George Orwell has come back from the dead to write editorials down at USA Today, where truth is fiction, black is white, and green is definitely red.
In a leap of Orwellian logic, USA Today — America’s second-largest newspaper — argues in its lead editorial Tuesday that banning the incandescent light bulb is a victory for free markets.
“The best way for government to boost energy efficiency isn’t to micromanage by picking winners and losers, a job better suited to free-market innovation. It is to set a reasonable standard — miles per gallon or light per watt, for example — and let the market sort it out,” spins the editorial in support of picking winners and losers. “That’s what Congress did in 2007” in banning the bulb.
War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength. Banning is choice. Regulation is freedom.
One wonders if USA Today’s editors would tolerate this doublethink if applied to their own industry. Were Congress to ban newspapers in order to force them onto the more “planet-friendly” Internet, would USA Today swallow this as free market economics?
Doublethink. Doublespeak. Doubledandy.
Source: The Detroit News
This post was last modified on January 26, 2021
View Comments (27)
just had yet another of these incandescent bulbs burn out; thought they were supposed to last for years?
But we've always been at war with Sylvania.
Like a lady in a commercial down here that talks about the tax on foods that are not "healthy" said: "The government is getting too involved in our personal lives". I say yes indeed.
Micromanaging is never a good idea in free market business it is DEFINITELY not a good idea when government does it because govt has way too much power on their end.
The problem is that of course the reasonable people do nothing, hence why they can continue to do this. There is also SO MUCH GOING ON at the same time. It seems now impossible to be on top of everything.
I hate CFL bulbs! I have incandescent bulbs that have been in use for almost 20 years. When I'm forced to use a CFL bulb it throws less light and lasts less than a year. I too am stockpiling incandescent bulbs!
How weak we appear to be. We love (and need) incandescent bulbs - all of us, yet we let a handful of "elected" representatives in various countries around the world tell us we can't have them because THEY have been conned into believing that by not having them, the planet will be saved. Hallelujah!
WHY are we allowing them to get away with it? WHY do we always roll over and invite more of the same? Are we totally mad? To what degree do we have to become emasculated before we have totally lost the cojones to do something about this travesty? It looks like total castration to me. I wonder if we are our own worst enemies...
Yes you are. People either don't vote or they are so stupid they go to the voting booth and select D or R then walk away. They do not look at the candidate, don't know their name, don't know where they stand on important issuses, they know nothing about the candidate except what they might have seen in a quick t.v. ad.
And that is what pisses me off more than anything when I talk to fools who do not like what our gooberment is doing. When I ask who they voted for in the l,ast election, local, state or national, they say "Well, I voted Democrap or Republicant, because that is the way my family has always voted."
Ask any moron you know "Why did you vote for the Mayor, or this Senator, or that Governor, or Representative so-and-so, then listen to their answer. Answer 1 will be: Because he/she had a D or R after their name. Answer 2 will be: Because he/she has been there a long time and has done such a good job for my community, town, state or country.
Then look at the real facts of where our bankrupt towns, counties, states and country is at right now and decide if your friends and neighbors are idiots or not. Yeserie Bob I voted for Bubba again 'cause he got the new sewer line installed in front of my house. 5000 people around me don't have a new sewer line in front of their shacks but by golly I do.
good stuff.. seriously, we need to concentrate on civics education again in this country. If kids don't grow up understanding the mechanics of our Republic, what else can we expect but inane voting?
And if I may add, "I like the name Anderson better than Jones."
Morons!
A somewhat related article. The last incandescent bulb manufacturer closed down in September with 200 people loosing their jobs...all incandescent bulbs are imported from China.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/07/AR2010090706933.html
And on the dangers of florescent bulbs.http://www.holistichelp.net/blog/compact-fluorescent-light-bulbs-the-dangers-of-cfls/
Wondering who in Washington has connections to incandescent bulb manufacturing?? Just sayin'
Those people all have a new job-it is called unemployment. It is a 24 hour a day job in Obama's Amerika.
GE makes the CFLs. 'Nuff said.
So when the "big one" hits California, I don't think they have enough HAZMAT teams for the clean up all that mercury from those million's of damaged CFL's.
Your 100 watt light bulb has been increased to a 32 watt light bulb.
Komrades we are looking at a GLORIOUS future!
A couple of things...
When the day comes that the old bulbs are illegal & the favored CFLs come to the fore, there will be a healthy black market for the old bulbs.
The old bulbs will go away at some point, but they will NOT be replaced by the sh!t CFLs, they will be replaced by LED bulbs when they can be produced & sold at a competitive price. The CFL bulb will only survive as long as the gov't backs them, but the free market will kill the CFL in the end. The LED will kill the CFL, just hope you enough old bulbs to carry you through to that day.
In the meantime, you can also buy halogen bulbs that fit into regular light bulb sockets. They are efficient enough to keep the governmental nannies away, but they contain no mercury and the light that comes from them looks the same as the light from a regular bulb.
If they work below 30 degrees then sign me up. I have CFLs out of my own choice and they suck ass in the cold.
I only got them because I have fairly dirty power that kills the incandescents every few weeks.
if you never shut them off, cfl's work out side, once you shut them off tho.....
But Seriously, does anyone know of a group or organization to overturn the crazy law which will make it illegal to manufacture and sell lightbulbs that work (incandescent bulbs).?
Maybe it's time for a march on Washington, DC and en'lighten our 'dim'-witted representatives.