CPSC – Nancy Nord Posts that Stay is Extended to December 31

Nancy Nord’s blog announces a 4-1 vote to approve a stay extension through year end 2011. No word yet on who voted against it. Anyone want to guess?

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CPSC – Nancy Nord Posts that Stay is Extended to December 31

CPSIA – Please Resend Your Letter to the CPSC

The AAFA asks that you resend your letter to the CPSC re the extension of the Stay. Certain emails were apparently not delivered. Thanks.

The link can be found here.

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CPSIA – Please Resend Your Letter to the CPSC

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!

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CPSIA – Tell the CPSC to Extend Testing Stay!

CPSIA – The Worm Continues To Turn

The day we all feared, the day we knew would come someday . . . well, the Federal Register says it’s coming soon. According to a notice of “Final Rule Stage” published on December 20, the CPSC is moving forward on the so-called “15 Month” Rule.

You have to chuckle at the “15 Months” part. This rule was legally mandated to be enacted 15 months after the CPSIA was signed into law. The presumed date of enactment would then have been November 14, 2009, a mere 14 months ago now. They didn’t even published a first draft until May 2010. If the agency can somehow finish this project by January 14, it could be called the “15 Months Times Two” Rule. Then again, it’s basically inconceivable that they will make it. Eventually they’ll need another name for this thing.

The urgency behind finishing up this rule is that the testing and certification stay expires on February 10, 2011. Remember that Bob Adler already said he wouldn’t vote an extension of this stay because . . . he hates stays. Perhaps he prefers market chaos and economic depression instead. Anyhow, to avoid the showdown, they need to get their ducks in a row, hence the need to get this rule going.

I sent in comments on the first draft of this rule on August 3. I wasn’t a big fan . . . and I guess other people had reservations, too. According to www.regulations.gov, the CPSC received 112 comments letters (that may overstate the number, because regulations.gov seems to have some duplicates). I haven’t read them myself, but I assume I am the only one who saw any flaws in this rule. The rest of the letters are probably just “thank you” notes.

Anyhow, it’s worth noting that the Chinese New Year occurs on February 3, 2011 so take my word for it, all the Chinese factories will be closed on Feb. 3rd and probably won’t reopen until Feb. 10 at the earliest after a two-week holiday. Some workers are gone three or even four weeks for this holiday. In a “best case” scenario, the CPSC can’t take action on this rule until they officially acknowledge the public comment “thank you” notes and hold a public Commission meeting. Do the math – if they choose to take action on this rule now, we will get about ten minutes notice to begin conforming. I can’t see any risk of market chaos again . . . can you?

Here’s a fairly obvious fact for you – we have not incorporated any of the pending rules into our supply chain or manufacturing processes. Why? You tell me what I’m supposed to do. The rule that has been published is deeply flawed and, basically, stupid. It is not a final rule. 112 comment letters were filed on it. It could change . . . it BETTER change. How am I supposed to implement rules that haven’t been published or possibly even written? Telepathy? I don’t read minds and I haven’t implemented the unknowable, either.

If this does not make your blood boil enough, consider these excerpts from the notice of Final Rule Stage:

• “The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of death and injury associated with consumer products.” [Emphasis added] The CPSIA makes consideration of RISK by the CPSC illegal. Bummer, huh? Someone should have told the CPSC because they still claim to be concerned with “risk” of injury.
• “When deciding which of these approaches to take in any specific case, the Commission gathers and analyzes the best available data about the nature and extent of the risk presented by the product.” And then ignores it??? See also the final bullet below.
• “As for exemptions [from the "15 Month Rule"], the statute does not appear to give the Commission the authority to exempt firms from the testing or certification requirements, so it may not be possible to exempt firms within section 14 of the CPSA.” In other words, HTA, you can lump it. And the CPSC is telling you who to blame – Congress.
• “The congressional mandate to issue this regulation does not require the Consumer Product Safety Commission to do a cost/benefit analysis for this regulation. Therefore, a cost/benefit analysis is not available for this regulatory action.” Head-in-sand syndrome. I bet you’ll be able to do a cost/benefit analysis pretty quickly when your costs go up again by 20x.
• “[It] is not possible to provide an analysis of the magnitude of the risk this regulatory action addresses.” Ahem. And it’s okay to put forward a rule of this complexity and far-reaching impact while flying entirely blind because . . . why???

Let’s not forget that there’s a new Congress being sworn in January 5th. The incoming Republican House majority has pledged to shrink the federal government and to closely examine how regulatory agencies are governing. Hmmm. Help may be on the way . . . soon.

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CPSIA – The Worm Continues To Turn

CPSIA – Stories from the Front (My "Vivid" Imagination)

783 days have passed since ANY Democrat in Congress did ANYTHING to help us on the CPSIA. There are only 27 days left until Election Day.

Have I ever mentioned how the CPSIA is strangling us to death slowly, death by a thousand cuts? I know the media and the “leaders” at the CPSC want me to put up bodies, my word and my reasoning are not enough. I also realize the body they want to see most of all is mine. Sorry, guys, I am working to prevent the delivery of that evidence to you. After all, anecdotes aren’t evidence. Somebody said that once . . . .

How about some other evidence (anecdotes) from our business in recent days?

a. Good news for the U.S. economy? We just added our SIXTH person to our growing department of compliance and safety folks. Please NOTE that the volume of work is going to EXPLODE when the testing stay is lifted, so these hires are just a starter. For many years, it was one or two people doing this job (including me). No longer . . . .

I know what you’re thinking, this obviously confirms how much we needed the extra safety people. In addition, it follows naturally that everyone is so, so, SOOOO much safer now that we have six pairs of eyes on the ball, not the one or two pairs we relied on for years. And those are jobs being created by Congress and the CPSIA – we must be so much better off . . . right?

Well, let’s take a look at those points.

First, are we adding jobs? No. The department is clearly growing, BUT those jobs do not create revenue. They create COSTS. We are adding those jobs without increasing new economic activity (we’re not growing) – in other words, our burden to conduct the same or less business is growing. That’s simply a drain. Even WORSE, as a company, it turns out we shrunk our headcount in 2007, 2008, 2009 AND 2010. So much for a recovery . . . . If we are shrinking our headcount this year but have a growth department like Compliance, what does that mean? It means that we are reducing our investment in revenue-generating activities like Marketing and Sales, and shifting our personnel investment into managing bureaucracy. To pay the cost of paper pushing, we are shrinking overall headcount.

What-a-stimulus-plan!

As for safety, we achieved a remarkable 26-year track record with far less investment and far fewer people. I firmly believe that more cooks in the kitchen sharply raise the probability of poorer results. Yes, more is NOT better. Why? Because the focus on our efforts is now COMPLIANCE, not safety. [We still work on safety first but it has a lot more competition from paper pushing.] Compliance monitoring and “gotchas” have become a perverse parlor game. Consider Sean Oberle’s recent meditation on Mood Rings. The subject of whether the rings are SAFE never comes up, it’s all about whether they fall within the rules or not. Safety is secondary in the CPSIA scheme – and everyone is losing sight of what we’re trying to accomplish. Paper stacked to the rafters won’t make anyone safer but then again, it’s comforting to have so many rules to follow.

Do I recall correctly that Mattel with its many CPSC-certified internal labs just recalled about 11 million units of toys? Hmmm.

b. Profit Prevention in Full Bloom at Learning Resources. We had two lessons in the joys of safety compliance money-burning in recent days. Consider these stories and their implications on incentive, motivation, ability to fund our operations, fairness and most importantly, safety.

First Case: We sold a longstanding product incorporating a motor to a mass market retailer with its own testing regime. Their testing regime includes CPSIA tests and is administered according to their specifications by a certified test lab of their choosing. The motor for that item was tested and failed for phthalates. We don’t know why – it has been made reliably without the six verboten phthalates since 2007 (many passed tests in our files). So we pulled a second sample from the same batch, and bingo, it passes. This happens all the time.

Of course, certified labs are never wrong. We are the only ones who are ever wrong. After all, the certified labs are CERTIFIED. No doubt that’s how Mattel keeps its shop so clean. Oops, they had some big recalls recently, didn’t they? I am confused . . . .

Anyhow, back to my story. Motor fails for phthalates and then passes. [Let's not dither over whether phthalates on internal components could even THEORETICALLY harm anyone. It's all about compliance.] Unfortunately for us, this nonsense took two weeks. So the customer penalized us by making the sale a guaranteed sale. If they don’t sell out, we lose.

Total cost – unknown. Was any of this cost budgeted for? Of course not. Is our customer happy? No. Could we control against this risk? Probably not, as the explanation of the “failed” test is not and never will be known. We are not making pharmaceuticals here, we make injection molded toys, but we are being held responsible for chemistry and testing results that have no real world significance.

And, it is worth mentioning, all this cost and disruption had NO impact on safety. It only reduced our profit and made us miserable.

Second Case: Another motor case. In the mania over safety and compliance, many formerly minor “gotcha’s” have become elevated in signficance. This time, we were trying to mollify a customer over EMC approval of a motor. Electrical motors emit a frequency, apparently, which is regulated. You know, the government doesn’t want our motor-powered toy to bring down a plane. We are required to test several of our products, sometimes even calculators. In this case, the motor failed . . . although we have no record of planes crashing after several years of sales of this toy and its motor. Our customer then hired a consultant at its expense to tell us how to “fix” our motor. The result – we were told to add two resistors to the motor, which we did, but then it was too weak to power our toy.

Then we had to find another motor. This took time and finally, we found another motor and had to have it retested. This entire process took two months. Once testing was complete, we were so late with this Xmas order that we were forced to bring in inventory by air freight to make it up to the customer. This cost about $15,000 in air freight and testing costs were an estimated $5-6,000 more. Think of how safe the planes are now!

This customer is a big customer of ours and if we didn’t air in product for them, they told us they would have cut us off.

We had a great relationship with the customer before this interaction. How do you think they feel about us now? Do you think they respect us as much? Do you think they believe we “know what we’re doing” because our motor failed an obscure and meaningless test? Does it matter that it is basically impossible for a terrestrial toy of this magnitude to influence the operation of a plane miles up in the air? No matter what, we look bad and we lost all of our profit and more on this ordeal, not to mention our good name.

And no one was made safer.

Thanks Congress! Thanks CPSC! Thanks Democrats! Can’t wait to show my appreciation in the future. I’ll find a way.

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CPSIA – Stories from the Front (My "Vivid" Imagination)

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.

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

CPSIA – Something’s Cooking on "Children’s Product" Definition

763 days have passed since ANY Democrat in Congress did ANYTHING to help us on the CPSIA. There are only 47 days left until Election Day.

I have written in this space about the recent shocking release by the CPSC of the final rule on the interpretation of the term “Children’s Product” under the CPSIA. The agency’s official interpretation of this defined term will dictate the creeping scope of the awful CPSIA and likewise has the potential to trim its sails. Many people gave detailed comments on the agency’s troubling initial draft of the interpretative rule, including me. I bashed the rule for its many problematic flaws.

The release of the final rule was stunning because, as I have noted again and again, the agency basically ignored or dismissed ALL comments on its draft rule and more or less installed the draft law as “final”. I interpreted this move as signalling the end of the CPSC’s rulemaking phase under the CPSIA. I assert that this came about as a result of a directive “from the top” to stop dithering and finalize the rules NOW, damn the consequences.

Why stop writing rules now? The CPSIA rulemaking process has left the agency and its Dem leadership exhausted and impatient. The Dems do not want to spend any more time writing rules – it wants to start catching “crooks”. The remarkably small number of consumer injuries by products regulated under the CPSIA is no deterrent to these people – the Dems were given their jobs to catch bad guys, and catch (and perhaps manufacture) bad guys they will. As Ms. Tenenbaum has promised time and again, 2011 will be the year of enforcement. This promise implies a couple things: CPSIA rules need to be finalized quickly AND the testing stay must be lifted in February 2011. Oh yeah, the testing stay, almost forgot about that little guy . . . . Thus, time is running out on rulemaking and hence the agency’s need to ignore our comments – no matter that their rules are shamelessly fouled-up and defective.

Congress “wants” it this way, or at least Mr. Waxman and his staffers insist on it. The Dems on the Commission are there to play ball.

In case you doubt my “paranoid” theory, check out the CPSC website today. Anyone notice that something is missing? Where’s the CPSIA banner today? The law is now listed below in small type. The CPSIA is over, it’s so yesterday . . . .

And if you buy the foregoing, then the pending rulemakings on component testing and reasonable testing programs/testing frequency should have you fouling your pants. Those two “bad boys” have pushed me into politics. I am trying to stave off disaster – I believe the agency will turn those deadly draft rules into final rules simply to avoid extending the testing stay and further to avoid delivering a very unwelcome message to Mr. Waxman that his masterwork law is thoroughly defective. And if the Dems rush it, they can inflict all this damage before Republicans can save the day after retaking the House and Senate. Tea Partiers, please take note.

But wait . . . there’s something up at the CPSC. The rule on Children’s Product was originally scheduled for a rubber stamp vote on September 9th. Then it was rescheduled for September 15 and then pushed forward to September 22. What’s up with this?

Normally, the delay of a rubber stamp action means there is a big disagreement behind closed doors and Commissioners are duking it out in private shuttle diplomacy between staffers. [Sunshine Act rules prohibit a meeting of more than two Commissioners without holding a public meeting that you can witness - so disputes are resolved using intermediaries. Just like in the Middle East, working through third parties is a great way to work out disputes . . . .] In other words, somebody on the Commission may actually know how shameless it is to ignore legitimate and fair comments in a public rulemaking process, even if those darned comments are so inconvenient. And, ouch!, if they must remodel the rule, they might have to release it subject to another comment period. Another comment period could pose BIG problems for the testing stay, creating a real dilemma for our Dem friends. If they push out the stay AGAIN, that more or less seals it – they clearly need infinite years to implement the CPSIA, which confirms that it is a thoroughly defective law.

And there is also the looming possibility of a Commission quorum problem. What?! Well, Commissioner Thomas Moore’s term ends in late October and he can only serve until year end. Then things get very complicated. If he is not replaced promptly, OMG, it’s a deadlocked Commission again! Tenenbaum and Adler won’t be able to get their way anymore – AW SHUCKS! – they MIGHT actually have to listen to Nord and Northup at least until another Obama puppet is put in place. And if the Senate goes to the Republicans, it might be pretty hard to confirm the usual zealot. Hmmm.

See the reason for the urgency yet???

The whole situation makes me want to tear my hair out. I have a business to run – can you IMAGINE being held hostage by this kind of idiocy in your own government? Well, we ARE being held hostage by our own dysfunctional government.

Tea Partiers, and anyone with a reawakened sense of OUTRAGE, take note. Election day is November 2nd, in case you didn’t hear. . . .

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CPSIA – Something’s Cooking on "Children’s Product" Definition

CPSIA – Something’s Cooking on "Children’s Product" Definition

763 days have passed since ANY Democrat in Congress did ANYTHING to help us on the CPSIA. There are only 47 days left until Election Day.

I have written in this space about the recent shocking release by the CPSC of the final rule on the interpretation of the term “Children’s Product” under the CPSIA. The agency’s official interpretation of this defined term will dictate the creeping scope of the awful CPSIA and likewise has the potential to trim its sails. Many people gave detailed comments on the agency’s troubling initial draft of the interpretative rule, including me. I bashed the rule for its many problematic flaws.

The release of the final rule was stunning because, as I have noted again and again, the agency basically ignored or dismissed ALL comments on its draft rule and more or less installed the draft law as “final”. I interpreted this move as signalling the end of the CPSC’s rulemaking phase under the CPSIA. I assert that this came about as a result of a directive “from the top” to stop dithering and finalize the rules NOW, damn the consequences.

Why stop writing rules now? The CPSIA rulemaking process has left the agency and its Dem leadership exhausted and impatient. The Dems do not want to spend any more time writing rules – it wants to start catching “crooks”. The remarkably small number of consumer injuries by products regulated under the CPSIA is no deterrent to these people – the Dems were given their jobs to catch bad guys, and catch (and perhaps manufacture) bad guys they will. As Ms. Tenenbaum has promised time and again, 2011 will be the year of enforcement. This promise implies a couple things: CPSIA rules need to be finalized quickly AND the testing stay must be lifted in February 2011. Oh yeah, the testing stay, almost forgot about that little guy . . . . Thus, time is running out on rulemaking and hence the agency’s need to ignore our comments – no matter that their rules are shamelessly fouled-up and defective.

Congress “wants” it this way, or at least Mr. Waxman and his staffers insist on it. The Dems on the Commission are there to play ball.

In case you doubt my “paranoid” theory, check out the CPSC website today. Anyone notice that something is missing? Where’s the CPSIA banner today? The law is now listed below in small type. The CPSIA is over, it’s so yesterday . . . .

And if you buy the foregoing, then the pending rulemakings on component testing and reasonable testing programs/testing frequency should have you fouling your pants. Those two “bad boys” have pushed me into politics. I am trying to stave off disaster – I believe the agency will turn those deadly draft rules into final rules simply to avoid extending the testing stay and further to avoid delivering a very unwelcome message to Mr. Waxman that his masterwork law is thoroughly defective. And if the Dems rush it, they can inflict all this damage before Republicans can save the day after retaking the House and Senate. Tea Partiers, please take note.

But wait . . . there’s something up at the CPSC. The rule on Children’s Product was originally scheduled for a rubber stamp vote on September 9th. Then it was rescheduled for September 15 and then pushed forward to September 22. What’s up with this?

Normally, the delay of a rubber stamp action means there is a big disagreement behind closed doors and Commissioners are duking it out in private shuttle diplomacy between staffers. [Sunshine Act rules prohibit a meeting of more than two Commissioners without holding a public meeting that you can witness - so disputes are resolved using intermediaries. Just like in the Middle East, working through third parties is a great way to work out disputes . . . .] In other words, somebody on the Commission may actually know how shameless it is to ignore legitimate and fair comments in a public rulemaking process, even if those darned comments are so inconvenient. And, ouch!, if they must remodel the rule, they might have to release it subject to another comment period. Another comment period could pose BIG problems for the testing stay, creating a real dilemma for our Dem friends. If they push out the stay AGAIN, that more or less seals it – they clearly need infinite years to implement the CPSIA, which confirms that it is a thoroughly defective law.

And there is also the looming possibility of a Commission quorum problem. What?! Well, Commissioner Thomas Moore’s term ends in late October and he can only serve until year end. Then things get very complicated. If he is not replaced promptly, OMG, it’s a deadlocked Commission again! Tenenbaum and Adler won’t be able to get their way anymore – AW SHUCKS! – they MIGHT actually have to listen to Nord and Northup at least until another Obama puppet is put in place. And if the Senate goes to the Republicans, it might be pretty hard to confirm the usual zealot. Hmmm.

See the reason for the urgency yet???

The whole situation makes me want to tear my hair out. I have a business to run – can you IMAGINE being held hostage by this kind of idiocy in your own government? Well, we ARE being held hostage by our own dysfunctional government.

Tea Partiers, and anyone with a reawakened sense of OUTRAGE, take note. Election day is November 2nd, in case you didn’t hear. . . .

Read more here:
CPSIA – Something’s Cooking on "Children’s Product" Definition

CPSIA – Obama Doesn’t Get It . . . .

In response to the release of yet more terrible jobless claims numbers this AM, President Obama renewed his call to lower taxes on small business and to ease the small business credit crunch. The legislation, which promises to lower certain taxes on small business and to increase federal funding of loans to small businesses through various means, is “stuck” in Congress. Mr. Obama blamed the Republicans for “blocking” the bill: “‘There will be plenty of time between now and November to play politics,’ Obama said. ‘Let’s put aside the partisanship for a while and work together.’”

I think this is rich, personally. We run a small business and I know what it feels like to be a small business in the Obama-cized children’s product market. We are facing skyrocketing costs nicely matched with soft revenues and mounting taxes (funded by the company, too). Cost increases include $300K in new medical plan expenses to accommodate the terms of the Obamacare initiative, plus astronomical all-in costs for increased safety testing under the new CPSIA rules and related manias. The increased testing has yet to reveal any useful information of identify any health threat that constitutes a human safety risk – so all that money is wasted.

These costs have a common link – they are both a result of increasing regulation. I know, I know, Mr. Obama has lectured us that we really need all these new regulations. Well, I don’t agree, but in any event, we see these regulations as major impediments in our business. These high costs affect our cash flow and our business outlook – to the bad. Do the Democrats think we maintain our sunny disposition when we face a shaky market lacking confidence (soft revenues), higher costs (a lot higher) and mounting cash needs from higher taxes and other federal regulatory expenses? This is rather a recipe for managers who want to hide until the storm passes. Who will spend money on new investment now? While we are not cutting our product development efforts, we haven’t bought new equipment, fixtures or additional office/warehouse space in several years now. And we have no plans to do so. Welcome to the Dems’ economy. No wonder new jobless claims are over 500,000 in the last month.

In the case of the CPSIA, the Dems are only too happy to whack us with heavy regulations, all justified by imaginary benefits. The imaginary benefits of the new CPSIA regulations are as invisible as the imaginary problems they are designed to solve. The absence of data on effectiveness is matched by the absence of data suggesting that there was a problem in the first place – the “know nothing’s” jacked up your costs and destabilized your business to no purpose. Now Mr. Obama wants to fix it all with another handout. Throwing money at the problem is new style. And after that handout is parcelled out, the Dems will proceed to raise taxes on higher income individuals (read, small business owners, particularly S Corp owners) to attempt to staunch the hemorrhaging Federal deficit, and then express “shock” at the sluggish economy. No doubt the next step will have to be more handouts and perhaps Cap-and-Trade to raise more costs. What a great cycle. . . .

Is there another way? Well, as for small businesses in the children’s product market, I would note that the voluminous new CSPIA rules (two feet high and growing) impose massive costs on industry (to comply) AND on government (to enforce). I think of the stupid health official bent on enforcing his food handler’s license rule against the little girl in Portland operating a lemonade stand – many of the new CPSIA rules are pointless from a safety standpoint and cost big money to administer as well as to comply with. If the Dems seriously want to stimulate the economy and add jobs, here’s an efficient way to do it for NO out-of-pocket cost – DROP your boundless regulations and go back to something more modest and manageable. This also means that the Obamite idea that life is better with lots more government needs to be shelved. I submit the recent rules on testing frequency and “reasonable” testing programs as evidence that inviting bureaucrats to become involved in operating businesses brings nothing but trouble, inefficiency and devastation. There must be a better way.

Hey, I figured out some time ago that I am talking to myself here. The CPSC certainly doesn’t care or understand what I am talking about (or else they might have done something about it perhaps 300 blogposts ago). The Democrats in Congress likewise are deaf and disinterested. I cannot name a single Democrat, NOT ONE SINGLE DEMOCRAT, who will stand up in front of their peers and demand significant amendment or revocation of the CPSIA. The Dems are in lockstep agreement – no light shines in if your head is in the sand, after all.

You can’t work with people like this.

I urge you (URGE YOU) to select the CPSIA perpetrator of your choosing and WORK to knock them out of Congress in this election cycle. Remember – they are trying to put YOU out of business. You need to return the favor.

Return the favor . . . this is my theme song until polls close on November 2. Then the party begins.

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CPSIA – Obama Doesn’t Get It . . . .

CPSIA – Happy Birthday CPSIA!!!

Can’t let a wonderful occasion like this go unnoticed – HAPPY BIRTHDAY CPSIA! Two years ago today, President Bush signed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act into law, giving vast new powers to CPSC and promising wondrous new levels of “safety” for children in our country.

And how much safer we have become! In my post “Numbers Don’t Lie“, I abstracted the injury statistics from CPSC children’s product recalls over the prior 11 years. I know from “someone who should know” that the CPSC does not tabulate injury statistics like this – so I am your only source even on the second birthday of the CPSIA. No matter, the spreadsheet indicates that there were 242 recalls of children’s products between August 14, 2008 and the end of my study, April 21, 2010. By contrast, there were a total of 657 recalls of children’s products between August 14, 2008 and the randomly-selected end of my study, March 5, 1999. The injuries associated with lead that proceeded the CPSIA were one death and two asserted injuries, and after the CPSIA – one asserted lead injury (in two years). [See "Numbers Don't Lie (Update No. 1)".] What an achievement! It’s so, soooo clear we need this tough new law. . . .

By the way, I don’t mean to be too “science-y”, but a reduction in lead injuries from one death and two asserted injuries in nine years to one asserted injury in two years is simply not a statistically significant reduction. And we must consider additionally that ALL of the injuries, before and after the CPSIA, were ASSERTED BUT NOT VERIFIED. So there may be ZERO recorded actual injuries – we just don’t know. This makes our health improvement objectives even fuzzier.

And the cost of the CPSIA “final solution”? Well, I have calculated that, using the HTA’s estimate of $5.625 billion in annual CPSIA compliance costs (which I believe is low and in any event was calculated before the CPSIA showed its hand on testing frequency – see below), the 11-year cost of compliance is a mere $61.9 Billion. Using EPA metrics for the economic value of a human life and one lost IQ point, and giving full credit to each of the three asserted but unverified lead injuries, I have calculated the cost of the injuries to be $6.1 million over 11 years. That’s pretty symmetrical, don’t you think? $62 billion in costs to save $6.1 million.

Spend $10,000 to save a buck. That sums up this era in a single sentence.

Oh, but it gets even better. In case you, or pick any regulator, are too dense to understand the implications of those numbers for the future prospects of the children’s product market, the CPSC has recently published a rule for comment on testing frequency and “reasonable testing programs”. This rule was due on November 14, 2009 (hence the “15 Month Rule”) but was delayed because the CPSC understood the rule’s potential to literally kill all small businesses in this market. [That would include our business, btw.] So they held a two-day workshop in December 2009 to hear ideas and industry concerns and then spent months crafting the rule. This rule has been in the works for two years now. You have to figure they’re serious.

The CPSC was kind enough to illustrate the costs our business can expect under their sparkling new rule. So I broke out my trusty calculator (again – too math-y? too science-y?) and determined that they intend for us to spend a mere $10,000 per item per year in testing. This includes destroying 54 samples of each item in the process of testing. Anyhow, think of how many products you make – and multiply by $10,000. That’s your annual testing bill now.

Drum roll, please . . . our bill will be a mere $15 million per year! Pretty exciting to get off so easy. No doubt our bankruptcy will make American kids safer. Of course, I am pretty sure it won’t make them any smarter – our educational products will cease to exist. Then, of course, their ignorance of math and science might qualify to run the CPSC. There’s always a bright side to tragedy and catastrophe, I suppose.

It is worth a passing note that this is my 490th blogpost on the CPSIA and its terrible effects. I have submitted comments letters by the bushel basket, testified numerous times at the CPSC (often at their request), testified in front of Congress, been on national TV and radio, wrote Op-Eds and been featured innumerable times in various publications, held a rally on Capitol Hill, met with Commissioners, Congressional staffers and members of Congress, and so on. The CPSC’s actions are not being taken in ignorance. They are being done in the face of reason. This is not partisanism – this is “know nothing-ism”.

So Happy Happy Birthday, CPSIA! Your work is not done, unfortunately. Our company is still breathing.

Read more here:
CPSIA – Happy Birthday CPSIA!!!

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