When the brothers of Saint Joseph Abbey, a Benedictine monastery in Covington, Louisana, began to sell their handmade wooden caskets in late 2007 to cover their own health care costs, the state’s Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors moved to shut them down. State regulators alleged that it was a crime to purchase caskets from anyone but a state-approved funeral director. The action was pushed by the state’s funeral homes because they wanted to keep prices high and limit competition.
Thanks to a prolonged court battle, the monks won the right to engage in their business, notching a win for free markets and a defeat for crony capitalism on the scoreboard.
Apparently, some individuals in Louisiana didn’t get the memo that competition is good for consumers. Sen. Cassidy (R-La.) appears to be one of the many in Washington that is tone deaf to that message.