California 100 Watt Bulb Ban

California (Motto: The Loony Bin State) is starting a year early on its light bulb banning. As of January 1, 2011, the sale of 100 watt light bulbs will be banned.

Never fear. The black market will triumph, as it always does. Expect a new industry in llight bulb smuggling. Or, as Luminus Maximus put it in the America Thinker:

Smuggling bootleg light bulbs into California would be a piece of cake. Just stuff them inside bales of marijuana. Or line up eight packs in the cargo bays of Greyhound buses carrying illegals on the express lane from Tijuana to any of two dozen sanctuary cities. Hey, wave 'em on in, there's nothing to check there! Ten-four!

California has the Pacific Ocean, wonderful climates and a bevy of film stars. What better way to discourage new residents and chase away old ones than by ever higher taxes, nanny-state regulation, and the general sense that the entire state is going down the tubes? California has been helping out the other states for years, by making itself less competitive. This if a form of self-handicapping.

The rest of the states should duly thankful.

Don't you be expecting a bailout, California. The rest of the country has had its fill of bailouts.