by Richard Morrison
December 7, 2009
1. LEGAL
The U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments challenging
the legitimacy of the Sarbanes-Oxley corporate accounting law.
CEI Expert Available
to Comment: Director of the Center for Investors and Entrepreneurs John Berlau on the effects of “Sarbox”:
“Substantial
evidence shows that the law, which was intended to protect investors from corporate
abuses, is hindering honest firms’ ability to raise capital and the average
investor’s capacity to grow wealth. Enacted after major corporate scandals, the
law increases penalties for fraud, but it also contains many mandates that
unduly restrict legitimate entrepreneurs.”
2. HEALTH
Swine flu infections have peaked and are
declining, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
CEI Expert Available
to Comment: Adjunct Fellow Michael
Fumento on the pandemic that never happened:
“The
World Health Organization has been dishonest about swine flu from the very
beginning. It's used its phony pandemic to cover up its five-year scare-fest
over an avian flu pandemic that never came, to feed at the trough of greater
power and a fatter budget, and even to call for redistribution of international
wealth on the basis of values ‘like community, solidarity, equity and social
justice,’ in the words of its director.”
3. ECONOMY
The U.S.
trade
deficit increases by the most since 1999.
CEI Expert Available
to Comment: Journalism Fellow Ryan Young on trade deficits in everyday life:
“I run an ongoing trade deficit
with my local grocery store. I import food from them every week. They have
never purchased a thing from me in return. Even so, we both benefit. I’d rather
have their food than my money, and they’d rather have my money than the food on
their shelves. This is true even if an international border separates us.
If [New York Daily News columnist
Errol] Louis is as worried about trade deficits as he says he is, he would
never again set foot in a grocery store, start growing his own food, and engage
only in barter transactions. If he doesn’t, he is either misinformed, or else
he doesn’t really believe what he writes.”
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