Liberals also say and do stupid shit

[magnet]

Which liberals are defending it?

Your whole argument is that if something exists in California but not Texas then liberals are responsible.

Harbors in the Pacific Ocean? The work of liberals!

[WhollySchmidt]

@ShivaX

@WhollySchmidt

The second, meh.

I mean if you’re fine regulations crushing out competition with the force of the State, especially for minorities and the like more power to ya, I guess. We live in a better world where someone spends 3 months in prison for painting a house, apparently.

And then all the liberals parachute out of the sky to defend it. Because cronyism is good apparently.

I am not qualified to judge the restrictions on painting contractors or businesses, so I allow for the possibility that if I tried to bring myself up to speed I may determine CA’s seem more…*something* than necessary. But that falls into a thing I might disagree with, not something that outrages me.

[magnet]

Another stupid liberal?

Obama’s war on excessive occupational licensing highlights his increasingly...

Specifically, nonprofit groups working with consortia of three or more states will be able to get grants to:

• Identify unnecessary licensing criteria to ensure that existing and new licensing requirements are not overly broad or burdensome and that they do not create unnecessary barriers to labor market entry; and

• Improve portability and reciprocity provisions for selected occupational licenses across state lines. These provisions mean that states harmonize what is required to get a license and accept licenses from other states, rather than making workers meet additional requirements such as new training, assessments, or fees.

They are also claiming partial credit for a slew of state-level deregulatory initiatives and pointing to an April executive order that aims at ensuring that ex-convicts who’ve returned to civilian life aren’t unduly burdened in their ability to get jobs in licensed professions.

[ShivaX]

@magnet

Another stupid liberal?

So your position is that all people on the left are a monolith?

I mean, that explains the reaction anytime someone liberal does a dumb thing, I guess, but it’s not a very reasonable position.

[magnet]

You said that liberals were rushing in from all sides to defend occupational licensing. Where are they?

I suspect a lot of the “liberals saying stupid shit” are merely what you imagine liberals might say. Not what they actually say.

An actual liberal take on occupational licensing:

@Joe Biden 7/9/21

And, while many occupational licenses are critical to increasing wages for workers and especially workers of color, some overly restrictive occupational licensing requirements can impede workers’ ability to find jobs and to move between States…

To address persistent and recurrent practices that inhibit competition, the Chair of the FTC, in the Chair’s discretion, is also encouraged to consider working with the rest of the Commission to exercise the FTC’s statutory rulemaking authority, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, in areas such as:
…

      (v)   unfair occupational licensing restrictions;

[Aceris]

@magnet

I suspect a lot of the “liberals saying stupid shit” are merely what you imagine liberals might say. Not what they actually say.

This seems like an argument that the California democratic party, which has had uninterrupted control of the California legislature for the past 25 years, with a democratic governer for most of it, is somehow not responsible for California law.

@ShivaX believes that Californian occupational licensing requirements are stupid. Noone was saying Biden and Obama or the democratic party as a whole are responsible for this. Indeed Biden and Obama seem to agree with @ShivaX that this is a bad thing. So what’s your problem with @ShivaX saying it is a bad thing?

Now, plenty of R states have dumb occupational licensing laws too (not all occupational licensing is dumb of course) but that doesn’t mean Ds can’t fix it in states they control.

[Thrag]

I can’t speak to the fee amount or the specifics of any licensing tests in CA and how onerous they may be, but bad and outright fake tradesman are a plague. Qualifications to get paid by someone to do a safe and professional painting job should be more than having a brush.

[Timex]

@magnet

You said that liberals were rushing in from all sides to defend occupational licensing. Where are they?

The licensing requirements in California are the result of liberal politicians, right?

[vinraith]

@ShivaX

https://twitter.com/mattcolville/status/1438974022335664128

@ShivaX

Colville is a socialist, for what it’s worth.

Oh cool, I understand why this is here. It’s here because Colville describing attempts to curtail COVID disinformation as “tyrannical policies” that benefit the left is incredibly stupid shit. Right? What do I win?

Another stupid thing liberals do is fail to articulate when something is a national security threat. Republicans are great at this, they can turn any random thing into a threat from a foreign government no matter how delusional. But liberals can’t even treat a deliberate Russian disinformation campaign aimed at killing Americans, sowing chaos, and disrupting the nation’s economy as the national threat it is.

[Scuzz]

I doubt that. I think the current laws go back quite awhile. I was in business in the early 80’s and little has changed.

[magnet]

@Timex

The licensing requirements in California are the result of liberal politicians, right?

The licensing requirements for contractors in California are set by the Contractors State License Board, which was established in 1929. If it matters, that year the California legislature and governorship were completely controlled by Republicans.

[Timex]

Come on, man. The democrats solidly control California’s government. The current state of occupational licensing in California is not due to government actions taken a century ago. It’s the result of the current government.

They could certainly change such things if they wanted to… But they kind of don’t. Occupational licensing is not exactly a tenet of conservatism and libertarian ideals.

[magnet]

@Timex

Occupational licensing is not exactly a tenet of conservatism and libertarian ideals.

You may not have noticed, but conservative and libertarian ideals are rarely championed by conservative politicians.

The current state of occupational licensing is due to politicians who don’t want to change systems that favor entrenched interests. “Conservative” or “liberal” ideals have nothing to do with this. It is a matter of patronage and power that benefits local politicians of all stripes, whether in the Southern GOP or the Chicago Democratic machine. That’s why “conservatives” in Mississippi and South Carolina haven’t fixed their own licensing regimes, either.

Politicians are not as motivated by ideology as ideologues want to believe.

[Timex]

Magnet, it’s not like there are simply ancient laws that enforce occupational licensing in California. They have continued to add additional regulations.

California, overall, tends to have extremely onerous regulations for all sorts of aspects of business. This is a direct a result of their government. It’s not like it’s just accidentally policy. It’s an intentional policy direction of the Democratic party in California. They continue to pass more and more regulations on virtually all aspects of business in the state.

[magnet]

Are we talking about regulations in general, or the specific regulations regarding contractor licensing?

If the former, then I don’t think that they are “stupid”. On the balance I think regulations do more good than harm. Even occupational licensing regulations often are better than no regulation, e.g. jobs involving health and sanitation.

If the latter, then I don’t think liberals “continue to pass more and more regulations” regarding contractor licensing. In fact, Gavin Newsom recently signed Senate Bill 1189 which loosens licensing requirements for contractors, the only change in the last decade.

Basically, starting this year there will be a new classification with less onerous requirements for contractors who only want to work on small home improvement projects:

The B-2 classification provides a pathway to licensure for many unlicensed people who are currently working on remodeling and small home improvement projects that don’t qualify for a B-General Building License …

Please note that the B-2 license classification has the following restrictions:

• Limited to working on existing residential wood frame structures
• Cannot make structural alterations to load-bearing partitions and walls
• Cannot install or extend electrical or plumbing systems but can make modifications to existing systems (e.g., install recessed lighting or alter plumbing for two shower heads)
• Cannot install or replace an HVAC system

[Timex]

@magnet

Are we talking about regulations in general, or the specific regulations regarding contractor licensing?

I thought we were talking about the overall occupational licensing requirements imposed in California.

[Aceris]

5 minutes from that website confirms that the membership of that board is largely appointed by the California governor, the California senate, and the California assembly.

@magnet

The current state of occupational licensing is due to politicians who don’t want to change systems that favor entrenched interests.

Exactly. The democrats are choosing not to change a system that favours entrenched interests. That’s the whole complaint here.

You seem to talk a lot about general contractor licensing, which I have far less problem with. The original complaint was about licensing in the painting trade.

[magnet]

@Aceris

The democrats are choosing not to change a system that favours entrenched interests. That’s the whole complaint here.

If “Stupid things liberals say and do” now means “Things liberals are actively trying to fix but haven’t succeeded yet”, then we’re going to be here a long time.

[Aceris]

@magnet

If “Stupid things liberals say and do” now means “Things liberals are actively trying to fix but haven’t succeeded yet”, then we’re going to be here a long time.

I don’t think “actively trying to fix” is an honest characterisation of the conduct of the California Democratic party on your part.

[magnet]

They literally passed a law last year that loosened requirements for occupational licensing, after years of inaction by both parties. That’s exactly what “trying to fix” looks like.

“Trying to fix” does not mean “pass sweeping legislation” or “make number one priority”. There are much bigger problems that Democrats should be devoting their efforts to.