Consequences of Regulation

More than 100 tour bus guides who work for the Gray Line tour company in New York will be laid off next year and replaced with recordings in response to a New York City law that the company says will cost it $3 million to implement. The law requires the bus companies to phase in headphones for their tourist passengers. City Council Member Gale Brewer explained to DNAinfo.com, which has the story: "I believe in the headphones because it's not fair for the people who live in these neighborhoods to hear the same discussion over and over again." Some might say "it's not fair" for 100 tour guides to lose their jobs because of a City Council-passed law. But in the world inhabited by so many politicians and bureaucrats, the costs of complying with regulations are somehow magically assumed without any cost in jobs.