Times are hard for capitalism right now. With the state taking over more and more aspects of our economy, less and less innovative activity will stay aboveboard. And with more and more behavior-restricting legislation, and higher taxes, citizens are less and less free to enjoy what used to be life’s simple pleasures. Liberty and other journals have chronicled the state’s many legal encroachments, demonstrating that the busybody spirit of the temperance movement is alive and well. And it’s not just the federal government: states are only too happy to enact “well-meaning” restrictions of freedom.
Since so many in our midst seem so ready to repeat history, the entrepreneurial among us ought to get a jump on the next booming sector. With the current administration’s growing stranglehold over the economy, there may be only one sector poised to actually turn a profit.
Speakeasies.
Not simply the stuffy, beer-in-a-pail speakeasies of the Prohibition era. Prohibition only covered alcohol. That left little room for diversifying one’s opportunities. Because the contemporary heirs of temperance and their statist partners really mean business, today’s daring entrepreneurs can serve a much wider customer base.
The choices for today’s speakeasies and their clients are almost unlimited. As the state keeps intervening more and more, there will be something for every taste. The more traditionally-minded can experience the old days by drinking alcohol in amounts that will register .08 or lower on the breathalyzer; they’ll just need to walk home afterward. More adventuresome risk-takers can feast on hamburgers and cheeseburgers, nonorganic fruits and vegetables, trans-fat laden donuts, cream-filled snack cakes, and other delicacies that were once commonplace in restaurants and cafes. Patrons can smoke cigarettes – filtered or not! They can even dare to be comfortable with BMI indexes of more than 25%.
This is a guaranteed moneymaker! So plan now: you can be the first in your neighborhood to ride out the economic crisis by exploiting the latest round of state-created forbidden fruits.
