The rules are the rules

Not nearly as bizarre as the idea that the only thing keeping them from harming their customers is Irma J. Finklemeyer down at the FDA/FTC/Insert Three-Letter-Acronym Here.

 

We've all seen exactly how the corners get cut in order to save a few bucks.

I understand it happens with newspapers. I sure as shit don't want it to happen with my food, too.

 

I think Stossel's been slapped in the head a few too many times.

 

I never read the book. I saw the movie. It starred the kid that had put his tongue on the flagpole in "A Christmas Story".

 

I am curious about one thing. Around here the Christmas tamales biz is huge; you can't go to a holiday event without seeing tamales being served. Sometimes we joke that tamales are North Texas' answer to poundcake. And these tamales don't come from some licensed restaurant or catering service, they come from someone's grandma or brother-in-law over in Grand Prairie or the north side of Fort Worth. It's a cash-only business, but it's a big one.

First of all, is the tamale tradition similar elsewhere? And secondly, do these seasonal restaurateurs not run afoul of food regs there? (Everyone knows the drill around here and simply looks the other way ... while passing the chili and hot sauce).

 

Much like our debate about stealing electricity, yes, they can be shut down according to the law, but they probably won't because the powers that be don't care.

 

To be clear, I meant "factors" in the literal sense, i.e., circumstances, facts or influences that contribute to a result or outcome. In our case, the "result or outcome" is the "market" for cupcakes, with market defined as "the demand for a particular commodity or service" or "the state of trade at a particular time or in a particular context." As long as we both agree to label government regulation as an "influence," I don't see how you can deny that government regulation is a market factor, because it would require you disagreeing with the statement, "Government regulations influence the cupcake market by constructing barriers to entry (e.g. possession of a code-abiding kitchen) and by inflicting expenses (e.g., license fees) that must either be passed onto the consumer in the form of higher cupcake prices, or subtracted from operating revenue."

Market factor. Any external agent that affects the demand for or the price of a good or service. Market factor.

http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/market-factor.html

I think your thinking is flawed, as is your logic. I explicitly stated that I think 11-year-olds should be able to sell cupcakes that they make in their mothers' kitchens, as should 17-year-olds and 30-year-olds and 65-year-olds, as well as people of any age who have neither mothers nor kitchens, or those who have one but not the other. If you are going to ignore an explicit statement in order to construct an argument against a suggestion that my explicit statement directly contradicts, then all I can do is step aside and watch you debate against a windmill. But the issue at hand is that the state of Illinois does not, in the view of Madison County, allow 11-year-olds, or anybody else, to sell cupcakes that they make in their mothers' kitchens. That led me to ask you a question that, despite the length and bluster of your reply, you have yet to answer: What, in your opinion, should exempt Hey, Cupcake from abiding by the same government regulations that other sellers in the Troy-area cupcake marketplace are subjected to?

I did not dispute any of this, so I'm not sure why you are arguing it.

It's not worth anything, because you do not provide any justification for your conclusions. If 'Crave the Cup' sells cupcakes and 'Hey Cupcake' sells cupcakes, and buyers have access to both companies' cupcakes, then by most definitions of the word they are in competition. One competitor is forced to incur costs of equipment and regulatory fees, which, as you noted, increases the price of their good. The other competitor is not forced to incur those costs, and thus can sell the same good for a lower price. How is that irrelevant to the question I asked, which is how big must a business be in order for it to be subject to the same market-altering (e.g. price-inflating) rules and regulations as its competitors?

 

If those seasonal restauranteurs do run afoul of food regs and are featured on the front page of their local newspaper while doing so, they might have some problems. But as I said earlier, lots of states have passed legislation to address the situations in question. Texas is one of them.

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/metro/20130830-texas-cottage-food-law-eases-rules-on-home-bakers.ece

 

Did JR, or anybody else, say that he believes that the Three-Letter-Acronym was the ONLY thing keeping them from harming their customers? If not, why does the bizarreness of such an idea have any relevance?

 

Devil suggests you buy a home where a HOA covers this.

 

http://www.laweekly.com/informer/2013/10/28/west-la-bakery-had-rats-pigeons-and-droppings-prosecutors-allege