by FlimFlam —

Wonderful Daylight Saving Time

Ahhh, it’s here again, that wonderful time when we throw our body’s natural rythms out of kilter and risk a heart attack to build the bottom financial line for the charcoal manufacturers and golf course managers.

 

But wait, you say, there are valuable reasons why we should have DST. Here are a few.

1. It was created for the farmers.

FALSE – It was invented by Nazi Germany during World War II to save coal for military purposes. We aren’t at war with Germany and haven’t been since 1945.

 

2. Farmers want it so they have more daylight to work in the summer.

FALSE – Farmers work from dawn till dark. They don’t care when that is on a clock,

 

3. The cows are more contented to be milked in daylight.

FALSE – They liked being milked when their udders are full, whether it is daylight or not.

 

4. It reduces accidents, because people are less likely to be driving in the dark.

FALSE – They just have those accidents in the morning. And Texas has raised the speed limits because the new headlights are so much brighter and reduce accidents.

 

5. It saves energy, because people don’t use their lights as much in the evening.

ALSO FALSE – Recent studies have shown that energy use increases 1% overall when people have dark mornings.

 

So, who really benefits from this artificial aberration known as Daylight Saving Time? The answer can be found in the sport of golf. One expert says it is “the most important reason we’re still doing and expanding the period of daylight saving time.”

“For people who don’t play golf, they should care a lot about the fact that daylight savings time creates additional opportunities for people to play golf,” says Steve Mona, CEO of the World Golf Foundation. “From an economic standpoint, golf on a national level creates almost $70 billion a year in economic impact. It employs almost 2 million Americans, it generates almost $4 billion in charitable giving, almost all of which goes to causes outside of golf. In addition to that, golf facilities are small businesses and they’re usually among the most stable employers and source of revenue for local suppliers than any other business.”

So did the sports lobby alone create the false myths about farmers and school kids to make sure daylight saving time stays a reality? According to Downing, the effort to roll the clocks ahead is also an initiative pushed by the business community.

“Since 1915, the principal supporter of daylight saving in the United States has been the Chamber of Commerce on behalf of small business and retailers,” says Downing. “The Chamber understood that if you give workers more sunlight at the end of the day they’ll stop and shop on their way home. It’s not just golf—the barbecue industry loves daylight savings, so do the home good stores because people tend to go out of their houses, see that their roofs need replacing and buy more shingles. It’s a really important part of niche marketing for the retail industry.”

Really?

Let’s write our Congressmen in Austin to join the Southwest push to end D S T!