Give Me Some of that Humbug
27 November 2006
The Editor, Marketplace
American Public Media
To the Editor:
Employment agencies in Berlin charge 15 percent of the earnings of each shopping-mall Santa whom they place in gainful holiday employment. Your host Kai Ryssdal reacts to this contractually agreed upon fee by crying “Bah humbug” (Nov. 27).
Would that government take from people's earnings a mere 15 percent. Would that government supply, in exchange for the fees it charges, services of genuine value to those who pay the fees. And would that we all, like shopping-mall Santas who don't wish to do business with any employment agency, enjoy the right to keep all of our earnings in exchange for the state keeping its obnoxious self out of our lives.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
The Editor, Marketplace
American Public Media
To the Editor:
Employment agencies in Berlin charge 15 percent of the earnings of each shopping-mall Santa whom they place in gainful holiday employment. Your host Kai Ryssdal reacts to this contractually agreed upon fee by crying “Bah humbug” (Nov. 27).
Would that government take from people's earnings a mere 15 percent. Would that government supply, in exchange for the fees it charges, services of genuine value to those who pay the fees. And would that we all, like shopping-mall Santas who don't wish to do business with any employment agency, enjoy the right to keep all of our earnings in exchange for the state keeping its obnoxious self out of our lives.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Posted by Don Boudreaux on
Friday August 10, 2007 at 10:18am