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1. Federal Light Bulb Ban Creating Jobs in China

A federal law banning ordinary incandescent light bulbs has already
had a negative effect on the American economy — GE has closed its last
major bulb producing factory in the United States, creating job
opportunities in China.

Legislation enacted in 2007 orders the phase-out of incandescent light
bulbs beginning with the 100-watt bulb in 2012 and ending with the 40-
watt light in 2014. These bulbs cannot meet efficiency requirements
dictated by law.

Compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) are the least expensive alternative.
But the manufacture of CFLs is “labor intensive and too expensive to
be done at U.S. wage rates,” according to a report from The Heartland
Institute, which estimates that domestically produced CFLs would be 50
percent more expensive than bulbs manufactured in China.

So instead of retrofitting its plant in Winchester, Va., to produce
CFLs, GE closed the plant in September and laid off 200 workers.

CFLs are already being manufactured in China, and increasing American
demand will no doubt create new jobs there.

As the Insider Report disclosed earlier, while CFLs use about 75
percent less energy than incandescent bulbs and last far longer, they
cost significantly more, take longer to turn on, can flicker, and
contain small amounts of highly toxic mercury, which creates problems
for users when they break or need to be disposed of after they burn
out.

“Environmental activists and their allies in Washington were either
too ignorant of basic economics to see these job losses coming, or
they were simply too callous to really care,” said Heartland Institute
science director Jay Lehr.

“Either way, compact fluorescent light bulbs in the real world fail to
live up to environmental promises, unnecessarily subject American
households to toxic mercury, produce poor-quality light, and are
sending American workers to the unemployment line.”

And Sam Kazman, general counsel for the Competitive Enterprise
Institute, said: “If the new energy-saving technologies being pushed
by government are really that good, then we don’t need government to
mandate them. And if they are being mandated, that’s a sure sign that
they’re not very good.”

Three Republican members of Congress — Joe Barton, Marsha Blackburn
and Michael Burgess — have introduced a bill that would repeal the ban
on the incandescent bulb.