Is the US headed towards a socialist government?

[kandrathe]

Hoo boy. If even Forbes magazine is opposing government regulation, look out! Engels is lurking just around the next corner!

This is what is wrong with the US government. Because of a few incidents with products manufactured in China, US manufacturers (and even little old grandma's making macramé scarves) become saddled with a very stringent product testing regime or face jail time. The products, and their manufacturers that inspired the legislation are not even subject to the law. Because of the open ended language, anyone who makes or sells things (including me) that might be used by children will need to go through stringent 3rd party product testing (ala Underwriters Laboratories). This will destroy many cottage industries in the US, and will result in many 2nd hand stores dumping all their children's goods into landfills. It seems that Congress can't trust people's common sense, or the tort system anymore. They must impose felony convictions, lengthy jail time and a $100K fine on anyone who ignores the CPSIA. What's that smell? It's certainly not the sweet smell of freedom.