CPSIA – Hey Sucker!

801 days have passed since ANY Democrat in Congress did ANYTHING to help us on the CPSIA. There are only 9 days left until Election Day.

Consider this note I received today from a friend:

“Thought you’d like to know that i received a check in the mail today from Uncle Sam’s new Affordable Care Act to help cover the cost of my Medicare drugs in the amount of $250. Mind you, this one-time gift arrived just eleven days prior to election and, to me, an obvious bribe to receive my endorsement of their plan. Hope this backfires on them as I am immediately turning this check back to Joel Pollak in the form of my contribution in the same amount. Hope it helps the last few days of his successful campaign.” [Emphasis added.]

The Affordable Care Act is Dem-sponsored legislation designed to ameliorate the “donut hole” that Seniors experience in drug coverage under Medicare. I am sure this is a real problem. That said, the arrival of this check magically two weeks before the election is just one more bit of evidence of the privilege taken by Congress and the White House to award themselves gifts in even-numbered years to ensure reelection. The real question is “how dumb are we?”

Please note that the CPSIA was just such a gift. Passed almost unanimously on August 14, 2008 right ahead of the 2008 election season, the CPSIA allowed every member of Congress to blunt accusations that they were “soft” on Chinese toys. Not unlike so many other pieces of complex legislation passed by Nancy Pelosi’s Congress, our esteemed members of Congress apparently never read the bill which covered soup-to-nuts in Children’s Products, not just toys. Even today, you can find Congressmen expressing surprise and alarm that the law covered anything other than toys.

Duping members of Congress must seem like child’s play to devious staffers. After all, they know the members can’t or won’t read their handiwork. We call that the “political process”.

Some people ask me why I cut the Republicans such a “break” by attacking only Democrats on this law. Didn’t all the Republicans vote for the law, too? By and large, that’s true. However, since passage of the CPSIA, many Republicans have stood up and tried to help us. They have allied with my efforts and have gone to considerable effort, not to mention taken political risk, to address a Congressional screw-up that imperils Small Business without any corresponding safety benefit for consumers. Has every Republican member of Congress helped us? No. However, ZERO Democrats have lifted a finger to help us and most have scorned us publicly and privately. The Democrats who were put in charge of the CPSC are perhaps the MOST insensitive and the most strident in their political posturing.

Until the Democrats DEMONSTRATE that they can be trusted, which for me will take quite a bit of work on their part, I have NO interest in giving them a pass. The Republicans have EARNED my support. I hope you are not susceptible to bribes or other trickery by the party in control. Your business and your markets hang in the balance. Assess the situation clearly and pick sides. It’s now or never!

Read more here:
CPSIA – Hey Sucker!

CPSIA – Tune in to Fox News on Monday AM

790 days have passed since ANY Democrat in Congress did ANYTHING to help us on the CPSIA. There are only 20 days left until Election Day.

I am scheduled to appear on Fox News “Fox & Family” program on Monday at 6:15 AM EST to discuss the CPSIA and my involvement in politics as a means to address our many CPSIA problems.

Let’s set some Nielsen ratings records for Fox on Monday!

Read more here:
CPSIA – Tune in to Fox News on Monday AM

CPSIA – RW on The Laura Ingraham Show re CPSIA

789 days have passed since ANY Democrat in Congress did ANYTHING to help us on the CPSIA. There are only 21 days left until Election Day.

I was interviewed today on The Laura Ingraham Show. To listen to this interview, just click HERE.

Read more here:
CPSIA – RW on The Laura Ingraham Show re CPSIA

CPSIA – RW on The Laura Ingraham Show re CPSIA

789 days have passed since ANY Democrat in Congress did ANYTHING to help us on the CPSIA. There are only 21 days left until Election Day.

I was interviewed today on The Laura Ingraham Show. To listen to this interview, just click HERE.

Read more here:
CPSIA – RW on The Laura Ingraham Show re CPSIA

CPSIA – Besides THAT, Mrs. Lincoln, How was the Play?

776 days have passed since ANY Democrat in Congress did ANYTHING to help us on the CPSIA. There are only 34 days left until Election Day.

The Cato Institute published its study of the Foreign Manufacturers Legal Accountability Act yesterday entitled: “‘Consumer Safety’ Bill Could Boomerang Against U.S. Manufacturers”. I have written about this latest self-destructive attack by Congress on our economy many times in the past.

[I am beginning to think of this Congress as some form of national auto-immune disease. Is there a pill we can take to get rid of it? If only . . . . The "pill" is called voting on November 2nd.]

Here’s the conservative think tank’s take on this legislation in a nutshell:

“Americans damaged by faulty products, whether made abroad or domestically, should be able to seek compensation through the courts. But the approach advocated by supporters of the FMLAA would not solve the problem. It would create a false hope of collection for damages while bypassing existing procedures that have proven to work in most cases. The approach would potentially violate constitutional protections available to citizens and non-citizens alike as well as existing commercial agreements with other nations. It could potentially disrupt global manufacturing supply chains, putting American production and employment in jeopardy.”

Now that’s a good reason to vote sponsor Betty Sutton (D-OH) back into office, isn’t it?

But then there’s the inflamed EU, Canada, WTO, importers, blah blah blah. Who cares? Not this Congress. I am told now that the FMLAA will not be addressed before the Election, but watch out for the lame duck session.

Nice of Congress to keep us on our toes with threatening legislation pending all the time. Really nice. I wonder if there’s time to send out another solicitation for funds for the Republicans tonight . . . .

Read more here:
CPSIA – Besides THAT, Mrs. Lincoln, How was the Play?

CPSIA – Mourning in America

774 days have passed since ANY Democrat in Congress did ANYTHING to help us on the CPSIA. There are only 36 days left until Election Day.

The WSJ had a fascinating commentary on the national nature of this midterm election. You need to check out the two commercials displayed in this WSJ blogpost. It’s a sad commentary on the national state of mind fomented by two years of assault on our traditional beliefs by this Administration.

Read more here:
CPSIA – Mourning in America

CPSIA – "Children’s Product" Final Rule Vote Delayed . . . Again

770 days have passed since ANY Democrat in Congress did ANYTHING to help us on the CPSIA. There are only 40 days left until Election Day.

The CPSC Commission pushed back the date to consider this “final” interpretative rule on “Children’s Products” for another week, to September 29th. These delays are unexplained. I guess we can’t be trusted to understand their debate. Too fancy for us? Perhaps too explosive. This Dem-dominated Commission DOES NOT WANT to initiate ANY new rulemaking processes. That makes it imperative to keep the final interpretative rule on “Children’s Products” very similar to the draft form – to avoid another comment period. Thus, they want to go with what they have, damn the consequences, to preserve their plan to be done with rulemaking by February 10, 2011, the date when the testing stay is set to expire.

Hope you have taken on board the pending expiration of the testing stay. You need to prepare – sell your business, close it, pile up the money to give to the testing companies or your lawyers, or your other creative plans to deal with it.

All kinds of things spin out of control for the Dems running the shop if they fall further behind in their schedule. The pending loss of their third vote (Moore’s term ends in a few days and he cannot serve beyond the end of the year) means they face stalemate and frustration soon if they aren’t done when he goes. To prevent you the voter from running “their” agency, they need to finish their dirty work NOW.

If things don’t work out as planned, I am sure you are prepared to coach the Dems on how to deal with frustration and stalemate. By now you should be an expert!

The delay in taking this rule to “final” signals a real and profound disagreement within the agency. Somebody’s agenda is going to get dented. So far, they haven’t found a way out of this paper bag.

Based on their track record, whatever they decide, you’ll be the loser. And no one will be the winner, either.

November 2nd can’t come too soon for me.

Read more here:
CPSIA – "Children’s Product" Final Rule Vote Delayed . . . Again

CPSIA – REMINDER, Comments due on 100 ppm soon!

767 days have passed since ANY Democrat in Congress did ANYTHING to help us on the CPSIA. There are only 43 days left until Election Day.

I wanted to remind you that comments are due on the latest effort of your government and your CPSC to put us all out of business, namely the reduction of the lead standard to 100 ppm. I have previously analyzed this call for comments in this space and have nothing new to add.

As I noted in my last post, the call for comments rules out most sensible replies to the proposed reduction such as

• The cost is unaffordable and will render our products too expensive to produce
• The new limit is suitable for mass market products but will make specialty market products impossible to manufacture (too bad for us, I guess).
• The new limit is needlessly disruptive.
• The new limit substantially increases our liability exposure.
• The new limit creates yet more ways for the CPSC to interfere with our businesses.
• The new limit creates more externalities and randomness in our business results (another “profit prevention” initiative).
• The new limit will have absolutely no impact on human health but will have tremendous implications for business health.

All irrelevant.

If you can’t come up with anything to say to save your business under this provision, I still encourage you to send in a comment. Perhaps if we drown them with comments about the unfairness to small business, they might at least pause for a moment before sending us into business oblivion. You can always just thank them for putting you out of business. A “thank you” always goes a long way, just like your Mom used to tell you.

Yeah, thanks CPSC. It’s been a great ride . . . .

Read more here:
CPSIA – REMINDER, Comments due on 100 ppm soon!

CPSIA – Small Business Desperation

766 days have passed since ANY Democrat in Congress did ANYTHING to help us on the CPSIA. There are only 44 days left until Election Day.

Here is a window sign found in a neighboring community here in Northern Illinois. I don’t think it’s a children’s product business but I feel their pain. How much can you ask of a small business person these days?

I am sure there’s a form we can fill out to get the answer . . . .

Read more here:
CPSIA – Small Business Desperation

CPSIA – Republican Strategy MAY Benefit CPSIA Sufferers

766 days have passed since ANY Democrat in Congress did ANYTHING to help us on the CPSIA. There are only 44 days left until Election Day.

The strategy of the resurgent Republicans to deal with over-regulation under Obama is becoming clearer. The Wall Street Journal today broke a story about “de-funding”, a strategy employed by Republicans in the 1994 Congress to address bad regulations and bad legislation after the Congress “flipped” at the Midterm elections.

This appropriations maneuver can take away the funds to enforce legislation or even regulations at the agency level. Thus, the Dems’ entire effort to build a durable business death machine at the CPSC can be subverted. By making it illegal for the agency to spend one red cent to enforce the rules, all de-funded legislation and every regulation is essentially rendered moot.

This is a hopeful sign – and another reason for you to RALLY support for Republicans this Fall. Reach out and make your needs KNOWN. Work for these candidates, give money and do what it takes to help them WIN. Believe me, based on my work over the past three years, there is not one living Democrat prepared to help us in any way – the Republicans are our only chance. If a Democrat wishes to prove me wrong, I will gladly publicize their activities. I am not holding my breath.

If we are lucky and our well-documented problems are not forgotten post-election, we can still be saved.

Read more here:
CPSIA – Republican Strategy MAY Benefit CPSIA Sufferers

Next Page »