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Comment by astazangasta | Hacker News Reader

Guilds still exist and wield considerable power. See the the American Bar Association or American Medical Association.

These go well beyond what the Bar Association and AMA do though by providing space where it'd otherwise be unaffordable for the individual members. The Bar and AMA are much more focused on the regulatory and lobbying side of things with little of the support roles, which honestly makes sense given that their membership is generally very well paid so the funding and support functions aren't as necessary.

A portion of their high pay is because of the regulatory and lobbying side.

For example from 1997:

https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1997-03-01-19970600...

> "The United States is on the verge of a serious oversupply of physicians," the AMA and five other medical groups said in a joint statement. "The current rate of physician supply -- the number of physicians entering the work force each year -- is clearly excessive."

> Cohen said medical schools have been producing the same number of doctors, 17,000 a year, for more than a decade. But, he said, there has been "explosive growth in the number of entry-level positions for residents." About 8,000 of the 25,000 positions are filled by graduates of medical schools outside the United States.

> Cohen said federal money should "no longer be used to support the training of foreign nationals."

And it seems the actual focus is on whether to fund foreign students.

Also a significant reason why healthcare is particularly expensive in the US.

Yep. The London guilds still wield a fair bit of power.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livery_company

Those aren't literally guilds for their trades any more. They're charitable clubs with an historic name. Some try to support some charities that are related to their historic role, but most are focused on things like general education.

The ABA is a professional organization like the IEEE or ACM. Maybe you're thinking of state bars?

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