The 100-watt incandescent bulb black market

I would like to make some money on the side.  The cars are getting very old, we are going to have to move in December of this year, and Josh will be going to college in the Fall of 2012.  And I think I have figured out how to make some good, quick money.  I am buying 100-watt incandescent bulbs and storing them for next year.  I will purchase them for close to $0.25 and sell them for $5.00 each.  If I can purchase 2500 bulbs for $625, I can sell them for $12,500, making a small profit of $11,875.  You think that sounds ridiculous right?  And you would never buy a light bulb for $5.00?  Consider this.

Switch Lighting just debuted its newest LED at the 2011 LIGHTFAIR International Trade Show in Philadelphia. The bulb will cost a little more than $20 when it goes on sale this fall, but because it uses 85% less power than the incandescent it's replacing, the company estimates it will pay for itself in about a year.  Dozens of other LED's, halogens, and compact flourescent lamps (CFLs) have launched in the last two years by companies that include Philips Lighting, General Electric, Osram Sylvania, Cree and Lighting Science Group. They aim to meet the requirements of a 2007 U.S law that demans light bulbs use at least 25% less energy for the same amount of light. That bipartisan law, signed by President George W. Bush, will also phase out Thomas Edison's 75-watt bulb in January 2013, and his 60-watt and 40-watt ones in January 2014. It exempts appliance, three-way, colored and 19 other less commonly used incandescents.

In other words, on New Year's Day 2012, it will be illegal to purchase incandescent bulbs or use them in your home.  And I am betting that the everyday "Joe and Jane" prefer the warm, soft yellow glow of an incandescent light bulb to the unnatural bright white light of flourescents.  How do I know this?  Because if consumers preferred flourescent to incandescent light bulbs, they would purchase them without any legal incentive. Yet they do not.   Therefore, I believe that the demand for cheap incandescents is not going to change because of legislation, so the only option left to environmentalists is to remove the incandescent light bulb from the market altogether and make it impossible for consumers to light their houses inexpensively.  CFLs may have a role in the marketplace, but we should let the consumer decide what that role should be.  And regular incandescents will go for $10- $25 on the black market; more than twice what I will sell mine for.

This is just one example of the ridiculous absurdity of federal regulations and demonstrates how bureaucrats pointlessly try to change human behavior. The regulatory burden grew tremendously under Bush and is only getting worse under Obama. 

It is a trend that restricts freedom and choice in the marketplace and costs taxpayers billions of dollars.

It is a trend that the government must reverse.

Thomas Edison must be turning in his grave!