The Government Actually Gets Something Right

Most people who know me know that I'm not always the biggest fan of the government. I mean, nothing gets me down like The Man. But according to this article, there is at least one thing that the government and I agree on: hoverboards are pretty much the worst. 

A necessary evil

An unnecessary evil

See, I find hoverboards to be pretty annoying. First of all, they don't actually hover. I see those wheels touching the ground. They aren't fooling anyone. When you can get me a full-on Jetsons, fly-around, 1970s-vision-of-what-2003-looks-like type of hoverboard, I am totally game. But these monstrous little creations can just wheel themselves right back into whatever Pit of Evil they came out of.

Acceptable hoverboard that is NOT made of lies

In addition to not actually hovering, hoverboards are annoying, not as fun as they claim to be, and are really dangerously unsafe. There have been countless reports of them malfunctioning and catching on fire, along with the obvious elements of the ease with which a user could face-plant into the concrete. Now, like many of the things Americans just can't get enough of, hoverboards are manufactured in China and imported into the United States. However, ability to import this product is soon to change. The International Trade Comission has moved to stop the import of hoverboards so they are no longer a viable, legal thing for China to export to America. Along with hoverboards being declared unsafe by another American agency, the U.S Consumer Product Safety Commission, there have also been some legal issues concerning the technology used in hoverboards, which the American company Segway claims to have a patent on. Personally, I think people fighting over who gets to claim they created the hoverboard is like all the different European countries fighting over who really caused the conflict in World War I. Yes, eventually someone gets to claim "credit," but is it really a victory? Who's to say.

Anyway, international trade is an important facet of the American economy. Americans like stuff, and  we like stuff cheap, and a majority of that cheap stuff we like comes from foreign countries. However, international trade can't always be free trade. International trade is important to our economy -- it keeps money flowing not only within the U.S but between the U.S and other countries that creates circular flow on a grander scale -- and its importance is exactly why it needs to be regulated. Governing bodies, like the ITC, sometimes have to intervene in import and export policies to make sure that Americans aren't purchasing goods that are too problematic. Because international trade is, well, international, it involves a lot of different countries with different policies regarding what is safe and viable as a consumer good. Some goods that are deemed sellable in other countries do not meet the safety standards or legal practices in the U.S, which means that importation of these items needs to be stopped, at least until there is further investigation. And I don't think we need to do too much investigating to decide that hoverboards don't really need to be a player in international trade. 

Same, news update thingy. Same.