Your Gonna Pay Now.........

In January of 2012 The incandescent light bulb will no longer be a legal product to manufacture in the United States. It will also be illegal to purchase a 60W A-19 incandescent lamp in the United States of America. This is not right wing conspiracy theory. It is the Law. What the President and the Congress has mandated to the American public is in essence a decree, the only thing missing is a fur lined robe, and a staph made of Gold. The thought behind this royal decree, ...... well I should be accurate, the thought behind this law was to encourage the American public to change their habit from using the old style light bulb and to start using the Compact Fluorescent lamp instead. Now in full disclosure I have been an advocate of those lamps myself for well over 20 years, both professionally and at home. I like the color of the light, I like the longevity of the bulb, and I like the fact that you can produce light with 15Watts rather than 60 watts, which is a huge savings. I have stood by electric meters rigged up to test the usage of the compact fluorescent versus an Incandescent, and there is a huge savings in usage. I have done it voluntarily. I would always encourage someone to do it as a choice that is well reasoned. I would never demand that someone use them. I cannot fathom the idea of requiring someone to use a fluorescent lamp while pointing a gun at them  ( after all isn't that what happens when you violate the law, some one with a badge and a gun comes looking for you ? )  it confounds me that there are servants of the public who derive their power from those that elect them, that such a mandate exists in what is presumed to be the " freest " nation on the planet. Does any one have a dictionary on hand....... ? I want to look that word up and check the meaning again.

                                                                                         There was a notion on the part of those issuing the law that by economies of scale, the cost of a CFL as it is commonly known would start to come down as the bulb became more mainstream, and because there was a national standard put into place, every manufacturer would be producing the same type of light bulb thus passing on the cost savings to the consumer, the utilities because of reduced electric loads, and a reduction of oil and coal usage by the power plants that produce the electricity. Of course you and I know that the political class in this country doesn't know diddly squat about economics, Hell Ben Bernanke doesn't even know what is real money. So I am not surprised that our great leaders and our President has not taken the time understand Praxeology, or the importance of understanding Praxeology especially in economics. In this case the worlds largest producer of Phosphor is China. Without Phosphor there are no fluorescent lamps. That material is what is ignited with in the glass tubes to produce the light. You see the Chinese have figured out that since they produce 97 % of the world's supply of phosphor, they want to use the restriction of rare earth materials against the United States which happens to be the largest market for the material, ............ you guessed it because we have painted ourselves into a corner on this matter.

                                                                                  If the Federal government had not intervened in the market place in regards to the manufacture of Light bulbs you and I would not be facing the price increases ( as much as 50 % ) for a mandated lamp. In fact had the President and Congress left well enough alone, there would be a wide variety of competition on the types of lamps available, and no one style would have a monopoly and the laws of supply and demand would take place. Hey can't get phosphor, no sweat, tungsten is readily available, and cheap to ........... and it happens to make a great filament. Time and again intervention in the market does more harm than good, and this is a classic case. Look these are the same guys that are telling us that they need to borrow more money in order to spend less in the future.................



                            ahhhhhhhhhhhh OK !


For further reading on this please follow these links :

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/for-rare-earths-an-abundance-of-interest/article2099191/


http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/environment/2007-12-16-light-bulbs_N.htm