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The bar exist simply to protect lawyers from competition
2011 Oct 27, 7:00am 4,023 views 11 comments
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I'm all for licenses and certifications being an OPTION and not a REQUIREMENT for practicing ANY profession. This even extends to fields such as medicine. Require everybody to disclose whether they have a license or not and then allow individuals to decide what they need.
In the case of doctors, many people cannot afford health insurance and cannot afford to visit a doctor when sick... because it's too expensive! Let anybody do a check-up on such people and at least be able to recommend whether they really need to go to the hospital and provide some basic advice. Such a visit would be cheap, helpful, and accessible to many who would have not see anyone at all. (But it might not be good advice, you say! So??? I've gone to a $300 doctor's appointment that lasted 3 min's and I felt I had just been mugged it was so unhelpful. At least this would be cheap and the consumer could decide for himself.)
I'm a CPA by the way and getting certifications is basically jumping through a lot of hoops. It doesn't ensure high quality service at all.
HousingWatcher
@
2011 Oct 28, 10:57am
"I'm all for licenses and certifications being an OPTION and not a REQUIREMENT for practicing ANY profession. This even extends to fields such as medicine."
Is it crazy week on patrick.net? If it is, I did not get the memo...
zzyzzx
@
2011 Oct 31, 12:35am
Can't you also fill out the forms yourself for at least some of these things?
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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/25/opinion/are-law-schools-and-bar-exams-necessary.html?source=patrick.net
Yea so? Do you know the requirements to get a license to cut hair? You have to attend an approved California School (or schooling and experience from another state) and take an exam. This is a form of protectionism, after all before the licensing requirements, how many people were injured getting there hair cut? How many got there eye poked out with sharp scissors or had there ear clipped off. Not many I wager, at worse they just got a bad hair cut. And God knows we have to prevent people from walking around with the shame of having a bad haircut.
What other industries protect there existing workers from the endless droves of unskilled workers looking to steal there jobs? There are over 100 jobs that have some type of licensing requirement, most that require schooling, hours of experience under a licensed professional and an state exam. While it's easy to understand why doctors have to meet a minimum level of competence, jobs like Librarian, Barber, Massage Therapist, and Taxidermists, there no obvious public safety hazard there except maybe getting a lousy hair cut, Books misfiled and a less than lifelike representation of Fido when you get him stuffed.