this will explain everything.....

The Christmas tree industry has tried three different times to conduct promotional programs based on voluntary contributions. Each time, after about three years, the revenue declined to a point where the programs were ineffective. The decline in revenue is attributable to the voluntary nature of these programs. Therefore, the proponents have determined that they need a mechanism that would be sustainable over time. They believe that a national Christmas tree research and promotion program would accomplish this goal.

http://www.federalregister.gov/artic...ion-order#p-26


if you want to shake more money out of people, you create a new governement program complete with a task force, board, mandatory fees(I guess on just the "rich" Christmas tree producers) etc...etc...

nice.

No problem with that at all. My objections were to the spirit of the title of the article and the fact that this program has been going on for a long time. Nobody paid attention or cared until a few loud mouths got people riled up, more for the benefit of their agenda than because this topic warranted it.

funny, because you didn't mention the "spirit of the title" until about your 12th post...your reaction along with others was to try to try to justify this....beyond the title of the thread..which I think was a play on "THE GINGRICH WHO STOLE CHRISTMAS"... I don't see much blame being thrown directly at Obama but rather an argument as to whether this is the proper role of government and the imposition of taxes and fees under any guise....which is one of the most important issues at hand in many areas...for some, issues of Constitutionality and the proper role of government take a back seat to what they "think" should be done to fix this or that...see "Let's Talk Health Care"