuing children from savage dog attacks, leaving a dead body in a pool for two days, requiring permits to be a bum, poisoning water supplies, and paying bureaucrats not to work for 12 […]
[…] About two years ago, I made fun of the bureaucrats in Montgomery County, MD, for proposing a plan to require that bums and panhandlers get government permits. […]
[…] P.S. It’s probably no coincidence that these displays of government stupidity took place in Maryland. This is the state, after all, that crashed on the Laffer Curve, imposed regulations making it difficult for summer camps to protect kids from sunburn, and considered a law to give bums panhandling permits. […]
[…] A local politician in Maryland wanting a licensing process to be a bum. […]
[…] A local politician in Maryland wanting a licensing process to be a bum. […]
How about selling will work for food franchises and let private enterprise take care of the problem, then they would have another evil corporation to bash.
Bums am Us
[…] A local politician in Maryland wanting a licensing process to be a bum (I’m at a loss for words), and; […]
[…] Requiring a Permit to Be a Bum?!? Great Moments in Government … […]
[…] (via Dan Mitchell) […]
[…] (via Dan Mitchell) […]
[…] Dan Mitchell) « Morning Media […]
The other side of the coin are the beggar’s guilds that they supposedly had in ancient China.
A note from Sao Paulo on your article: “Where does this Ike Leggett think he is? Brazil?!” He would certainly feel at home in Brasilia, where every little problem is solved by creating a big new agency – with a corresponding new tax or “provisional contribution” to pay for it. If Leggett is following the Brazilian model, maybe he wants to see some friends or relatives appointed for the new department, or he will get a kickback from the company printing the forms, you name it. Even worse, he could just be plain dumb.
Cincinnati already has this type of misguided policy in place.
http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2004/05/20/loc_council200.html
The old newspaper comic strip B.C. had one years ago about someone addressing a bum and pointing out how he couldn’t just lay around doing nothing. He had to go get an Apathy permit from the Bureau of Lethargy.
Up until now that was funny.
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Michael Needham and Dan Mitchell, Tim Quinn. Tim Quinn said: Requiring a Permit to Be a Bum?!? Great Moments in Government Stupidity: Since I’ve spent the past 25 years anal… http://bit.ly/hGeLoM […]