George Will writes today about how the massive new tax on medical device manufacturers (brought to you by ObamaCare) will kill jobs, encourage more companies to move factories overseas, and discourage the development of new health treatments. 

If you aren’t depressed enough about how government is destroying opportunity, then be sure to check out this new report from the Institute for Justice.  It details how government is increasingly demanding that people be issued “licenses” before they can engage in certain kinds of work.  IJ explains:

An “occupational license” is, put simply, government permission to work in a particular field.  To earn the license, an aspiring worker must clear various hurdles, such as earning a certain amount of education or training or passing an exam.  In the 1950s, only one in 20 U.S. workers needed the government’s permission to pursue their chosen occupation.  Today, that figure stands at almost one in three.

In documenting the license requirements for 102 occupations nationwide, this report finds that these laws can pose substantial barriers for those seeking work, particularly those most likely to aspire to these occupations—minorities, those of lesser means and those with less education.  Moreover, about half the occupations studied offer the possibility of entrepreneurship, suggesting that these laws hinder both job attainment and creation. 

If Americans weren’t already so used to our Leviathan government micromanaging every aspect of our economy and piling nonsensical rules to govern what should be complete ordinary transactions and events in life, we’d be outraged to learn that in some states florists, funeral attendants, and interior designers need a state license to be hired for work. 

Is there any wonder that thousands of Americans (actually more than 300,000 American women in the last two months alone according to this report) are leaving the workforce each month?  We have a government that is increasingly hostile to workers and job creators.