Criminalizing Capitalism
Our government seems to be in the business of crippling business, however it can. Henry Juszkiewicz, the CEO of Gibson Guitars, writes in the WSJ about the raid on his company's guitar factories last August under the Lacey Act:
Originally enacted as a means to curb the poaching of endangered species, the law bans wildlife and plants from being imported if, according to the interpretation of federal bureaucrats, the importation violates a law in the country of origin.The fingerboards of our guitars are made with wood that is imported from India. The wood seized during the Aug. 24 raid, however, was from a Forest Stewardship Council-certified supplier, meaning the wood complies with FSC's rules requiring that it be harvested legally and in compliance with traditional and civil rights, among other protections. Indian authorities have provided sworn statements approving the shipment, and U.S. Customs allowed the shipment to pass through America's border to our factories.
Nonetheless, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decided to enforce its own interpretation of Indian law, arguing that because the fingerboards weren't finished in India, they were illegal exports. In effect, the agency is arguing that to be in compliance with the law, Gibson must outsource the jobs of finishing craftsmen in Tennessee.
This is an overreach of government authority and indicative of the kinds of burdens the federal government routinely imposes on growing businesses. It also highlights a dangerous trend: an attempt to punish even paperwork errors with criminal charges and to regulate business activities through criminal law. Policy wonks call this "overcriminalization." I call it a job killer.
...Many business owners have inadvertently broken obscure and highly technical foreign laws, landing them in prison for things like importing lobster tails in plastic rather than cardboard packaging (the violation of that Honduran law earned one man an eight-year prison sentence). Cases like this make it clear that the justice system has strayed from its constitutional purpose: stopping the real bad guys from bringing harm.
There's a proposed bill in the House -- the Retailers and Entertainers Lacey Implementation and Enforcement Fairness (Relief) Act -- to reduce the chances of accidental breaking of the Lacey law, but he says "broader change is needed."
Juszkiewicz recently endorsed the "Right on Crime Statement of Principles," asserting that criminal law is overly blunt for the regulation of non-fraudulent business activities, and argues costly criminal proceedings should be reserved for those acts that threaten public safety.
On a related note, which I blogged about previously, here are a bunch of armed government thugs taking over the hippie health food coop near me. P.J. Huffstutter writes in the Los Angeles Times:
With no warning one weekday morning, investigators entered an organic grocery with a search warrant and ordered the hemp-clad workers to put down their buckets of mashed coconut cream and to step away from the nuts.Then, guns drawn, four officers fanned out across Rawesome Foods in Venice. Skirting past the arugula and peering under crates of zucchini, they found the raid's target inside a walk-in refrigerator: unmarked jugs of raw milk.
Blocks away from Rawsome, the raw food coop that got raided, is the hood, where people shoot each other with some frequency. Yet, the government is going after a bunch of people named Rainbow armed with only raw milk cheese.
This was a place where people who wanted to sell certain foods were selling them to people who wanted to buy them. Why is that any of the government's business?
> guns drawn, four officers fanned out
How was deadly force ever going to make that enforcement go well?
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at August 1, 2012 11:54 PM
Pretty ridiculous considering raw milk is legal in California and the laws are very lax compared to most other states that allow it. There was no reason for it to be seized in the first place.
BunnyGirl at August 2, 2012 12:16 AM
"This was a place where people who wanted to sell certain foods were selling them to people who wanted to buy them. Why is that any of the government's business?"
Sorry, but this is where you get ridiculous. Put generally like this, you deny that you have any interest in consumer protections. Specifically, this suggests that monitoring of factory-produced pasteurized milk should not be done, either. No. You don't want lubricating oil in your breakfast, no matter the source.
An agency checks food for things you cannot. Lots of things can't be detected by your nose.
Again: that police powers were misused is NOT evidence that the job doesn't need to be done. A smart agriculture inspection would have required a prominent warning to the consumer about shelf life and their personal risks, and left it at that.
Radwaste at August 2, 2012 2:46 AM
Harvey Silverglate has a related piece in Forbes:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/harveysilverglate/2012/07/30/to-the-ceo-of-gibson-its-not-just-a-war-against-capitalism/
To the CEO Of Gibson: It's Not Just a War Against Capitalism
Like the blind man who locates the trunk of the elephant and assumes he has the full picture of the behemoth, Gibson CEO Henry Juszkiewicz is perfectly right in accusing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service of waging a senseless jihad against his company. Its investigation of Gibson’s importation practices was an obvious overreach, growing out of the agency’s silly current interpretation of a century-old environmental regulation and conducted in the face of overwhelming evidence of the guitar maker’s innocence. But Juszkiewicz’s argument that the raid on his company is part of a larger war by the federal government on American businesses is too narrow and self-focused to contemplate the whole picture. What Juszkiewicz’s call for government to “stop criminalizing capitalism” misses is that the federal government is using similarly vague statutes and obtuse regulations to wage a war on the entirety of American civil society. Neither Gibson nor capitalism stands alone as a victim of indefensible, and unconstitutional, overreach.
jerry at August 2, 2012 7:05 AM
Radwaste: "that police powers were misused is NOT evidence that the job doesn't need to be done."
And the fact that something needs to be done is NOT evidence that the job needs to be done by the government.
Chris at August 2, 2012 7:24 AM
Comment of the Day, Chris, 7:24 AM.
Competition resumes 12:01 AM PST, 03 Aug 12.
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at August 2, 2012 7:34 AM
It doesn't matter what kind of wood or milk or labor or boxes you use, it matters that you OBEY.
All crimes are worthy of guns-drawn intimidation whether it's a county health code or baby pimping because the crime, the only crime, is that you failed to obey the marxist control freaks.
Storm Saxon's Gall Bladder at August 2, 2012 8:01 AM
Amy's great at coming up with examples of this.
Rex Little at August 2, 2012 8:38 AM
Comment of the Day, Chris, 7:24 AM.
Competition resumes 12:01 AM PST, 03 Aug 12.
In the meantime:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkMGVtJXLkE
Steve Daniels at August 2, 2012 8:47 AM
Lyrics, amirite? Real, meaningful, straight-ahead truth-telling!
Well, he sure is sincere... Just a man, a guitar, and a FEELING, y'know? And a plain ol' accent. And a picture of like, an old barn (needs paint) with Photoshop-distressed treatment and a soft-focus "halo" effect.
My latin of the week, courtesy Chris Buckley: De gustibus, non disputandum est.
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at August 2, 2012 10:15 AM
Lyrics, amirite? Real, meaningful, straight-ahead truth-telling!
Yeah. Kind of like Twitter.
Steve Daniels at August 2, 2012 10:43 AM
Only without the not-wasting-your-time part.
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at August 2, 2012 10:45 AM
Juszkiewicz is learning a hard lesson. He wasn't so concerned about the rule of law when he abused IP laws to sue the employees of Oberheim and Opcode. But, hey, maybe better late than never. Just don't ask Don Buchla what he thinks.
Cousin Dave at August 2, 2012 3:11 PM
"And the fact that something needs to be done is NOT evidence that the job needs to be done by the government."
THIS is "comment of the day"?
Wow.
Somebody want to tell me what private agency has intra- or inter-state authority for regulatory enforcement?
Don't leave out that "enforcement" part. And you're not giving up consumer protections, not really. This is the blog where the Rapiscan 1000 is frying people because it isn't inspected (no).
Radwaste at August 3, 2012 2:48 AM
> Somebody want to tell me what private agency
> has intra- or inter-state authority for
> regulatory enforcement?
Enforcement of what specifically, Buttercup?
The Rapiscan is "frying people" because people on the federal payroll would rather fry strangers than miss a paycheck.
("Wow"!)
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at August 3, 2012 4:14 PM
You really don't know who does food inspections?
Why do you even comment?
Radwaste at August 3, 2012 7:46 PM
I'm just going to throw this out there: Gibson guitar is a non-union company that has contibuted to the GOP. Meanwhile Fender using the same rosewood has never been raided.
Just saying…
Jim P. at August 3, 2012 9:03 PM
Note - in the news today, Gibson has agreed that their wood was imported in violation of trade regulations. They will pay a fine.
Radwaste at August 6, 2012 3:48 PM
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