Light Bulb Ban Creating Jobs...

[Mos Eisley]

...in China!!

Wondering what ya'll think of this. One more thing the Guberment is shoving down our throats. I'm already having a hard time finding regular bulbs.

http://dailycaller.com/2010/09/16/congress-light-bulb-ban-is-creating-jobs-in-china/

Congress’ light bulb ban is creating jobs (in China)
7:31 PM 09/16/2010

Tight credit, reduced spending, and a host of symptoms of the poor economy have pummeled businesses large and small, and workers are feeling it with 9.6 percent unemployment. Unable to find credit to expand or even endure bad times and unable to find customers willing to spend, companies are forced to lay off workers. Two hundred employees of a plant in Winchester, Va., will soon join the millions of American unemployed.

The Winchester 200 weren’t working for a small, struggling company. In fact, their employer, GE, is one of the world’s most robust corporations. They weren’t manufacturing high-end computers, super colliders, or luxury consumer goods Americans don’t feel they need or can afford. Instead, their product is on the shopping list of tens of thousands of Americans at this very moment. They made “old-fashioned” incandescent light bulbs. They have lost their jobs not through market failure but because Washington policy makers capriciously decided to give them the boot. Writes the Post:

“Everybody’s jumping on the green bandwagon,” said Pat Doyle, 54, who has worked at the plant for 26 years. But “we’ve been sold out. First sold out by the government. Then sold out by GE.”

Certainly the “big idea” was that by incentivizing the use of those twisty florescent light bulbs, enough new jobs in the “green economy” would be created to absorb those who worked their whole lives producing the old incandescent standby. There is a lesson here. Always fear the Washington “big idea” as such ideas are consistently disconnected from “reality.” Remember this maxim: those who can do, those who can’t teach, and those who can’t teach get jobs as congressional staffers.

The problem with the “big idea” wasn’t that the florescent bulb industry wouldn’t expand. It did. In China. Those two hundred American workers in Winchester, Va., are out of luck.

That’s why we’ve introduced H.R. 6144, the Better Use of Light Bulbs Act, which repeals the ban on the incandescent bulb that has been turning back the night ever since Thomas Edison ended the era of a world lit only by fire in 1879. It’s as simple as that, though technically it repeals Subtitle B of Title III of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007.

The unanticipated consequence of the ’07 act - layoffs in the middle of a desperate recession - is what sometimes happens when politicians think they know better than consumers and workers. From the health insurance you’re allowed to have, to the car you can drive, to the light bulbs you can buy, Washington is making too many decisions that are better left to people who work for their own paychecks and earn their own living.

We believe that the consumer, not Washington, is capable of deciding which light bulb works best. Democrats, however, believe that you just can’t be trusted to make the right decision. If Democrats want to show the folks back home that they understand the pent-up frustration in this country, they’ll start by supporting our bill.

Rep. Joe Barton (R) represents Texas’ Sixth Congressional District. Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R) represents Tennessee’s Seventh Congressional District. Rep. Michael Burgess (R) represents the Texas’ Twenty-Sixth Congressional District.

 

[WhiteyMacD]

So they are talking about banning incadescents? What about the jobs of the people who make those? Or is this just something so the gubment can say he created some green jobs (by sacrificing the same amount if not more of another job.)

 

[MaddSkillz]

Energy efficient light bulbs suck!!!

 

[Mos Eisley]

What I can't believe is this was signed into law by Bush in 2007. The Bill was delivered to the White House in a Prius!

 

[doctorjj]

I'm all for getting rid of incandescents. There are so many better options available with current technology. It's too bad these people are being laid off. There needs to be some incentive to get the new technology products to be made here instead of in China. There's no reason why these same workers can't make LED lights instead.

Does everyone feel sorry for all the buggy whip makers? They are obsolete. Time to move on.

 

[Rajder]

I'm all for getting rid of incandescents. There are so many better options available with current technology. It's too bad these people are being laid off. There needs to be some incentive to get the new technology products to be made here instead of in China. There's no reason why these same workers can't make LED lights instead.

Does everyone feel sorry for all the buggy whip makers? They are obsolete. Time to move on.

Exactly. All I see is a business who wasn't willing or able to change with the times and got left in the past. So a company in China stepped in and filled that void. People are going to go with the best product out there. It's simple supply and demand. If this company would have re-tooled to meet the demand of the newer designed light bulbs then those people wouldn't be out of a job.

 

[mons meg]

I voluntarily have been phasing out incandescents for those parts of the house where I want to leave a light burning all the time.

However, I think it's ridiculous that the Federal Government needs to step in and tell me what kinds of bulbs I can buy.

 

[KOPBET]

Billions of mercury laced CFs in the land fill. Right next to the billions of water bottles.

Awesome...

 

[bettingpython]

I'm all for getting rid of incandescents. There are so many better options available with current technology. It's too bad these people are being laid off. There needs to be some incentive to get the new technology products to be made here instead of in China. There's no reason why these same workers can't make LED lights instead.

Does everyone feel sorry for all the buggy whip makers? They are obsolete. Time to move on.

And how much does a dimmable LED bulb cost in comparison to an incandescent? I have a track lighting system in my living room that uses 10 light bulbs and is on a dimmer so I don't have to feel like I am living on the surface of the sun when I don't need maximum lighting.

I don't want just on or off I want options inbetween to adjust my lighting levels thank you very much.

Another place big brother has no business sticking his nose in.

 

[RETOKSQUID]

Think they should ban the CFLs myself. I have had two catch fire in the house and the rest have not lasted very long at all. There are better bulbs out there.