The Wall Street Journal has a news article on how the Minnesota government shutdown is threatening alcoholic beverage sales: "More than 300 bars and liquor stores can't buy beer, wine or liquor to sell to consumers because their $20 alcohol-purchasing licenses, known as buyer's cards, have expired, a casualty of the July 1 shutdown...Meanwhile, state officials told MillerCoors LLC, the second-largest beer maker in the U.S. behind Anheuser-Busch InBev NV, that it must remove all 39 brands of its beer from shelves statewide because its $1,170 brand-label registration fee wasn't processed before the shutdown."
As is sometimes the case, the commenters on the Journal site are more astute than the news reporters: "Tell me, why does a business need a license to buy perfectly legal goods for sale?" writes one. Says another: "Legislators should make note of all the commercial problems caused by trivial regulations, such as licensing requirements and repeal those regulations at the first opportunity."
