Tuesday, October 19, 2010

CPSIA - Do We Need More Government? [No!]

796 days have passed since ANY Democrat in Congress did ANYTHING to help us on the CPSIA. There are only 14 days left until Election Day.

Hey, have any of you noticed that since I began a daily reminder of our abandonment by this Democrat-led government (reminders began on August 22nd when 738 days had passed without help), no Democrat has done a single thing to help us? Have you also noticed that as they weren't rising up to help us, the Dems were actually engaged in making things WORSE? Definition of Children's Products, the so-called "15 Month Rule", making carpets subject to testing, further implementation of a database certain to make our business environment FAR more hostile.

Do we need a lot more of this?

Mr. Obama says we do: "The basic idea is that if we put our blind faith in the market and we let corporations do whatever they want and we leave everybody else to fend for themselves, then America somehow automatically is going to grow and prosper." The implication is clear - more government is the solution, we can't trust markets.
Corporations need overseers, heavy regulation.

This quote is from a remarkable WSJ article that appeared last week by Daniel Henninger entitled "Capitalism Saved the Miners". Beleaguered victims of the awful CPSIA should read this article. Let me sum it up with his concluding remarks:

"The U.S. has a government led by a mindset obsessed with 250K-a-year 'millionaires' and given to mocking 'our blind faith in the market.' In a fast-moving world filled with nations intent on catching up with or passing us, this policy path is a waste of time. The miners' rescue is a thrilling moment for Chile, an imprimatur on its rising status. But I'm thinking of that 74-person outfit in Berlin, Pa., whose high-tech drill bit opened the earth to free them. You know there are tens of thousands of stories like this in the U.S., as big as Google and small as Center Rock. I'm glad one of them helped save the Chileans. What's needed now is a new American economic model that lets our innovators rescue the rest of us." [Emphasis added]

I don't know about you, but I think we operated our company very well before Mother Government invited herself into our affairs. We knew the difference between right and wrong, and were pretty good at allocating our capital to its highest and best use. Now we must play "Mother May I" with the self-appointed experts who arrived to protect against "dangers" they can't accurately describe or measure. The vacuuming up of our money, our resources, our mind share, our energy, destroys our ability and will to compete.

Fine, ignore the reality. Wait for the bodies. Assert your superiority and your authority. But the facts are the facts. The case against the CPSIA is crystal clear and the only ones who don't "get it" are the Democrats. After two years of banging my head against the wall, I can only conclude that they don't WANT to get it.

It's no mystery - I know why the Dems refuse to listen. They are rather transparent about it. When I spoke to Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL9) at a candidate forum eight days ago, I asked her why she called me a "cynical special interest" to the WSJ. She asked me who I was, and then told me she didn't know me. That fact didn't stop her from trashing me, a private citizen, to a nationally-prominent newspaper. Pointing the finger at me serves her interest in getting reelected - she's saving the populace . . . again. Who is in a position to argue with her? When I protested that our products had been safe for 26 years, she replied that she "didn't understand what the problem is" and turned to a voter standing nearby to assert that she just wants to protect children against lead. The higher moral ground . . . for people who don't know what they're talking about. Unfortunately, scare tactics sell very well.

I believe the Mob also sells protection. Do you want to buy some protection from them?

The Chilean miners were saved by companies that invested their money to make the world a better place incentivized by the opportunity to make a profit. Our industry, the one that serves children as our reason-to-be, is being depleted by a heavy tax - the intrusion of a heavy-handed government that treats us as "guilty-until-proven-innocent". The government REFUSES to listen to us.

Those of you with children will pay the consequences.

Thank you, Mother Government. The market saved the miners, but you will happliy kill us.

Vote on November 2nd for a fresh start.

3 comments:

Nom de Blog said...

Thank you for sharing your interaction with Schakowsky. I had suspected she had insulated herself to that degree from the effects of her legislation, but since I've never interacted with her I didn't know for sure.

jennifer said...

She is afraid to have an open conversation about it because she knows you are right. I don't think that the average voter though would see through her which is why these crazy people keep getting re-elected. I wish people would read beyond the headlines.

Geoff Jones said...

I am happy for the Chilean miners, happy that they live in Chile. If the same had happened in the US the mine would still be in court arguing why they don't need an EIR to begin digging (god fobid some snail darter or owl was anywhere within 100 miles of a mine collapse in the US). What's worse is that if they did get permission to dig the EPA and MSA would both issue citations for digging without a proper EIR. This is EXACTLY the kind of BIG governement regulation that is stifling small business and is preventing the US from being able to claw its way out of the depression (yes, I said depression). I fear that we have lost all connection with reality in this country. Unless there is an immediate and PROFOUND change in the direction we are headed, we will simply cease to exist, much like the endangered snail darter and owl who relied on their Mother (Nature) to take care of them.