"And the government would have banned Thomas Edison’s light bulb. Oh yeah, Obama’s regulators actually did just that."
That was Governor Romney on March 19. I hope he was more careful with the facts when he worked for Bain. If not, he would have cost lost a lot of money, not to mention the liability risks.
Here’s what the Washington Post fact-checker says about Romney’s statement:
It’s a cheap political shot for Romney to blame “Obama’s regulators” for a proposal that was signed into law by a Republican president and was broadly supported at the time. Moreover, we don’t see how higher efficiency standards translates into a “ban,” especially when light manufacturers have embraced the new standards.
Compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) have a number of features that make them convenient political symbols:
CFLs also illustrate why conservatives have given up on cost-benefit analysis. The economics strongly favor CFLs, which shows that cost-benefit analysis is an unreliable tool if your goal is to eliminate all government regulation, however well justified that regulation may be in particular cases.
Cross-posted from the environmental law and policy blog Legal Planet.