Comments on: Quote Of The Day http://www.thelibertypapers.org/2008/12/22/quote-of-the-day-35/ Life. Liberty. Property. Defending individual freedom and liberty, one post at a time. Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:04:34 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Cokehead http://www.thelibertypapers.org/2008/12/22/quote-of-the-day-35/#comment-62440 Cokehead Fri, 26 Dec 2008 06:13:26 +0000 http://www.thelibertypapers.org/?p=3424#comment-62440 You're talking about overregulation. Just letting the free market run roughshod over everything else isn't really a good idea. Maybe I just support regulation a little more because the lack of it ended up getting me salmonella from peanut butter; but I don't know, really. You’re talking about overregulation. Just letting the free market run roughshod over everything else isn’t really a good idea. Maybe I just support regulation a little more because the lack of it ended up getting me salmonella from peanut butter; but I don’t know, really.

]]> By: Mark http://www.thelibertypapers.org/2008/12/22/quote-of-the-day-35/#comment-62425 Mark Tue, 23 Dec 2008 19:03:29 +0000 http://www.thelibertypapers.org/?p=3424#comment-62425 I should add - the certification issue is also a problem, but more because of the draconian penalties for paperwork error than because of the marginal burden of certification. I should add – the certification issue is also a problem, but more because of the draconian penalties for paperwork error than because of the marginal burden of certification.

]]> By: Mark http://www.thelibertypapers.org/2008/12/22/quote-of-the-day-35/#comment-62424 Mark Tue, 23 Dec 2008 19:01:55 +0000 http://www.thelibertypapers.org/?p=3424#comment-62424 Brad: The lead aspect of it is not an element that anyone really cares about much one way or another (although there is a specific issue with regards to some of the products for older children...but for the most part, no one really cares if they mandate an elimination of lead because there are alternatives in most cases). The real issues are the testing and retroactivity issues, which do nothing to improve safety and impose disproportionate costs on small and medium sized businesses, who were completely shut out of the legislative process. To give a picture of the extremes of this issue, a manufacturer of unfinished, hand-made wooden toys will need to lay out hundreds of dollars in testing fees just to prove that the toys don't contain lead (which of course is physically impossible). One of the people I interviewed for the article, who sells primarily hand-made, wooden toys, told me that 80-90% of her suppliers are either planning to close because of the regulatory costs or are considering it. Anyways, thanks for passing it on. It just seems to me to be an issue that bespeaks the perils that occur where regulatory capture meets well-meaning legislators. But more importantly, it's an issue where there is an increasingly large opportunity to prevent the worst effects. Brad:
The lead aspect of it is not an element that anyone really cares about much one way or another (although there is a specific issue with regards to some of the products for older children…but for the most part, no one really cares if they mandate an elimination of lead because there are alternatives in most cases). The real issues are the testing and retroactivity issues, which do nothing to improve safety and impose disproportionate costs on small and medium sized businesses, who were completely shut out of the legislative process.

To give a picture of the extremes of this issue, a manufacturer of unfinished, hand-made wooden toys will need to lay out hundreds of dollars in testing fees just to prove that the toys don’t contain lead (which of course is physically impossible). One of the people I interviewed for the article, who sells primarily hand-made, wooden toys, told me that 80-90% of her suppliers are either planning to close because of the regulatory costs or are considering it.

Anyways, thanks for passing it on. It just seems to me to be an issue that bespeaks the perils that occur where regulatory capture meets well-meaning legislators. But more importantly, it’s an issue where there is an increasingly large opportunity to prevent the worst effects.

]]> By: Brad Warbiany http://www.thelibertypapers.org/2008/12/22/quote-of-the-day-35/#comment-62422 Brad Warbiany Tue, 23 Dec 2008 18:10:14 +0000 http://www.thelibertypapers.org/?p=3424#comment-62422 Mark, I passed it along to my fellow contributors... Not sure if it will be addressed or not (and I may or may not have time to do so myself). One point I would make, though, is that I hope the lead issue is not overly presented as the key to this. At least when it comes to any company manufacturing electronices for worldwide distribution, they're already using lead-free processes -- as the Europeans have banned lead solder as of about mid-2006. There is a free-rider aspect to this policy that has largely eliminated lead from most US domestic electronics production as well. This isn't to "steal the thunder" of this bill, of course, as it appears some of the labeling and certification requirements will be just as bad as advertised, but the lead aspect is probably not a big deal in the grand scheme of things. Mark,

I passed it along to my fellow contributors… Not sure if it will be addressed or not (and I may or may not have time to do so myself).

One point I would make, though, is that I hope the lead issue is not overly presented as the key to this. At least when it comes to any company manufacturing electronices for worldwide distribution, they’re already using lead-free processes — as the Europeans have banned lead solder as of about mid-2006. There is a free-rider aspect to this policy that has largely eliminated lead from most US domestic electronics production as well.

This isn’t to “steal the thunder” of this bill, of course, as it appears some of the labeling and certification requirements will be just as bad as advertised, but the lead aspect is probably not a big deal in the grand scheme of things.

]]> By: Mark http://www.thelibertypapers.org/2008/12/22/quote-of-the-day-35/#comment-62417 Mark Tue, 23 Dec 2008 15:17:53 +0000 http://www.thelibertypapers.org/?p=3424#comment-62417 Kind of O/T, but speaking of regulation, I would love someone here at Liberty Papers to talk about this (not because it's my writing, but because it's something that legitimately needs more attention): http://www.culture11.com/article/34090?from=feature See also this: http://publiusendures.blogspot.com/2008/12/because-we-said-so.html ...There's also a bunch of related materials if you look around the internets. Kind of O/T, but speaking of regulation, I would love someone here at Liberty Papers to talk about this (not because it’s my writing, but because it’s something that legitimately needs more attention):
http://www.culture11.com/article/34090?from=feature

See also this:
http://publiusendures.blogspot.com/2008/12/because-we-said-so.html

…There’s also a bunch of related materials if you look around the internets.

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