Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Next Black Market Item: Light Bulbs

Tomorrow marks the end of the incandescent bulb.

Jan. 1. marks the end of a seven-year effort to outlaw the ordinary lightbulb, thanks to a 2007 law that raised minimum efficiency standards for traditional incandescent bulbs far beyond what the technology can manage. 
It’s lights out for the traditional light bulb, in other words, which was essentially killed by that bill. 
“The government started phasing out incandescents in 2010, starting with the 100-watt bulb, and then followed by the 75-watt,” explained Melissa Andresko, communications director for lighting-automation company Lutron. 
“Come January 1, both the 60- and the 40-watt bulbs are going away. And that’s really going to have the most impact on consumers because those are the most popular incandescent bulb types right now,” she told FoxNews.com earlier this month.
Because we all want the federal government telling us what kind of light bulbs we can use, right?  Freaking nanny state.  The Heritage Foundation:

The “so what” is that the federal government is taking decisions out of the hands of families and businesses, destroying jobs, and restricting consumer choice in the market. We all have a wide variety of preferences regarding light bulbs. It is not the role of the federal government to override those preferences with what it believes is in our best interest.

It's not too late to stock up on bulbs.





Graphic via Heritage Foundation

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