A fellow Granite Stater said, “Obama couldn’t run a lemonade stand“. Good for him, I say. I take his point: the bumbler in chief is so over his head that he can’t even muster the intellectual skill it takes to even perform a simple grade school task. But this guy should have used another example like, “Obama can’t fill out the forms that his type’s are forcing us to fill out when we want to brave opening a lemonade stand”.
“Obama couldn’t run a lemonade stand”, yeah, no kidding. Who can? Well no one can save the most artfully diligent bureaucracy seeking masochist and the well connected.
That statement used to mean something. It used to impart a negative meaning on subject of the claim. But it no longer has such a meaning. No one can run a lemonade stand any more without the proper registration, licenses, fees, permits, and Department of Lemonade Stand approval to ensure that you’re in compliance with registration, licenses, fees, and permits.
Google: “lemonade stand regulations” and see what you get.
Forbes magazine thought the issue deserved a two page piece, “The Inexplicable War on Lemonade Stands”. It looks like John Stossel did a show on it, or at least part of a show.
If you want to see the Orwellian depths to which our society has fallen add the word “girl” to “lemonade stand regulations” and google that.
Sad isn’t it. Pathetic. The amount of links that are returned from that search is disheartening. I’ll take a look at one:“Portland lemonade stand runs into health inspectors”. (Play along. Pick one for yourself and take a look… after reading this of course 🙂
Our society has decayed to the point of regulating a 7 year old girl trying to run a lemonade stand in Oregon. The silly girl had the entrepreneurial gumption and energy to engage in what is a tradition in the United States. Shame on her. Perhaps that’s because it’s a unicultural tradition and not a multicultural tradition that the pencil pushing government protectocrats shut down her illicit operation. I wonder if they’d levy the same fine on, say, a taco truck? (I know, raaaacist! Well screw you, I can beat you at your own game, I’m part Mexican, so **** off). Her failure is that she didn’t get the “$120 temporary restaurant license”. You read that right. It costs $120 to open a lemonade stand in Oregon. Think it’ll stay there? Think Oregon is the outlier in the regulatory gaussian curve? What do you think is more likely that states which spent themselves into oblivion will simply forego such juicy fees or ferret them out and increase them to help pay down the states debt?
Yeah, me too.
Peruse the Forbes article mentioned above and notice:
- Iowa police shut down 4-year-old Abigail Krstinger’s lemonade stand after it had been up for half
- in Georgia, police shutdown a lemonade stand run by three girls who were saving money to go to a water park
- In Appleton, Wisconsin the city council recently passed an ordinance preventing vendors from selling products within two blocks of local events – including kids who want to sell lemonade or cookies.
- …slapping parents with $500 fines for letting their kids run unlicensed lemonade stands (though this was later waived after public outcry), to government officials calling the cops on kids selling cupcakes, the list goes on and on and on.
Obama can’t run a lemonade stand. That’s true. And thanks to protectocrats like him, I can’t run one either. Nor can you!