Higher Standards
Just as all of our job descriptions are increasing exponentially, as our attention is being divided, and we have less space and time in which to accomplish those objectives, the standard of those objectives is increasing. Let me give you some examples in an area I am familiar. I use these as examples, but the level of detail outlined here is happening across the board:- An electrician is now legally required to put a certain number of electrical outlets per lineal feet of wall space, whether the client wants them there or not - or the house will not pass final inspection. But that is not all: an electrician is required to stay abreast of such minutia by law, or is liable to have their license revoked. And that is not all: outlets, which used to cost 25 cents to make now have to be "approved to standard," which triples the cost because many manufacturers do not have the economical ability to perform the "tests." Then GFI outlets were introduced, to allow people to drop a dryer into the tub without being shocked. This and the testing process brought the cost of a GFI outlet up to $6.00 per outlet. Then another "improved" outlet was just regulated by law, increasing what is now called a GFCI outlet to $17.00.
The pattern 100 years ago was that you did not need to have electricity for a home to be considered livable. Then electricity is required. Then the type of outlet is regulated, then the quantity, and finally a spiraling level of quality which increases the cost by law of supplying electricity more than 30 times. You must spend this money or you will not be allowed to live in your own house. Homeless people living in cardboard boxes is no problem, but you living in a house with only two outlets in a room which by law should have "four" outlets is not OK. Building departments will not sign off. Banks will not issue money. Contractors lose their license. In one hundred years the standards and costs in electricity in every home have gone up 30 times. One is no longer simply able to construct your own house and live in it as you see fit. You must meet standards imposed upon you.You can't make your own vehicle: every vehicle must be approved. Thousands of businesses may not be started, even by capable people, without expensive legal and licensing procedures. These new procedures take time to learn, often make little sense, and further divide ones feeling: "This is what I want to do, but I have to do this." The division of emotion is another source of stress. I am not ignoring the many benefits which come with higher standards, but rather recognizing the enormous stress on all involved as those standards are regulated into place on an already extremely stressed population.
