Beer vs. Bureaucracy

The federal shutdown revealed some of the ways that the government needlessly shackles the economy through subsidies and regulations. The microbrew industry is a microcosm of the general problem.Beer companies take federal loan guarantees and they need federal approval for business activities such as launching new beer labels and opening facilities. The idea that we need the government providing business loans is ridiculous, as discussedhere. And the permitting of new facilities ought to be a local government activity.As for beer labels,theWashington Post reports, “Last year, the federal government received 192,000 applications for new lines of wine, spirits and beer, including more than 34,000 for beer.”Taxpayers are paying for goodness knows how manyhigh-paid bureaucrats to study 192,000 bottle labels a year? That seems absurd. Even if federal review of labels made sense, why do we need a system of preclearance? Why don ’t we at least allow companies to proceed with their new products without delay, but allow for later review by the bureaucracy if noncompliant labels are suspected?Here is theWashington Post on the shutdown ’s disruption of small brewers:Chris Burns thought he had escaped the uncertainty of working for the federal government when he left his IT contracting job five years ago to open a craft brewery in the D.C. suburbs.But even with the government shutdown over for now, he cannot widely distribute two new beers and had to cancel the release of a third...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs