What's the realistic expectation?
Posted: Tue May 31, 2016 4:45 pm
[PREFACE: I'm genuinely not trying to be a Debbie Downer, but thought this forum would be a safe place to air concerns.]
So, as time goes forth I am increasingly perturbed by the whole petition thing. This late in the game, there's little chance of getting the signatures to even generate a response to the petitions. There are roughly 10k and 19k signatures on the two petitions, 21 days into the 30 day period. To even get a response, 100k per petition would be required.
My question is: Even if this had been successful, what would the expected result be? A response? I can pretty much guess what that response would be. This petition process just doesn't seem effective at all, and probably adds to the fatigue from this whole ordeal. I don't think a petition or two even had hope of actually changing the course of events. After repeated attempts at the same, I don't have much confidence or faith in these petitions. I realize there are "things going on behind the scenes." At least that's what I've been told. The response from the three major entities fighting this (CAA, CRA, IPCPR) has been pretty vague and, from appearances, lackluster and/or inconsequential. I'm not discounting the effort; it just seems that as a whole the industry's attempt has not been fruitful these past 6 years.
Did the industry think all this time that this wouldn't happen? I'm still firmly of the opinion that the consumer base at large is uninformed. Even the energy generated the first few days of these petitions seems to have fizzled. Is defeatism ruling the day? Does the average Joe even know yet today? Does he care? Do we all think this is just another brick in a wall we can't breach? I see a lot of "we can't give up" cheerleading, but what's the realistic expectation? Is this just an other step toward the inevitable downfall of the industry we have enjoyed the past 15+ years post-90's boom? If so, where do we go from here?
What are you doing personally? Stocking up for the long haul? Hoping for foreign orders or grey-market purchases? Tapering off your enjoyment of cigars/smoking rate? Maintaining some level of hope that a breaking point will be reached before the whole thing runs off the tracks? I'm genuinely interested....
So, as time goes forth I am increasingly perturbed by the whole petition thing. This late in the game, there's little chance of getting the signatures to even generate a response to the petitions. There are roughly 10k and 19k signatures on the two petitions, 21 days into the 30 day period. To even get a response, 100k per petition would be required.
My question is: Even if this had been successful, what would the expected result be? A response? I can pretty much guess what that response would be. This petition process just doesn't seem effective at all, and probably adds to the fatigue from this whole ordeal. I don't think a petition or two even had hope of actually changing the course of events. After repeated attempts at the same, I don't have much confidence or faith in these petitions. I realize there are "things going on behind the scenes." At least that's what I've been told. The response from the three major entities fighting this (CAA, CRA, IPCPR) has been pretty vague and, from appearances, lackluster and/or inconsequential. I'm not discounting the effort; it just seems that as a whole the industry's attempt has not been fruitful these past 6 years.
Did the industry think all this time that this wouldn't happen? I'm still firmly of the opinion that the consumer base at large is uninformed. Even the energy generated the first few days of these petitions seems to have fizzled. Is defeatism ruling the day? Does the average Joe even know yet today? Does he care? Do we all think this is just another brick in a wall we can't breach? I see a lot of "we can't give up" cheerleading, but what's the realistic expectation? Is this just an other step toward the inevitable downfall of the industry we have enjoyed the past 15+ years post-90's boom? If so, where do we go from here?
What are you doing personally? Stocking up for the long haul? Hoping for foreign orders or grey-market purchases? Tapering off your enjoyment of cigars/smoking rate? Maintaining some level of hope that a breaking point will be reached before the whole thing runs off the tracks? I'm genuinely interested....