Candles are next to be banned

Posted by Ivan Osorio

In his Examiner column today, Tim Carney — with a nod to Bastiat — takes the company founded by Thomas Edison to task for eschewing innovation in favor of political rent seeking:

Had Thomas Edison employed the same business strategy as his 21st-Century heirs at General Electric, he would have lobbied Congress to outlaw the candle in 1879 when he perfected and patented the light bulb.

He surely could have masked his self-interested lobbying in some public interest claim, such as fire prevention or the need for wax conservation. Today, the mask is environmentalism.

Earlier this month, Thomas Edison’s GE, together with Sylvania and Philips won a legislative victory when Congress passed an energy bill that would outlaw sale of the standard light bulb by 2012.

Sylvania is the leading light bulb maker worldwide, and GE is tops in America. These two companies, together with Dutch-based Royal Phillips Electronics, concede they basically wrote the new light bulb law. It goes without saying that they stand to profit from it — at consumer expense.

That is because the energy bill raises energy efficiency requirements to a level that most incandescent light bulbs in use today cannot meet, which would force most people to switch to the more expensive compact fluorescent bulbs.

Of course, this isn’t the only special interest pork barrel project in the energy bill, but in this specific instance, it’s worth asking — If fluorescent bulbs are so great, why does Congress need to essentially mandate their use?

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12/28/2007 @ 2:22 pm | Economic Liberty, Energy, Politics as Usual | Comments

6 Responses to “Candles are next to be banned”

  1. Posted by: xyz - 12/30/2007

    ” If fluorescent bulbs are so great, why does Congress need to essentially mandate their use?”

    Dumbest question of the week.

  2. Posted by: distressed American - 12/30/2007

    Is anyone aware that the wonderful, Compact Flourescent, is only manufactured in China? I think it’s because the Chinese can deal with significant quantities of mercury without much hassle from their government.

    I would like to know, how it comes to be, that General Electric, which became a corporate giant in America, and mostly because of American money, could turn around, and essentially slap Amerixca right across the mouth, by dictating what kind of light bulb an American can buy?

    Who thought up the corporate strategy of writing legislation for very far left politicians:?

    I think Edison, and probably Jack Welch for that matter, would be sick to their stomach right about now

  3. Posted by: Subpilot - 12/31/2007

    Don’t worry. CFL bulbs will be outlawed in 5 or so years because of the high mercury content. Then we will switch to LED bulbs, but they will be outlawed to because of arsenic or germanium. Go figure. Environmentalists are not happy unless they can tell someone else how to live thier lives.

  4. Posted by: Brian Carney bids farewell to Edison’s environmental WMD | OpenMarket.org - 01/02/2008

    [...] its rent- seeking potential for manufacturers of fluorescent bulbs, who . (Brian’s bro Tim tackled the issue in his DC Examiner column last Friday.) Whether it’s next week or next decade, you [...]

  5. Posted by: yawning, always yawning - 01/07/2008

    Um, Subpilot, the article you’ve commented to shows how CORPORATIONS are dictating this change to us, not environmentalists. Rightists are not happy unless they can trash someone else who knows more than them.

  6. Posted by: Richard M. - 02/20/2008

    Dear Yawner, corporations cannot dictate anything to us–it requires the power of the government to do that. But, yes, it is sad to see these companies colluding with the government and the environmentalists just for some economic or public relations gain. The PR part may backfire, because many people like the warm glow of incandescent bulbs. I personally plan to stock up.

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