by Richard Morrison
November 20, 2009
1. HEALTH
Anti-tobacco activists observe the “Great
American Smokeout.”
CEI Expert Available
to Comment: General Counsel Sam
Kazman on the Food and Drug Administration’s new powers to regulate
tobacco products:
“Government agencies covet power.
More power means bigger budgets, larger staffs, higher profiles, and an
increased chance to do good. Well, hold off on that last point; in the case of
cigarettes, is there an adult with a pulse in this country who does not know
that smoking is a damn risky activity? Prohibiting cigarette sales to minors is
clearly a valid government function, but sales to minors are already illegal
and have been for decades. Did those laws need to be strengthened? Perhaps,
though smoking among high-school students is at a historic low.”
2. TECHNOLOGY
The Government Accountability Office finds that controlling credit
card processing fees could hurt consumers.
CEI Expert Available
to Comment: Director of the Center for Investors and Entrepreneurs John Berlau on the real world
experience with limiting
interchange fees:
“The GAO draws on the recent experience of interchange fee
caps in Australia, where consumers have been socked with annual fees and
suffered from a reduction in rewards such as airline miles to make up for
retailers’ reduced payments. Consumers in Australia did not see any tangible
reduction in prices stemming from retailer savings.”
3. LABOR
Union officials are accused of using manipulative and “cult-like”
strategies for controlling their own organizers.
CEI Expert Available
to Comment: Editorial Director Ivan
Osorio on how this has turned into another
public battle between the nation’s big unions:
“According to The New York Times, several
UNITE-HERE organizers have complained about a practice known as ‘pink sheeting,’
in which union members are pressured to reveal private and potentially
embarrassing personal information about themselves. Union organizers then
allegedly use those workers’ stories to present as testimonials that illustrate
the kind of hardships that the union has helped its members overcome. UNITE-HERE
President John Wilhelm denied that pink sheeting was common, and denounced ‘the
organized campaign to condemn it’ as an effort by SEIU to discredit UNITE-HERE.
As I’ve noted here before, SEIU is not above bullying its own members.”
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