IMO, Zoning and licensing laws are two of the most pernicious and vile tyrannies that plague us today and keep poor people from taking advantage of a market economy. It's always the small things, the subtle ones that are the most dangerous. Because we don't notice them as much.
So you'd be perfectly happy if the following situation happened to you in real life:
1) You buy a nice 40-acre farm plot out in the middle of nowhere. Simple road access, utilities, etc. You construct a nice ranch house on your property, and leave the rest undeveloped.
2) 2 years later, an industrialist from General MegaOmniCorp comes by and plops a 400-acre sprawling factory, belching fire and soot, to the left of your property.
3) 5 years later, on the other side of your property, another developer comes by, bulldozes the lovely lake that was next door, and builds directly next to the property line a 4-story megamall.
4) Across the road from you is built a 200-story office complex.
5) Your road is widened 30 lanes to accomodate the sudden influx of traffic.
6) Your house is dwarfed by your neighbors, and your family is getting sick from the soot coming from the coal plant next door. Last week your house got robbed by someone that works at the Subway in the mall. your dog got killed by a speeding motorist on the new highway in front of your house. Your grass is dead. And what's worse, the sewage line just broke in your lawn, spilling shit all over your property.
Ah yes, capitalism. Free markets. Don't like it, move to Russia.
LF
