More on government pirates: http://www.fff.org/freedom/0300d.asp
“Government regulations are not mere expressions of codified benevolence. To regulate means to use or threaten force to subordinate private behavior to governmental commands. For instance, in New York City, building owners face a gauntlet of potential penalties. As author Jim Powell noted in the Wall Street Journal, owners face fines of up to $1,000 for illegally watering a lawn or flushing a sidewalk; up to $5,000 for failure to post a floor-numbering sign; up to $1,000 and a year in jail for recklessly or purposely failing to post a waste-collection sign; up to $1,000 for failure to post a sign about employee benefits; and up to $10,000 for failure to post a sign informing employees that the employer has no legal right to require them to take a lie-detector test. The hundreds of potential penalties turn government housing inspectors into petty czars, since almost every building will be in violation of at least one of the edicts.”
