1. CONGRESS

An
agreement over major
farm legislation appears increasingly unlikely.

CEI Expert Available to Comment: Adjunct Analyst Fran Smith on what the farm bill would
do for sugar producers:

“The current sugar program –
which has expired but has been extended with other 2002 farm programs — is a
system of price supports, domestic production restrictions, and restrictions on
sugar imports. The new bill would distort the market even further.
It would raise the price supports for U.S.
sugar cane and sugar beets, thus guaranteeing sugar producers twice the world
price; provide domestic producers with 85 percent of the U.S. market,
and protect them from competition by turning imported sugar into ethanol. The
Sweetener Users — a coalition of food, beverage, and confectioners pushing for
reform of the sugar program — estimates that the farm bill will cost consumers
about $2 billion over five years.”

2. CONSUMER

President Bush threatens
to veto a Democrat-sponsored housing bill.

CEI Expert Available to Comment: Center for Entrepreneurship Director John Berlau on the past failings
of federal housing policy:

“But far from bringing
stability to the mortgage market, over the past decade — under both the Clinton
and Bush administrations — the Federal Housing Administration's underwriting
methods have rivaled the carelessness of many subprime lending practices, and
have contributed to current housing woes. The delinquency rate on FHA-baked
mortgages has been close to that of the subprime category and has sometimes
even exceeded it. In the last quarter of 2006, for instance, the delinquency
rate for subprimes had increased to 13.33% in the industry's National
Delinquency Survey . But in the FHA category, the rate had risen to 13.46
percent — “a new record.’”

3. TECHNOLOGY

Controversial
video game Grand Theft Auto IV shatters records with $500 million in sales
during its first week.

CEI Expert Available to
Comment: Research
Associate Ryan Radia on the changing
nature of the
video gaming experience:

“As game budgets have swelled
and public interest in gaming has expanded, more games than ever transcend the
stereotype of gaming as a juvenile pursuit with little artistic merit,
reminding us that games can be artistic expressions on par with books, movies,
or songs. Critics whose gaming experience consists of having played Pacman in
an arcade may belittle gaming as a trivial pastime, but anybody who has played
Bioshock or Gears of War or Oblivion knows better. Games can critique the harsh
realities of modern society and offer insight into the nature of the human soul
in ways that less interactive forms of media cannot. Likewise, games deserve
both critical admiration and legal protection.”

Blog feature: For more news and
analysis, updated throughout the day, visit CEI’s blog, Open
Market.

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contact a CEI expert for comment or interviews, please call the CEI
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