CFLs - the bulb everyone except the government hates

[PearlSB4U]

Support for basic research is one of the few useful roles of government. Using efficiency standards to force unproven and in some cases potentially dangerous new technologies on consumers is wrong. There's no need to force anything on consumers if solutions available are compelling to people. When government has to force something upon a populace it serves as proof positive the solution they are pushing is not compelling enough. This almost always results in market distortions that often hinder true innovation in the field and hurt individual groups in ways proponents can't possibly predict.

Efficiency through choice, not force.

I hope you had plenty of light when you posted the above at 3:58AM!

 

[Andy A]

Yeah, he probably had plienty of light because I feel sure he used 100 watt incandescent bulb. Oh, and he is absolutely right in his above post. "Efficiency by choice not force".

 

[idlewind]

Either you believe in capitalism and the free market or you don't. The best bulb delivered at the best price will win the battle unless government interferes.
On marriage, the issue is not the concern of the federal government. The Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional and the efforts by liberals to force the states to accept gay marriages are equally unconstitutional. Marriage is a state issue. Personally I wonder why the state must license a relationship between two people anyways unless it is to raise revenue. The legal and financial issues could be decided between the parties and the agreement filed at the courthouse for a filing fee.
On abortion the issue is not under the purview of the federal government. Each state should be able to pass the laws regarding the issue that its citizens desire. Roe v Wade is unconstitutional and should be overturned.

 

[Minnie]

The info from the EPA about what you have to do to clean up a broken one concerns me.

"If clothing or bedding materials come in direct contact with broken glass or mercury containing powder from inside the bulb that may stick to the fabric, the clothing or bedding should be thrown away. Do not wash such clothing or bedding because mercury fragments in the clothing may contaminate the machine and/or pollute sewage.”

I also do not like that we have taken jobs from Americans and yet again given them to China.

There are medical questions also, especially for people with migranes etc. that have not been completely answered. The reviews from Canada and other foreign countries are not very favorable to them.

If a person has to turn on more lights using the CFLs to brighten their house over the incandescents how does that save energy.

I think choice is always better.

 

[PearlSB4U]

Either you believe in capitalism and the free market or you don't.

I "believe in" capitalism & the free market, but I don't believe in them blindly, or believe that laissez faire capitalism will cure all ills. Unregulated & unrestricted capitalism would result is a seriously dystopian society.

Do you honestly believe that corporate America, left to its own devices, would not pollute our air & water, would provide safe & healthy working conditions, would not deceive consumers...?

Contrary to the seeming belief of many, the words "capitalism" & "free market," don't appear in our Constitution, but the words "promote the general welfare" do.

 

[BeachArkie]

If you believe the free market is truly free, you've got bigger problems than light bulbs.

There are so many subsidies, laws, regulations, special interests, and false information manipulating things that it is anything but.

 

[LuciferSam]

I "believe in" capitalism & the free market, but I don't believe in them blindly, or believe that laissez faire capitalism will cure all ills. Unregulated & unrestricted capitalism would result is a seriously dystopian society.

Do you honestly believe that corporate America, left to its own devices, would not pollute our air & water, would provide safe & healthy working conditions, would not deceive consumers...?

Contrary to the seeming belief of many, the words "capitalism" & "free market," don't appear in our Constitution, but the words "promote the general welfare" do.

Over the very, very long haul, say a couple of centuries, pure unregulated free market capitalism, would work in practice as intended in theory. Good ideas and business practices would thrive, bad ones would die out. The problem is that for any one individual, there is no long haul. Life is short. Some of the very profitable but destructive practices of corporations can ruin a person's life. Adding to the problem is the fact that the people who get screwed eventually take a dirt nap. Bad ideas get recirculated in the next generation because dead people are not very good at providing the negative feedback necessary for this purely mythical "self-regulation". Businesses would engage in the same destructive practices repeatedly expecting different results. In short, pure unregulated capitalism is the very definition of insanity.

 

[Bob]

No it is about individual rights and liberty.

you rights end when society pays for your behavior

 

[Bob]

Either you believe in capitalism and the free market or you don't. The best bulb delivered at the best price will win the battle unless government interferes.
On marriage, the issue is not the concern of the federal government. The Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional and the efforts by liberals to force the states to accept gay marriages are equally unconstitutional. Marriage is a state issue. Personally I wonder why the state must license a relationship between two people anyways unless it is to raise revenue. The legal and financial issues could be decided between the parties and the agreement filed at the courthouse for a filing fee.
On abortion the issue is not under the purview of the federal government. Each state should be able to pass the laws regarding the issue that its citizens desire. Roe v Wade is unconstitutional and should be overturned.

you're either for us or against us. where have we heard that childspeak before? good/bad black/white/christian/atheist/gay/straight...truly free markets unleash the best and worst in human behavior simultaneously. we are all living in the aftermath of the free market doing it's tap dance on our economic foreheads.

 

[Beach Runner]

Like Minnie, I have safety concerns about CFLs. When they first came out, I put them in the beach house. But then when I read about their toxicity, I removed them. I was afraid that a rental guest, especially a child, might knock over a lamp and get harmed. Also if a CFL got broken and contaminated a sofa or a club chair or a rug, for example, I'd have to throw the item away!

Guess I'd better stock up on enough incandescents to last for two more years (when we plan to stop renting).