Tag Archive for 'lead'

Last year, congress passed a law that requires every product made for children 12 and under must be free of lead and certain chemical compounds.  This, in itself is a good idea.  However, it completely destroys the economic model the US is trying so desperate to keep in play by bailing out big-name companies: the “free-market.”

Costs
The law requires every product, not just a random sampling but all, to be tested.  The price to test a cloth diaper, for instance, runs at $400 each.  If the requirement was simply one out of a hundred, it means a differential of only $4 per diaper, something that most companies could afford.  For many smaller manufacturers and individual homemade crafters, this could mean the end of their business.  This also means that many secondhand stores, such as Goodwill and other thrift shops, will be unable to accept clothing and toys without the new label.

The Freedom-Eating Market
Ironically, this comes at a time when the US government is throwing millions (or is it billions?) of dollars at financial and automotive industries so that they don’t close their doors.  The hypocrisy here is that it is fine for small toymakers to close shop and be replaced by larger ones who can absorb the third-party testing of products, but it is not acceptable for large corporations to close shop and be replaced by any other business large or small.  Had each of these issues been left to the “free market,” both would have been resolved without the need for regulations.

For the toys and other childrens’ products, how many adults knowingly and willingly let their children play with products that are harmful?  Look at the many recalls Thomas the Tank Engine toys had over the last two years and the effect the recalls have had on the business.  One article on NPR (link) ends with a marketing researcher implying that companies who try to hide these issues end badly.  For the large corporations, a truly free market would have seen some close, some merge, and new ones arise without much problem.  Sure, there would have been a major recession (like there isn’t one now?), but it would have costed the government and the people much less.  Recessions cannot be stopped when they are already immanent; they possibly could be averted before they are noticed, but that is the kind of far-sightedness governments lack.