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If the pharmacist with his license on a piece of driftwood had satisfied customers that I’ve spoken with, lines at the counter, and lower prices than the other guys do, then I could get used to checking out the broken beer bottle while my Rx was getting filled.

Until beachcomber boy misses a drug interaction and you drop dead. Then you can be taken to the mortician. Since he would probably also be unlicensed in your world, you'll probably be embalmed with Gatorade.

The free market can solve almost all problems, but insuring that people in crucial professions where a single mistake can be a disaster are "ready to solo" is not one of them. Getting rid of licensing for "libertarian" reasons is just as silly as requiring ever profession to be licensed.

Is the presupposition that, through licensing, mistakes are made less frequently? That's probably accurate yet very bold. In the meanwhile, hundreds of otherwise qualified caregivers who would make great physicians, pharmacists, nurses, morticians, etc. are subject to a system that prohibits their ability to legally practice and provide their skills for compensation.

And licensing boards: there's never any market distorting perversions going on in that body. Nope, no politics and no quotas that artificially limit the pool of licensed folks in order to affect wages

Are you also fond of the FDA on similar "protect me from making stupid and dangerous choices" grounds?

By the way, superb post in #154! Someone with a handy ping list (a list of the uplifting variety) should distribute that one. I'll remember this post when my mortician pumps me full of Propel...I wont give a damn.