Friday, December 23, 2011

"Business" or "Market" Contrast in Lightbulb War

And yes, it will be a war.

Republicans suspended the law until October by denying funds for its implementation as part of a massive spending bill. For Democrats, this move was another sign of how out of touch the GOP is.

But look who else is complaining. As Politico reported, "big companies like General Electric, Philips and Osram Sylvania (are) fuming." Allegedly these companies are mad because they invested lots of money getting ready for the new rules.

Fact is, they were pushing for the ban all along.  --AmSPec quoting IBD

Hit the link and you'll find that the Cronies were not very complimentary about the intelligence of the US population, either.

This is the prototypical "Business" v. "Markets" battle to which Paul Ryan refers.  The job of the FedGov is not to "protect business" at the cost of the consumer (with some exceptions and some nuance, of course.)

By the way, what the hell does GE care?  They don't pay taxes anyway....

5 comments:

  1. A couple years ago, when GE was coming out with their EcoMagination marketing, when The Obamessiah was ascending.... Jeff Immelt gave a global webcast to the GE employees and stated point-blank that there would no room in GE leadership for those that didn't believe in cozying up with Government. Rent-seeking IS the growth strategy.

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  2. While the light bulb issue may seem like small potatoes to most folks, for me it epitomizes everything that is wrong with our government.

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  3. ...and one of the bennies of being older is our stash of light bulbs doesn't take up much room. I use dimmers on almost all my fixtures and our bulbs last a very long time.

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  4. Screw GE, If they lose money fleecing tax payerts too bad! I will never buy a GE product again.

    Boycott the SOBS

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  5. General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt, whose own company is one of the top three - the others being Phillips and Osram Sylvania - identified as having lobbied for the de facto bulb ban when it was adopted in 2007, wondered aloud to CBS's Lesley Stahl in October why any American wouldn't want GE to be successful. Immelt told Stahl, "I want you to root for me. You know, everybody in Germany roots for Siemens. Everybody in Japan roots for Toshiba. Everybody in China roots for China South Rail. I want you to say, ‘Win, G.E."
    To Immelt, the National Center for Public Policy Research says: "We want GE and all American businesses to win when they aren't undermining our freedoms. Stop running General Electric like a modern version of the East India Tea Company - which served up a large serving of government regulations along with its core product - and most Americans will be behind you. In the meantime, stop lobbying to ban our bulbs."

    http://thetandd.com/news/opinion/the-old-lights-will-be-burning-into-a-new-year/article_146e5930-2cda-11e1-8255-0019bb2963f4.html

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