There's got to be more to this story...

Seems to me if a food inspector doesn't find rats, then there's no problem with poppy seeds on the floor! I remember in New York, there was some fancy restaurant that sold $1,000 chocolate sundaes, because they used shaved gold or something - and they were shut down because of health violations - actual rats I think... but this? This seems out of line.

NYC Fines Bagel Shop Over Sesame and Poppy Seeds on Floor
RUSH: The New York Post. Ready for this? "A Health Department inspector bizarrely slapped a Brooklyn bagel shop with $1,650 in fines -- because sesame and poppy seeds fell to the floor while the bagels were being made during working hours. The owner of B&B Empire Bagel Cafe -- who appealed the violations and lost at two separate hearings -- says the inspectors must have holes in their heads. 'It is impossible to clean up after each and every bagel.'"

Alex Gormakh is the owner. He's 59. I know you're thinking, "Wait, wait, wait, Rush, you need to tell us more." There isn't any more. This guy got fined because sesame and poppy seeds fell to the floor. I guess this violates health standards during the making of these bagels. Because they have been cited for this before, the owner and his son "have invested close to $900,000 in larger stainless steel preparation tables -- in hopes of containing seed fallout -- and an expensive water-filter vacuum to suck up the seeds from the floor. 'It is still not profitable, but it is close,' said Gormakh, who moved his family here from Russia in 1995 and opened his store last June. ... 'If you want to work you have to pay,' he concluded. 'In Russia, they call it corruption. Here they call it something else. Either way, you have to pay.'"

Now, this is the sort of regulation that's killing small business. I know you're saying, "Rush, wait a minute. There's something you're leaving out. This doesn't makes sense. A guy gets fined $1,600 because poppy seeds and sesame seeds end up on the floor when he's making bagels. What's wrong with that? You ever seen my kitchen, Rush, when I'm baking a cake, you ever see what ends on the floor?" Yeah, and let some city food inspector see it and who knows what happens to you. You're asking me, "But, Rush, do they reach down and pick up those seeds from the floor and put 'em in the bagel?" No. They don't. They sweep 'em up. They throw 'em away. "Okay, then what's the problem?" I'm sorry, I can't tell you. I don't know, folks. All I know is this is bureaucratic power run amok. It's a clear example and illustration of the kind of oppressive regulations that exist simply because some bureaucrat has the power to enforce it.

The only reason the regulation exists is so some power mad little bureaucrat can enforce it, go out and fine somebody. You wait until this kind of thing happens countless times a day at the federal level once Obamacare is fully implemented. This is nothing compared to the what's coming. They wonder why startups are at an all-time low. We just had that news last week. Entrepreneurial startups, business startups are at a record low, Census, IRS numbers, since records on this have been kept. Again, the two people that own this thing had to go out and invest almost a million dollars in stainless steel preparation tables, bigger tables to keep the seeds from hitting the floor. And even after doing that, they got fined $1,600 because a health department inspector saw the seeds on the floor of their bagel shop. It's impossible for some seeds not to end up on the floor. So these two guys are violating regulations. They're class D criminals in the course of making bagels in Brooklyn. I understand that the seeds can attract vermin in the bagel store, but they don't leave them there. They clean 'em up.