During the past several decades, government has become a primary provider of education, mass transit, fire protection, garbage collection, road repair, and park maintenance. We may have been lulled into thinking that government is the best provider for such services. What's more we may have almost unconsciously come to believe that government can be the only provider of some of these goods and services. These services affect us all. Federal, state, and local governments traditionally have sought to insure that employees in restaurants and other public eating places prepare and serve food at least as hygienically as the codes require.
Governments employ a swarm of inspectors to enforce their complex web of regulations.
There is some evidence, however, that this is not the actual practice. The Better Government Association joined with the Sun- Times in its investigation. The strategy these two organizations chose was to buy a bar and restaurant and run it themselves. They called their restaurant Mirage. Shakedowns by state liquor inspectors who demand whatever is in a tavern's cash register for their silence about liquor violations.