The era of the incandescent light bulb is over. Climate change will be unaffected but your pocketbook will be lighter.
To show how serious it takes global warming the United States has enacted regulations that effectively outlaw the humble incandescent lightbulb. Check in vain for any hint from the United States Constitution that prohibiting light bulbs is a proper function of the federal government. What is behind this ban is the toxic mix of feel-good symbolism, junk science and, most importantly, the ugly co-mingling of corporations, government and the pursuit of the dollar.
Forget about anthropogenic climate change. As with tobacco, there is no evidence to justify the enactment of a social engineering scheme that will affect the life of every American. Forget about cleaning up the planet, as the elimination of incandescent bulbs will not make one iota of difference to the "carbon footprint" made by high energy nations. Follow instead, as Brian M. Carney does in the Wall Street Journal, the money trail that originates with environmental activists, is nurtured by gullible politicians, and gets milked for all its worth by profit-oriented corporations.
All you need to know is that the nation’s largest lightbulb makers are cheerfully on board the scam to outlaw incandescent bulbs. Why on earth would private industry support an outrageous regulation by government? For the easy money that government regulations bestow on complicit corporations. An incandescent light that costs 50 cents will be replaced by a lightbulb that costs three dollars. The companies needn’t bother trying to sway consumers that the new lights are better than the old. The government has joined with the corporations to eliminate yet another choice, all under the holy guise of "public safety and public health."
One component of fascism is the phenomenon of government dictating corporate policy and corporations, through their governmental partners, setting public policy that benefits corporations financially. Just as Big Tobacco is now partnered with every state government to ensure its cigarette monopoly, so the lightbulb manufacturers’ federal partner ensures huge profits by ripping off the consumers and ending consumer choice.
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