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David Sirota is a political journalist and nationally syndicated newspaper columnist at Creators Syndicate. David writes about political corruption, globalization and working-class economic issues often ignored by both of America's political parties.

  • August 27, 2007 5:13 PM

    Weakening Regulators Who Protect America From Dangerous Imports

    Those rabid radical socialists* over at Businessweek are at it once again, filling the world with their anticapitalist manifestos. This one is about the Consumer Products Safety Commission, which has been crippled by budget cuts and chronic underfunding.

    Here are the details:

    "The Consumer Product Safety Commission is charged with protecting buyers from injury and death from some 15,000 kinds of products. Yet while the CPSC has never been more vital, through much of its 33-year history the agency has been chronically understaffed and underfunded. Overseeing 400 recalls a year, most at companies' requests, the CPSC's compliance team has less time to initiate its own investigations, which tend to reveal the most serious risks...You would think an agency with such an important role would be a high priority for Washington. Yet its budget is just $62 million, one-seventh the size of the Food & Drug Administration's funding for food safety alone. The CPSC also operates under rules that prohibit staff from publicizing information about product complaints until the manufacturer O.K.'s the release. Besides handing over a lot of control to companies, this process routinely delays public disclosure of hazards, say critics."

    The magazine notes that while both Democratic and Republican administrations have neglected the commission, the agency has particularly lost power under President Bush. Additionally, Bush has not helped the situation when he "put forward a former lobbyist for the manufacturing industry, the very group CPSC is meant to oversee, as a nominee to chair the agency earlier this year."

    *If you don't get the sarcasm here, you need to find a sense of humor.

    Posted by David Sirota
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    Tags: Right-Wing Lunatics

Discussion

  • GrantBurkeVT [TypeKey Profile Page] :

    This country is going to need more than socialists 20x the likes of Bernard Sanders now that Bush and his supporters in both parties have for decades turned the US into a SUBPRIME BORROWER !

    P.S.: And you can thank Nixon's opening the doors to China and our leaders for allowing this country to depend on Saudi Arabia for OIL ! At this point, it's safe to say that SA and CN, two of the WORST VIOLATORS of human rights, pretty much have complete economic control over the US.

    Posted on August 27, 2007 7:54 PM
  • waltc [TypeKey Profile Page] :

    This is the price for globalization or at least a small portion of it. And the more I see of global trade the more I believe Kucinich is right we need to cancel those trade treaties ASAP before our country is totally destroyed economically.

    And yeah our nation as GrantBurkeVT says is now a sub-prime borrower. Late last year the comptroller of the U.S. declared the country fiscally insolvent - incapable of paying back the trillions it has borrowed over the last 30 years.

    And he's right about China and Saudi Arabia owning us. BTW you won't hear one word from the top 3 democratic candidates about the unholy influence that China and Saudi Arabia have on our domestic and foreign policies. Our how we are become so dependent on Chinese buying our worthless Treasuries to keep afloat.

    BTW this ought to scare the living daylights out of Democrats and liberals(in reality most seem oblivious for some strange reason). If the Chinese and their minions stop buying our paper, our economy will tank and the Democrats can watch all their social-programs vanish like farts in a whirlwind along with their power base.

    But wait theres more! the Chinese don't even need to do anything at the rate the U.S. is generating debt and gutting itself. In a few more years the country will be so weak economically that it may collapse all its own.

    And we had taste of that over the last few weeks when the Feds had to pump in billions of dollars to keep the stock market from collapsing because of all the sub-prime loans put out(in the trillions of dollars)

    One song put it aptly "we're living in a powder keg and we're giving off sparks". Its just a matter of time.

    Posted on August 27, 2007 9:53 PM
  • ewode [TypeKey Profile Page] :

    He needs to appoint a Christian Libertarian and we can all have a slice of celestial pie in the sky.

    Posted on August 28, 2007 10:25 AM

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