With everything else that is going on, it’s probably stupid that this is the thing that’s driving me nuts today:
The Trump administration on Tuesday finalized its rollback of standards for showerheads following a string of public complaints from the president about low-flow fixtures designed to save water.
The Department of Energy (DOE) rule was joined by another that creates a new class of quick-cycle washers and dryers that meet lower energy efficiency standards.
Of course, this has been a strange obsession of Trump’s throughout his entire presidency. Apparently, he needs a lot of water pressure to create that magic he calls a hairdo.
“Showerheads — you take a shower, the water doesn’t come out. You want to wash your hands, the water doesn’t come out. So what do you do? You just stand there longer or you take a shower longer? Because my hair — I don’t know about you, but it has to be perfect. Perfect,” he said to laughter at an event in July on rolling back regulations.
This is this moron’s idea of a joke. He thinks it’s funny, but like every joke he’s ever told it’s filled with malice.
“It’s ridiculous for the Department of Energy to call these ‘quality of life’ improvements when they’ll actually harm America’s quality of life by needlessly increasing consumer water and energy bills and climate-warming carbon pollution while exacerbating water shortages,” the Natural Resources Defense Council said in a Tuesday statement. “These actions reverse decades of progress in increasing the efficiency of America’s washers and dryers and showerheads. It’s outrageous that DOE is finalizing these rules while ignoring legal deadlines for reviewing and updating energy-saving standards for 25 other types of appliances and equipment in U.S. homes and businesses.”
It’s just policy by drunk-crazy-guy-at-the-end-of-the-bar. Hopefully, Biden can undo this swiftly and painlessly. But it’s such a degrading and disgraceful effort by Trump, and all these people had to scramble to implement it just to satisfy his vicious insanity.
Almost couldn’t read this today because my ‘puter wouldn’t fire up (it’s cloudy and there’s no wind).
Go Don, Go! (*please*)
So many examples of what happens when you place a malevolent, idiotic, lunatic in the White House. And yet close to half the country would have been happy to do it again.
Oddly, one of my very old friends is a Trump voter. We got together last week and talked about it. Was trying to understand his point of view. Made sure not to argue; but rather listen more than talk. I know this guy and he’s not a racist. My sense is he’s very reactive to others telling him what he can and can’t do and he perceives Democrats and liberals as making it socially unsafe to have certain thoughts and opinions. He also tends to paint the entire left with a broad brush created by his hostile impressions of the most impassioned far left liberals. I asked what he thought of Trump’s racism. He doesn’t believe Trump is racist. All the dog whistling goes right over his head. Definitely an aggrieved white guy. I’ve known him for 30 years. Back in the day, he had lots of negative opinions about gay people but that was a time when most people shared similar prejudices. I think he’s softened a bit on that score. It’s not hatred or bigotry that attracts him to Trump. It’s rather a sense of freedom. He likes that Trump says what he thinks and doesn’t mask anything.
Of course he watches Fox and listens to Rush. He’s not down with the most extreme of the lunacy. As an example, he doesn’t believe Michelle Obama is a man.
Well then if he doesn’t believe Michelle is a man then all is good. I mean she may be but if he missed it, oh well. Lets move on Leroy.
I’ve mentioned this before but I am a proud member of the local Ole’ Farts Club here. Small group of 8 to ten. So I’m gonna put it to a vote. I am the lone liptard.
It is ridiculous. That said, how much of this particular industry has already moved assembly to water efficient showerheads? It’s possible that a lot of the move toward better efficiency is so baked into the system that retooling assembly lines to manufacture more wasteful showerheads may be a trifle too costly. This will probably be easily reversed by Biden’s team, along with other idiotic moves old 45 made during his four years of trashing the joint.
More sticking it to poor people. Water heating uses a lot of energy, like 25% of a typical household’s yearly use.. Having that energy literally go down the drain is a cost more easily borne by wealthy than poor. And, in some areas of the country water is insanely expensive. Some apartments also find ways of chiseling a lot of money for water out of their typically poorer residents. So a real double whammy for folks who already have a lot of economic barriers to overcome.
I know I am extremely late in responding to this post. You are right. The costs get taken out disproportionately on those who can afford them the least. One fun fact about my city, for example, is that our city directors ignored real problems with drainage and sewage problems for decades. The Obama administration cracked down, and forced my city to agree to a consent decree. Water bills went up for a lot of folks drastically. As a relatively newly minted homeowner, I was able to take advantage of programs for those with properties that were older and get replacement showerheads, etc.
I am lucky. My bills went up a bit but not as drastically. If I were a renter? That might be a different story. And we go out of our way to conserve water from the get-go. All of that said, from a manufacturing perspective, Trump could do near the end of his term whatever he wanted, but it would have almost no impact. New showerheads that are being manufactured? They’ll still be efficient. Same with dishwashers and toilets. A lot of expense and effort was made retooling assembly lines to comply with standards years in advance. Smart manufacturers get it, and act accordingly. They’ll also sort out that a change in administration is about to happen, and executive orders from a prior administration are usually easily erased. Given the climate change concerns of our new administration, I’d expect Trump’s decree to be erased as well. My showerheads work well. Maybe I just don’t have Trump’s hair challenges. My other appliances conserve water well, and also adequately wash dishes and clothes. I have coil lightbulbs still that work wonders at enabling me to compose this in the middle of the night. The next generation of cars and SUVs will be mostly hybrid and electric because that was planned years in advance, well before Trump was even considered a serious contender for President. Trump tried to be retro. It failed, thankfully. Our attention should turn to making sure that access to energy and water efficient appliances is as equitable as possible. That will likely require states to rethink landlord laws (my state is literally the worst). That may be a heavy lift. But let us all remember: what can be granted via executive order can often be taken away via executive order. We are getting a lesson in that fact thanks to Biden’s first days. And for once, we can actually take some comfort in knowing that corporations don’t like uncertainty, and will proceed as they had intended based on the regulations that they were expecting. Thankfully for all of us, we get something resembling the status quo back. Trump’s disruptions will be erased, at least as far as showerheads are concerned. So too in other areas that affect finite resources and those most impacted by changes that would lead to greater expense for those least able to bear the burden.