A city councilman called for police to stop children from selling cupcakes.
Undeniably, a perfectly reasonable use of police resources. How dare these felonious youths seduce us with chocolatey goodness? A pox on their houses!
I have to agree with Radley Balko's take on it:
I think I’ve changed my mind about these stories. If the point of having your kid start a lemonade stand, cupcake stand, or some other little venture is for him to learn what it’s like to be an entrepreneur, he might as well learn early on that part of being an entrepreneur is dealing with asshole politicians, petty bureaucrats, and rivals willing to use the law to shut you down rather than compete with you. It also means understanding that the costs of complying with all the bullshit hurdles the government puts in the way of starting up a business may mean you can never get your business off the ground, no matter how good your idea.
The cupcake kids will at least now grow up with a healthy distaste for politicians, and probably some newfound respect for the people who do actually manage to start a business in hostile environments that include requirements for million-dollar insurance policies and political slime like Michael Wolfensohn.
And that’s actually a pretty valuable lesson.
I would note that in order to sell cupcakes for two hours, the kids would have to get a license costing between $150 to $350 (I assume the cost discrepancy is over whether or not they have sprinkles), as well as a $1 million insurance certificate.
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