CPSIA – What’s Missing from the CPSIA Amendment?

I have summarized my comments on the pending CPSIA amendment in my two prior blogposts.

CPSIA – New CPSIA Amendment Revealed

The Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade has produced a new draft amendment of the CPSIA.

CPSIA – Can You Trust Me on the CPSIA Database?

I have received a fair bit of feedback on my recent posts relating to the CPSIA Database. You may recall that I highlighted the CPSC policy decision to knowingly post untrue and misleading complaints about consumer products on the grounds that they state the opinion of consumers of a “risk of harm”. Apparently, the ignorance of those opinions or outright, blatant error matters not to our CPSC market administrators. Our submission of a valid CPSIA test report and photographic evidence was not persuasive of our common sense position in the instant case.

[The rejection of a CPSIA test report in refutation of an invalid "product incident" complaint is fascinating, given the vigorous and oft-repeated consumer group assertion that consumers DEMAND test reports to feel "secure" that children's products are safe. Supposedly, consumers assume "somebody" is testing everything, or at least that's the poppycock the consumer groups flog. This is a bedrock "assumption" underlying the CPSIA. Isn't it interesting then that the CSPC apparently places so little stock in these critically important test reports???]

Par for the course, my comments in this space never get an official response. The substance of my complaints go unanswered – but in this case, the rumor mill is churning. That’s my answer, I guess. I am told that little birds (from the CPSC) are chirping that I am taking the CPSC’s response “out of context”.

This is a great tactic because the argument makes it unnecessary to respond to my points. It also changes the debate, from the substance of my database objections to the subject of my character. Lending credence to the vague and unproven accusations is the official stature of the CPSC and its staff. CPSC job titles convey credibility, and my lowly status as a “blogger” and a “Small Business” makes everything I write subject to doubt. Who knows more about safety and the law? Who is more trustworthy? Who speaks with greater authority? My character is an easy target, much easier to attack than my points about the database.

And how am I to defend myself? I don’t have the option to hide in the shadows and say they are twisting facts. You get to read what I say . . . .

I have long adhered to principles of truthfulness and full disclosure in this space. I defy you to find a better documented space devoted to analysis of the CPSIA and its wide-ranging impact. I use real data and link to actual source materials. In this case, I quoted from a letter from a senior CPSC official. I have not revealed who wrote it – for two reasons. First, this person speaks for the agency, and as such, it is the agency that is responsible. I think the institution should be accountable, even if individuals are its mouthpiece(s). Second, this is not personal and as a consequence, the identity of the email’s author is a secondary consideration. The law is the problem. The authorship of the email is off point.

Well, why don’t you decide for yourself? Can you trust me?

Email no. 1 (March 4, from our company):

“The LER 7273 that the initial complaint was issued for is a discontinued product and is no longer available for sale in our catalogs. I have attached a test report for this item showing its compliance to both ASTM F-963 and EN-71. I have also provided you pictures which clearly shows the hearts are much larger than the choke tube requirements.

Can you please confirm that the providing of this detail, which clearly shows that the product was tested to be in compliance and the additional photos clearly showing the product complies with the stated issue, would not appear in the database after March 11th?

This type of complaint is exactly what we find to be very troubling with the database to our industry. This is an example where someone saw a photo of a product and without even touching it or seeing it in person filed a claim that they feel it ‘might’ be a hazard. There is no indication of potential harm or actual harm caused, just a feeling that it might be dangerous. We were able to quickly provide testing documents and photographic evidence that the product is compliant to all applicable standards and product requirements with no potential choking hazard with the hearts provided with the product. The concern is that this unjustified complaint will be placed on the database with a reply from us that proves it is not an issue, but the damage has been done and the perception to the end consumer is that this product is not safe.

Thanks again for your help in understanding the application of the database and it’s intended applicability going forward.”

Email no. 2 (March 8, from our company):

“Our ten day response window is coming up fast on the complaint that we had issued against us. Have you had a chance to discuss the information I sent to you on Friday? Thanks.”

Email no. 3 (March 9, from CPSC):

“As we discussed last Friday , since we are in soft launch, the report will not be posted in the public database. When I called you last Friday, I told you the staff consensus was that but for soft launch the report of harm would be posted in the database, and you would have to decide whether to post a comment or a claim for material inaccuracy. When we discussed the issue further and I asked you to send me the information you sent last Friday, I did not understand that you were still attempting to resolve the issue in the ten day time frame.

I should make it clear from the outset that I am not the person within the agency with the delegated authority to handle material inaccuracy claims. This email reflects my opinions and not those of the Commission and has not been reviewed by the Commissioners. When you first approached me about this at ICPHSO, I told you that my gut reaction was that despite the concerns you raised, the Commission staff handling these issues would take the consumer’s report at face value as a claim raising a concern of a risk of harm. I explained then that your Firm could provide a comment with your objections to the report or object to the report as materially inaccurate. Given your concerns about the report, I raised the issue with the database team handling the issues and confirmed to you in our call last Friday that the response was the same. I also indicated that the claim of material inaccuracy would likely be denied. I explained that the personnel handling these matters were not making decisions as to whether the product was harmful but rather they would take a quick look at whether the report of harm articulates a risk of harm. I write to follow up further on this issue.

On its face, the report indicates a concern about a choking hazard which suggests that the consumer believes there is a risk of harm. On Friday, you sent photos and test results that you believe are sufficient to make out a claim of material inaccuracy, i.e., that the product cannot be said to present a risk of harm because it passed the small parts test. The sweet toy heart is larger than the small parts cylinder, and you have provided test reports indicating that the product passed the small parts test. However, in assessing whether a report of harm articulates a risk of harm, the staff is not adjudicating whether the product actually presents such a risk of harm. We have other processes for making that determination which require an assessment of the risk by Commission staff, including a subject matter expert – in this case, a physiologist on the issues relating to the likelihood of a choking hazard to children. Indeed, the Commission has recalled products as a substantial product hazard where the toy was slightly larger than the small parts cylinder but, because of the shape, when swallowed, the toy presented a choking risk to children. The ultimate adjudication of whether a product presents a hazard is covered by different regulations entirely and would require an administrative hearing before an administrative law judge. As I explained on Friday, the database process is set up to allow the manufacturer to state its reasons why the report does not present a risk of harm and have that appear next to the consumer’s report. The staff handling claims of material inaccuracy will not be determining the ultimate question of whether the product does, in fact, present a risk of harm. That would only occur after a full assessment of the risk of harm by the subject matters experts and ample opportunity for the firm to address the issues with our compliance staff. The disclaimer is intended to notify users that the information has not been evaluated and specifically states: The Commission does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of the contents of the Consumer Product Safety Information Database, particularly with respect to the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of information submitted by persons outside of the CPSC.

When I raised this information with the team that has been delegated the authority for making these decisions, staff concluded that the report would be posted in the database but for soft launch, and it would be up to the Firm to decide whether it wants its test reports and photos posted as comments in response to the report. The conclusion was that this is the type of report that has been included in our databases in the past and would be included in the public database along with the manufacturer’s comments and the mandatory disclaimer as to the accuracy of the information in the public database.“

For the ease of your review, I have highlighted in blue the words which I quoted in my March 9th blogpost.

Can you trust me? I have nothing to say, please judge from the facts. For those that prefer to lurk in the shadows and bash my character without being in any way accountable, please remember that the truth will out. Eventually, it may not be my character that will be the big issue of the day.

Read more here:
CPSIA – Can You Trust Me on the CPSIA Database?

CPSIA – Tell the CPSC to Extend Testing Stay!

The AAFA has created a link where you can easily send a message to the five CPSC Commissioners to extend the Testing and Certification Stay, due to expire on February 10th. The expiration of this stay will greatly harm the business community but will contribute NOTHING to consumer safety.

The AAFA letter draws from the NAM letter posted in this space yesterday.

PLEASE send this email and ask all your friends, associates, suppliers and customers to add their voice to this important plea.

Thank you!

Read more here:
CPSIA – Tell the CPSC to Extend Testing Stay!

CPSIA – Dear President Obama

An Open Letter to President Obama:

Dear President Obama,

Tuesday’s election results were a message to your administration. The “shellacking” you experienced was a referendum on your economic policies as well as a passionate call for smaller government.

Readers of my blog have heard all about these issues for two years. It is frustrating to me that you and your administration remain in the dark. You weren’t listening.

My industry, children’s products, suffered mightily at the hands of your administration. Admittedly the problem began on Mr. Bush’s watch but it was your Democrats who refused to relent or admit their errors. Since passage of the Consumer Product Safety “Improvement” Act in 2008, your party has refused to consider our industry’s increasingly pathetic pleas for mercy. The result has been utter market chaos and dramatic financial loss. This regulatory “railroad job” has driven many of us into politics against you and your party out of desperation and profound anger over this undeserved and insensitive treatment.

If you take the midterm election results seriously, you must reexamine the impact of this law on our industry and promptly offer sensible relief.

The problems with the CPSIA can be divided into four categories – Cost, Complexity, Risk and Intrusion. Please give up the idea that these problems can be overcome with tax relief or some sort of economic incentive. If you break my leg, I won’t be able to get up and run like an Olympic champion no matter how many carrots you dangle in front of my nose. It’s time to be accountable for the damage that the CPSIA wrought – and then directly address it.

Cost: The many ridiculous new rules in the CPSIA dramatically raise the cost of operating our businesses. It goes far beyond the asphyxiating testing costs that the CPSIA imposes. Wasteful administrative costs are skyrocketing in every direction. For instance, tracking labels do not magically appear on our products – we must hire people to redesign each of our products and our manufacturing processes, and we must hire yet more people to make sure we don’t screw up these tasks. We sell or manufacture literally thousands of skus (items) – but have had only one tiny recall in the last 26 years. This is PURE UNADULTERATED WASTE. We nevertheless must incur these costs to keep the CPSC happy.

These well-documented costs come from somewhere. You may wonder why we’re not hiring. [In fact, I have previously disclosed in this space that our head count continues to decline, an uninterrupted trend since 2007 to this very day.] Well, we must fund these unproductive costs from productive activities – sales, marketing, product development – you know, activities that produce new revenue. [Please note: your proposed tax increases will be paid from the same kitty.] Unlike you, we can’t solve our money problems by printing more dollar bills – we have to EARN them. If you make us waste our money, we must shrink our business to pay these new costs. WE GIVE UP GROWTH TO PAY THESE WASTEFUL COSTS.

I find it exasperating to have to explain this to you.

Complexity: We now face perhaps 3,000 pages of new safety rules and laws applicable to our business. I have never included rules on childcare or infant items in this total. For those miserable companies who stubbornly persist in making this kind of item, their total is probably well in excess of 3,000 pages. Each word of those pages is a possible felony.

The pre-CPSIA total was about 100 pages of rules, most of which were inapplicable to our business. There was very little to remember – which made it easy for us to administer our business. We could teach the rules, we could remember the rules, we could follow the rules, we could set up sensible priorities oriented around safety (not merely compliance). This is no longer the case.

Face it, President Obama, NO ONE understands these new rules. I include the CPSC on that list. There are just too many rules, and they are riddled with inconsistencies, flaws and head scratchers. The rules are also a mess, existing in many forms, in many places, never correlated or conformed, and are certainly not indexed. The rules have no underlying logic, so it is not possible to anticipate how any rule should work or does work – you have to find the rule and study it, preferably with an expensive lawyer helping you. Even finding a particular rule is quite a treasure hunt.

We are pretty busy – this does not enhance our productivity.

I believe that unless one is a rabbinic scholar or some kind of savant, it is not possible to master 3,000 pages of dense and inconsistent rules. The CPSC has done little to make sense of these rules.

Consider the paradox of musical instruments – full-sized musical instruments are not considered “Children’s Products” even if marketed EXCLUSIVELY to children. Does that make ANY sense to you? Remember, these are SAFETY rules so if musical instruments are unsafe for some reason, wouldn’t logic suggest that we should not let children interact with them? And if they’re safe, then they shouldn’t be regulated at all. Right? Interestingly, the CPSC says that if you shrink the same instruments down for children, they WOULD BE considered “Children’s Products” and subject to the CPSIA, even if marketed side-by-side with slightly larger, full-sized instruments which are not regulated. This makes absolutely no sense, is completely indefensible as public policy and creates a terrible quandary for any business attempting to interpret and apply these rules.

The complexity and opacity of the rules outstrips EVERYBODY’S abilities. We are completely stymied – and it’s your fault. You and your team refused our advice on how to resolve these issues.

Risk: The CPSIA is a tort lawyers’ dream. With the coming public database, our industry will be a feeding trough for these vipers. To say the least, you have permitted the government to set up a system DESIGNED to be gamed by lawyers and litigants.

How do you think business people will react to this massive expansion of the tort system? Please note that NO ONE contends that there are more injuries to address – it is absolutely clear that the effect of the CPSIA is to create many more claims of action. More cost, more risk – and as a result, there WILL be less economic activity.

Good job, guys!

Add to this misery the current practice of this CPSC to press for recalls that do not meet the CPSA’s legal standards for recalls (substantial risk of injury or death) and to impose huge vindictive penalties. The agency is on the war path, trying with all its might to scare us to death. This is an especially powerful economic depressant for small businesses which typically lack the resources to resist these pressures. Small businesses are more conservative and tolerate risk less comfortably as they manage their own money and see themselves as having more to lose than mass market companies or public companies.

The aggression of the new CPSC is out of control. The current Chairman likes to BRAG about her big penalties. Trust has been utterly destroyed in the manufacturing community. In two short years, the CPSC squandered its reputation as a partner in safety, someone to be trusted. Who in their right mind would trust this CPSC? If you doubt me, ask McDonald’s how they feel about being pressured to recall 12 million acknowledged safe Shrek glasses (and the ensuing media frenzy over cadmium – all without ANY documented injuries from cadmium in children’s products EVER). Or ask Schylling Associates or Daiso how they feel about penalties imposed on them for rule violations without any injuries. By all appearances, those penalties reflected regulatory anger, not endangered public safety.

[While you're at it, ask the CSPC why they never completed their FOIA disclosure to me on the Schylling penalty.]

Seemingly, almost any violation of these rules can be twisted into a felony charge now. We joke in our office about visiting each other in jail – but it’s not really funny at all. I simply cannot fathom conducting my affairs in a way that risks being charged with a felony. As a lawyer, the criminal risk imposed by the CPSIA is completely unacceptable to me and highly offensive. I often say that felonies cannot be committed accidentally – except in the Children’s Product industry. The unavoidable accumulation of trivial infractions with heavy penalty risk gives the CPSC winning leverage in any negotiation. The game is FIXED. Everyone knows it, too.

This is no stimulus plan, by the way.

Intrusion: It’s this simple – we have a new partner who showed up two years ago – the U.S. government. They don’t know anything about our business and have never run any operation similar to ours but they now reserve the right to check all our work and to second-guess us. Mother May I? That’s the new game in our business.

Could we live without ANY of this? Yes, most definitely. While the zealots behind this self-destructive law like to emphasize the POSSIBILITY of injury from lead and love to repeat the simple-minded chestnut that there is “no safe level of lead”, they FAIL utterly to tie these claims of POSSIBLE injury to data of ACTUAL injury. There is no “nexus”. Lead may be “bad” but it has no history of causing injury in children’s products. Leaded gasoline, house paint and industrial pollution are the culprits that caused blood lead levels to rise materially – that’s undeniably true. Congress missed the boat entirely with the CPSIA – it’s all cost, no benefit.

Lead injuries from children’s products are virtually unknown. My study of CPSC recalls in 1999-2010 totals one death (from a piece of jewelry) and three unverified injuries from lead in 11 years. Given the truly massive size of our industry and the children’s marketplace, and the literally trillions of interactions with our industry’s products each year, this injury total is statistically equivalent to ZERO. Instead of punishing our industry, you should give us a good citizenship award. We have earned the trust of U.S. consumers.

The path forward is clear but frankly, I Still don’t think you get it. Trust has been broken. Until you and your administration DEMONSTRATE that you are taking a DIFFERENT path, we will continue to conduct a war against the CPSC and Congress. This defective law deserves a FULL repeal. It is misconceived and has cost countless jobs. I hope you and your associates will not continue to deny the obvious, to fly in the face of data and reason. The voters are on to this scam. They voted many Democrats out of work in midterm elections. If you and your team don’t wise up quickly, in the over-regulation of our industry and other industries, they’ll vote the rest of you out in two years.

The problem was never the law. Before Congress “improved” it, the CPSA was a powerful law that enabled the CPSC to closely supervise children’s markets. Let’s not forget that the recalls in 2007/8 were conducted under PRIOR law – the unamended CPSA had plenty of teeth. The recalls in 2007/8 were clearly a COMPLIANCE problem, not a problem with the rules themselves. For various reasons, some people weren’t following the law closely enough. As objectionable as that may be, it is also important to remember that the 2007/8 recalls were associated with virtually NO injuries. So what should we have done, in lieu of all the tough new standards and venal penalty provisions in the CPSIA?

The agency should have been reorganized to work on compliance more effectively. The agency needed to invest in education, outreach to industry and more effective partnership with industry. This idea that we in the business community can’t be trusted is revolting and completely untrue – it is a populist idea you and your allies flogged to get elected. If you want to keep your jobs for much longer, you need to drop this caustic idea. We are not bad people or incompetent people – we can be trusted and can be good partners (as our record proves). No, not everyone will be good or conscientious. Bad people and incompetent organizations cannot be legislated away (at a reasonable cost). Still, the data indicates that a lower cost approach of partnership and education will produce very good results.

Fixing this law will be a stimulus plan that creates JOBS. Please give us back control of our financial statements and we will find a good way to spend our own money to grow our businesses. We don’t need your help – we need you to GET OUT OF THE WAY.

Yours sincerely,

Richard Woldenberg
Chairman
Learning Resources, Inc.
Vernon Hills, Illinois

Read more here:
CPSIA – Dear President Obama

CPSIA – Election Results

Democrat Members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee Election Results:

Three members retired (Stupak, Gordon and Melancon), three were defeated (Boucher, Hill and Space) and one race is too close to call (McNerney).

The composition of the next Congress’ House Committee on Energy and Commerce will be all new.

Read more here:
CPSIA – Election Results

CPSIA – Election Day is FINALLY Here

810 days have passed since ANY Democrat in Congress did ANYTHING to help us on the CPSIA.

ELECTION DAY IS TOMORROW.

[Here's the long version of this clip, with people screaming out the windows "I'm as Mad As Hell and I'm NOT going to TAKE THIS anymore!"]

Tuesday is the BIG DAY, guys. We have an opportunity to pay back the perpetrators of the CPSIA in the voting booth. Don’t miss this opportunity – it’s your right as a citizen, speak out and tell them where you stand. Ideally, make them PAY with their jobs for their refusal to listen.

I have thrown my efforts into two Congressional campaigns – Bob Dold running in Illinois’ 10th district against Dan Seals, and Joel Pollak running in Illinois’ 9th district against CPSIA perpetrator Jan Schakowsky. As you know from this space, I have given up on the process of “dialogue” – no one in the Democratic Party will listen anymore (if they ever did). The next phase is politics. If they won’t listen, we will throw them out.

Tomorrow is the day we measure what we have achieved.

It didn’t have to be this way. When Inez Tenenbaum came on board as Chairman of the CPSC, she promised to engage in dialogue and to listen to all stakeholders. As far as I can tell, that was a bald-faced lie. If it wasn’t a lie, it turned out to be completely untrue. Sham processes like two-day workshops and comment periods were thrown up as a smoke screen to cover up a scheme to impose draconian regulatory change whether we wanted it or not.

Listening isn’t this CPSC’s forte. Nor is data analysis. With the cram downs evidenced in the final rules on the definition of “Children’s Product” and the public database, it is perfectly clear that Ms. Tenenbaum has no interest in views that diverge from hers, whether based on fact or data or reasoning. She’s on a mission – and there’s hell to pay if you stand in the way. Just look at her penalty record.

The next big event at the CPSC is implementation of the final rules on component testing and testing frequency/reasonable testing programs. This is coming SOON – all to ensure that the stay on testing requirements can be lifted in February – you know, so we can all be so damned safe. [Do you have a sense, by the way, that we are UNSAFE today - despite the stay? Oh yeah, that's data and reasoning again. Pah!] When they cram down those rules, your goose is cooked.

You’ve been warned (many times).

So tomorrow is your big chance to tell the Democrats that you aren’t going to take this anymore. That goes double for the people principally responsible for the CPSIA, like Jan Schakowsky, Henry Waxman, Bobby Seals, Barbara Boxer and other Democratic “luminaries” up for reelection. Here is a list of the members of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce – I hope you will vote AGAINST any and ALL Democrats on this Committee. NONE of them did ANYTHING to help us despite our pathetic pleas for help literally for years. They have PROVEN they don’t care – and you need to throw them OUT.

People ask me – how can I be so certain that the Republicans will help us? Will they be better than the Democrats, really? Aside from the fact that some Republicans have gone to great lengths to try to help us, taking political risk along the way (something I will never forget), I can say this with CONFIDENCE – I know EXACTLY what to expect from the Democrats. If we don’t make a change, we’re goners. So the Republicans are my choice and my strong recommendation to you. When they are in power, we’ll see what they will do. I am confident, but as voters, we all must remember that the proof is in the pudding. In the meantime, we need to make some serious changes NOW.

After the Election winds down, I have a long “to do” list and will publish a number of essays on CPSIA subjects that deserve your attention. In addition, we must engage in dialogue on how to fix the mess Ms. Tenenbaum and Mr. Waxman have created. That’s to follow . . . but as for now, you must vote.

MAKE THE CPSIA PERPETRATORS PAY WITH THEIR JOBS.

Read more here:
CPSIA – Election Day is FINALLY Here

CPSIA – Regulations Are Killing Us

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 headline in the WSJ says it all (thanks, Jennifer):

“The Regulation Tax Keeps Growing. Blame Washington, not China, for the decline of American manufacturing.” [Emphasis added]

I have written endlessly on this topic in relation to the poisonous CPSIA. You know the drill.

Of course, it can hardly be surprising that this is happening under the “too little government, too little regulation” administration of Barack Obama. It is a rich irony that the supervisor of regulations appointed by Mr. Obama is Cass Sunstein, my former law school professor. As the cognoscenti know, Sunstein is known for his aversion to uneconomic regulations. Consider this prediction from February 2009:

“Even his detractors recognize Sunstein, 54, as an amazingly prolific legal scholar with a keen intellect. But they worry about his insistence on tying regulations to cost-benefit analysis, the bedrock principle of his Bush-era predecessor, John Graham. They’re also concerned about his prediction last year that Obama will be a deregulator. ‘He is off on the wrong track,’ says Rena Steinzor, a progressive University of Maryland law professor.” [Emphasis added]

Either Sunstein was given a sham of a job, or the appointment was a sham, or the administration subverted a purportedly sensible initiative, reining in regulations using a cost-benefit philosophy. Whatever happened, it is clear that Mr. Sunstein has been utterly ineffective in any purported efforts to control the beast. As noted, we have covered this topic repeatedly in this space.

The WSJ notes:

“In a report released last week for the Office of Advocacy of the U.S. Small Business Administration, we find that small businesses bear a disproportionately large share of regulatory costs. The portion of these costs that falls initially on businesses overall was $8,086 per employee in 2008. But these costs are not borne equally by businesses of all sizes. Larger firms benefit from economies of scale in compliance; small businesses do not have that advantage . . . . Small manufacturers bear compliance costs that are 110% higher than those of medium-sized firms and 125% higher than large firms’ costs. As much as it is fashionable to blame China for the demise of small manufacturing in America, the evidence suggests that looking for some reasons closer to home is warranted.” [Emphasis added]

What-a-shock! Who could have seen this coming?

The WSJ article is full of useful quotes, check it out. All roads lead to Rome – the regulatory monster is choking us to DEATH. And as usual, there is little motivation to do anything about this self-induced disaster until the bodies pile up the sky.

Sadly, my arguments fail simply because of the offense of not being dead yet.

Hey, CPSC, keep your head in the sand. Can’t see it, must not be there. . . .

Read more here:
CPSIA – Regulations Are Killing Us

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 – More Hypocritical Small Business "Help"

760 days have passed since ANY Democrat in Congress did ANYTHING to help us on the CPSIA. There are only 51 days left until Election Day.

Today we heard more blather from our Fearless Leader lecturing Congressional Republicans on an asserted lack of commitment to small business. He’s totally on the side of small business. or so he contends. Here’s his take of the status of the so-called “embargoed” small business bill that he wants to pass to solve all our economic problems:

“And you hear some of my friends on the Republican side complaining that, well, we’d get more business investment if we had more certainty. Well, here’s an example where we could give some certainty right away. Pass this bill. I will sign it into law the day after it’s passed or the day it is passed. And then right away I think a lot of small businesses around the country will feel more comfortable about hiring and making investments.”

The problem, according to Mr. Obama, is Republicans. Aha. And what about all the other things we know? I have documented in this space for two solid years the deafness of Congressional Democrats to our pleas. We have basically grovelled for scraps and been totally stuffed. Even the micro-businesses (as represented by the well-known HTA) have been spurned cruelly by the CPSC and by Congress. We are being asphyxiated and no Dem can be bothered to notice.

Of course, I think it’s RICH to be lectured by Obama over “certainty”. He says he has a quick fix to “certainty” – just pass his bill and magically everything’s okay again. Ummm, that may be just a tad over-simplified. In the children’s product industry right now, we have a ten-ton anvil dangling over our heads with the pending testing frequency and component testing rules at the CPSC, all with the potential (likelihood?) to squish small businesses. This Dem-run agency has begun to ignore public comments, as evidenced by its ridiculous dismissal of comments on the definition of “Children’s Product”. Taking comments is a pain in the neck, especially if the draft rules make no sense. You keep having to rewrite everything . . . . Is it any wonder why people are not investing in this market? Given that we must also deal with the pending cost deluge of the health care bill and unspecified tax hikes – for many people, the fetal position is the new work posture.

And what is happening right now, simultaneously with Mr. Obama’s lectures about how to make life better for small businesses? Well, Mr. O and his Dems are cynically opposing rescission of the penal 1099 provision in the Obamacare bill. Know about this small business killer yet? You will now have to file 1099 forms with the IRS for all merchandise your business buys (over $600 per year per supplier). The paper blizzard won’t just affect your suppliers, but also your customers (to whom you are a supplier). Try to estimate the number of forms flying back and forth every year courtesy of this new rule. How will you handle this new paper pushing exercise? We estimate that these forms will cost us $50-$100 to prepare and file (more than a P.O. because of demanding record keeping requirements and possible liability for errant filings) – for our thousands of suppliers and customers. Do the math – this will slaughter small business. Death by a thousand (paper) cuts.

The Republicans want to kill it. The Dems admit it was a mistake (they say they were “blindsided” – everything bad is “unintentional”, rather than poorly-conceived or simply incompetent). Nonetheless, the Dems don’t want to delete it. Why? Well, amending this provision “opens the door” to amending other parts of Obamacare. Whoa! Can’t do that . . . even if their stupid provision will kill your business. Too bad for you (and me), I guess. See this article from today’s Wall Street Journal.

I will hand it to the Dems – they have created their own cruel kind of certainty. I am absolutely certain they don’t care what I think or what happens to the jobs our company provides. That seems quite certain nowadays.

This can’t continue . . . . PLEASE help on Election Day.

Read more here:
CPSIA – More Hypocritical Small Business "Help"

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