Buckyballs and Bullet Fees

Government bullying. [Link]

I can fight with a handicap, so I'll give the other side this one – I'll stipulate for purposes of this argument that it is entirely reasonable and just and within the intentions of the Founders that various princes and potentates living on the public dime can destroy a self-made man's business by writing a memo.

Sure. Dandy. If ignoring the Constitution and the 9th amendment is what's required to make sure that no 13 year old ever sneaks into a childless yuppie's house and eats a $30 executive toy, then so be it. Let's do it for the children.

No, the point about bullying that I want to call out is this:

http://online.wsj.com

As for the corrective-action plan, it was submitted at 4 p.m. on the July 24 deadline. Yet the very next morning the commission filed an administrative lawsuit…

On July 27, just two days after the commission filed suit, the company launched a publicity campaign to rally customers and spotlight the commission's nanny-state excesses…

"It was a very successful campaign," says Mr. Zucker, "just not successful enough to keep us in business." On Dec. 27, 2012, the company filed a certificate of cancellation with the State of Delaware, where Maxfield & Oberton was incorporated, and the company was dissolved.

But in February the Buckyballs saga took a chilling turn: The commission filed a motion requesting that Mr. Zucker be held personally liable for the costs of the recall, which it estimated at $57 million…

Note that the CPSC isn't demanding that the corporation to pay a fine for damages done by magnets (magnets that it unilaterally, without any scientific evidence or court finding, declared to be unacceptably safe), because it did not identify or enumerate damages.

Note that the CPSC isn't demanding that the former owner of the corporation pay a fine for damages done ( an illegal and unconstitutionalpiercing of the corporate veil.)

No.

Because the owner had the temerity to back-talk his betters – and worse yet, do it in public – the CPSC is demanding that the former owner of the corporation pay the administrative cost of destroying his company.

Let me repeat something I said at the very start of this post: the the point of bullying is not merely for the stronger party to force the weaker party to do his or her physical bidding, but for the stronger party to exactsocial capitulation. It is about dominance, humilation, and – perhaps most importantly – demonstrating to others exactly who has the power and who does not.

(Side note: the utterly degrading ritual humilation of making someone pay for the cost of killing something they love is a classicmaneuver, and there really should be a term for it.)

In defense of the commisars, though, you can almost hear them say "Don't take it personally, buddy. It's not about you – it's about letting everyone in your tribe understand who's calling the shots."

The incentives that they're laying down are clear: "If you roll over and obey your betters, we'll just destroy your company. …but if you dare to question us, we'll destroy your entire life.

"Yes, in a few years, we commissioners will retire on our our government pensions, and take advantage of the taxpayer funded program for Tier 3 Senior Government Executives that moves all of our furniture, cars, and possessions from our homes in DC to our new retirement houses in Vale.

"But you won't retire. You – as an individual – will be burdened with over $50 million of debt. Even after you sell your house, liquidate your investments, and auction off the coin collection you inherited from your grandfather, will neverbe out of debt."