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Comment by DanBC | Hacker News Reader

I was reading the "My Dad taught me cash flow" (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3167630) article and I thought "I bet kids couldn't do that in the UK." So I had a quick search, and it turns out that some places in the US are cracking down.

But why? What is the risk here? I'm not asking about the actual risk, but what the perceived risk is from 7 year olds selling lemonade at 25c per cup.

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Well, you could get food poisoning: http://foodsafetyinfosheets.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/6-13... or http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2010/07/espn_re...

Now if someone is selling food or beverages at an event, and people get sick from consuming the product, what od you think will happen? They sue the event organizer or whoever has the deepest pockets, saying 'you permitted the sale of the food that made me sick.' One could say that such people are litigation-happy weenies, but one also has to consider the sky-high cost of hospital treatment. Sometimes people's insurers will sue on their behalf to recover their treatment costs.

What if their parents are ordering them to sell the cans of soft drink all day and the kids have no choice? If you allow 7 year olds to do it, do you allow 27 yr olds? What of the 27 year old looks like a junkie and they are selling drinks in a nice middle class neighbourhood? Do you have one law for nice wholesome people and another for the underclass? If so, how do you write that law?

I really don't know why or how. But to me it seems like an inverted 1984 scenario, where instead of "kids" turning in "parents", in current western society parents are trying to beat down on the kids as much as possible.

Whats actually happening is the brick and mortar stores are getting governments to crack down on street vendors. That mixed with overzealous law enforcement agencies has caused this situation.

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