Want to start a business? Sorry, not unless it's OK with your competitors.

In 2009, St. Louis entrepreneur Michael Munie wanted to expand his moving business to operate throughout the state of Missouri, and asked the state for a permit. However, under a 70-year-old law, the Missouri Department of Transportation cannot issue a permit without notifying the existing moving companies and giving them a chance to object. Of course, four of them did object, arguing that a new moving business could result in a "substantial diversion of traffic" from their own businesses. If I'm not mistaken, we used to call that "competition," and it used to be considered a good thing because it brought lower prices and economic opportunity.

After the existing companies submitted their objection, Munie was forced to go to a hearing and prove to a panel of bureaucrats that there is a "public need" for a new moving company. Sadly, I am not making this up. For the Missouri Department of Transportation, competition is apparently a bad thing, and it is only permissible to start a business if there is a "public need" for it.

This is not unique to the moving industry, either. The Florida House of Representatives recently tried to end heavy-handed licensing requirements that made it extremely hard for people to set up shop as interior designers. A fierce battle ensued in the legislature. Licensed interior designers warned lawmakers that ending license requirements for interior designers would result in "88,000 deaths every year" from poor fabric selection. "Do you know the color schemes that affect your salivation, your autonomic nervous system?" inquired one professor.

The state attorney general's office, however, has admitted that unlicensed interior designers pose no actual threat to public safety. Floridians need not worry about fatal color schemes.

With the help of government, Missouri moving companies and Florida interior designers have basically formed cartels, making it next to impossible for new people to enter those fields. Unless government gets out of the way, other cartels will be sure to follow.

Environmental authorities cracking down hard on...musicians?

Musicians who play vintage guitars and other instruments are now increasingly afraid to take those instruments out of the country when they go on tour. A lot of old instruments contain materials (such as ivory, ebony, and various types of wood) that are now environmentally restricted. According to the Wall Street Journal, customs officials have been seizing them if their owners do not have complete documentation proving that no piece of the instrument (no matter how small) was obtained illegally. For instruments that may be 80 or 100 years old, that documentation can be very difficult or even impossible to get.

A blues guitarist (who is also a law professor) now says that he won't go out of the country with a wooden guitar. An Atlanta businessman recently tried to import several antique pianos, which clearly predated any restrictions on ivory keys. But he still faced criminal charges when he didn't have his paperwork straight, and he ended up pleading guilty to a misdemeanor and paying a $17,500 fine in order to avoid years of prison time.

Makes sense, right? I mean, musicians are such a grave threat to ecosystems worldwide.

Is "shovel-ready" still possible with today's regulations?

In the 1930's, FDR was able to create thousands upon thousands of jobs and stimulate the economy through infrastructure projects such as the Hoover Dam. In 2009, a similar attempt by Obama fell flat. Projects that were said to be "shovel-ready" were in fact nowhere near. According to this Wall Street Journal article, those projects failed to get off the ground largely because of a maze of environmental regulations and bureaucratic procedures that did not exist in the New Deal era. The effect of these regulations is substantial; according to a firm that advises on public works projects, a new bridge or a road through an urban area often requires five to seven years of planning before it is ready for a shovel. It is possible, says the author, that the Hoover Dam could not even be built today.

Obama is pushing for a new round of infrastructure spending to stimulate the economy, but any stimulus is unlikely to happen as long as these delays remain in place. I can't help but wonder what will happen to the country's infrastructure if it takes five years of bureaucratic haggling to even get started on a project.