Monday, July 19, 2010

Unintended Consequences

I still don't understand how CSPIA is STILL not amended, as the writer points out the law came into effect because, "a large toy companies were breaking an already existing law" effecting small business who don't have the resources (nor the need) to test their home made products. It's heartbreaking and completely frustrating to read this post of a woman who was living out the American dream and because politicians want to look like the care and thinking of the children, now has her business (and thus family life) ruined by an idiotic law. Here is Jolie Fay of SkippingHippos.com guest posting at AmendTheCPSIA.com
I called the lab, got the quote and did the math. CPSIA-mandated testing costs for my little product line was over $27,000 for just over $30,000 worth of product. I cannot express the horrible feeling I had when I realized that I had made a mistake that was going to cost my family all of our money. .....

I have invested thousands of hours in trying to get the CPSIA changed to allow crafters – young and old – to continue their craft. The time I spent trying to bring common sense to the CPSIA was time I was not investing in my business. I was afraid to let up the fight because I was not seeing anyone else fighting for ME.

Where was my Senator, who told the crowd “folks, we did this for safety”?

Where was the ombudsman to help guide the way at the CPSC? (Surprise! There STILL is not a position at the CPSC to help the crafters, the stay-at-home moms who use skill and time to help feed their kids).

Where were the Congressmen who represent me and the seniors who have made SAFE children’s products for 50 years, and who can barely afford lunch and would NEVER be able to afford testing?

Who is looking out for the children who will learn from their mothers how to nurture their entrepreneurial spirit?

Last July I hit bottom. I had to turn my children over to daycare workers and join the work force just to keep us in our tiny rented house. My little business that helped us buy a home, that kept me at home with my kids to help them learn and grow, was no longer a safe investment of my time.

This is happening all across the county; women just like me, who are making safe kids’ products, are being forced to end their stay-at-home businesses. Mothers who want to obey the law, who are afraid of the consequences of NOT obeying the law, are making the choice to give up their dream to keep their children warm and fed.

We need a law that does not make us criminals. We MUST have a law that does not criminalize the old, young, and poor because they make safe products that they cannot afford to test.
I understand that government is important, I get that we need government. But these kind of laws, that harm businesses (and what politicians, like Obama, fail to realize is that businesses are owned by people, every time he demonizes a business venture, he demonizes the family the business is supporting), that are completely self-serving in nature, to make the politician look as though s/he is compassionate are disgusting.

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