Your government at work

When you listen to our current President, our President-elect, and our Congresscritters wax poetic about how they are working hard to keep our economy from going in the tank, that makes it all the more amusing when I find out about laws like the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSI).

This law came about in response to the 2007 lead paint panic from toys that were made in China, and CPSI was passed unanimously by the House of Representatives and by the Senate with just 13 nays. This law requires all home crafted toys to be tested for high levels of dangerous chemicals. That means anyone who makes toys and other products used by children (clothing, furniture, bedding) at home and then sells them on EBay/Craigslist, at county fairs, at trade expos, at church bazaars, and so on must pay an exorbitant amount of money (between $400 and $4,000 per batch) to have the products tested. In effect, this puts these entrepreneurs out of business. Meanwhile, goods coming from China - who caused this problem in the first place - keep on comin'.

Due to huge numbers of complaints from people who have taken the time to call or email the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which is the executive agency that would carry out this law, there has been a tentative agreement to soften the requirements of the law, but nothing is set in stone by any means. For all we know, CPSI could still be implemented as written.

This is a perfect example of our nanny government hurting the American people in the guise of helping them or keeping them safe. It is especially galling when it was not home crafted toys that had high levels of lead in the first place; it was toys crafted in factories in China - factories mostlikely manned by political prisoners.

CPSI goes into effect on February 10th, 2009. As the American people worry about what is going to happen to our economy this year, laws like CPSI are exactly what will continue to financially hobble us, and make it that much harder to recover from our current economic predicament. Shame on Congress (both Democrats and Republicans - although the 13 Senate nays were all Republicans) and shame on President Bush for signing this travesty into law.

If you want to read the text/summary of CPSI or find out who voted yea and nay, click here. If you want to read what the media has had to say about it, read this L.A. Times article or watch this newscast:



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