Is February 10th National Bankruptcy Day?

An ill-timed increase in the regulatory burden is on the way.  Kathleen Fasanella writes:

In the Wall Street Journal, Rick Woldenberg was quoted as describing February 10, 2009 as National Bankruptcy Day because that’s the day when many of us will go out of business due to the implementation of the CPSIA Regulations… Come
February 10th, a lot of people will be hit hard by reality when their
products are returned or their financing is declined.

To recap, this law was passed (424 votes to 1) to protect children from unsafe toys after last year’s widely publicized recalls (by the way, recalls have actually decreased by 46%). What few consumers realize is this legislation affects more than toys.
What few clothing manufacturers realize is this also affects them. Of
the ones who do know, most of them think it only applies to children’s
clothes. Other than apparel the law includes diapers, blankets
(housewares), books, videos, computer and electronic products,
strollers, cribs, car seats, and anything humans come in contact with
in their environment. Our objections are not higher standards for
product safety or even the costs involved per se. The problem is Congress wrote the law and forced the CPSC to implement it before the regulations were written. These regulations are not written by people who are familiar with manufacturing and thus, impose unnecessary burdens.

If I understand this correctly, all sorts of small manufacturers have to vouch that their products do not contain much lead, yet such a claim is not easy to know or verify (does your product have paint?).  You can follow the story at Kathleen’s blog.  Here is video testimony.

As Eric H. points out to me: "It is "I, Pencil" meets "I, illegal paperclip" (yeah, really)."