Chewin in the Chung

Just received this from A-dawg:

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Just a reminder for anyone wavering in the fight against big government.

I'm opening a new company here in Taiwan. They are asking for all kinds of information (especially since I'm a foreigner) to see if I am "fit" to own a company. This is a slow process where a highly paid bureaucrat who has never owned a business judges me.

Why not simply let the market determine if I am capable? If I fail, that's it. I doubt the government is good at predicting failures.

The next argument, was that, as a foreigner I might "cheat" locals out of money. Leaving alone the fact that locals cheat each other on a massive basis, how is it possible for me to cheat someone unless they allow me to access credit terms? (They offer credit, by free choice, and then I default.)

Oh, I guess I could sell a faulty product...but again, caveat emptor, and there are laws and rules about quality (those I don't mind so much.)

Now, still, I could agree to this process, except the "investigator" sent over to my company keeps missing appointments, etc. (I'm supposed to be working even before they say I'm fit to be working? Weird.)

Then this official finally arrives, and looks around. Oh, but she forgot her camera, so she demands we do the pictures for her. Now I just spent two hours taking pictures to give to her so she can finish her job.

And if I complain...I won't get my business license. Meanwhile, the papers here keep printing the President decrying the lack of foreign investment in Taiwan. Go figure.
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A-D might, in his current state o' ire, be confusing BIG government with STUPID government, but yeah, we can all agree it must suck to be him this gloomy Thursday morning.