1. CONSUMER

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggests adopting a
European-style “value
added tax” or VAT.

CEI Expert Available
to Comment: Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews and Journalism
Fellow Ryan Young on why the VAT
is a
big tub of trouble:

“As far as taxes go, the VAT is
especially destructive. If Congress is going to increase taxes, installing a
VAT is one of the worst options. For one, it would require roughly doubling the
size of the IRS. Fifteen years ago, the Congressional Budget Office estimated
compliance and administrative costs for a VAT at $8.5 billion annually. That
figure can safely be placed at more than $10 billion by now. The IRS' entire
budget is currently $11.4 billion.”

2. HEALTH

Critics question why the Senate leadership isn’t moving
faster on health
care legislation.

CEI Expert Available
to Comment: Senior Fellow Iain
Murray on why health
care is not a right:

“The expansive ‘rights’ demanded by liberals—like the right
to ‘affordable health care’ or to a ‘decent standard of living’—are not rights
but positive demands that require others to hand over some of the property to
the claimant. Whereas genuine rights protect citizens from state coercion, the
‘right to health care’ serves to justify state coercion against a particular
part of the population: those who pay taxes. Moreover, by their very nature,
such positive demands cannot be clearly defined and hence are capable of
infinite expansions. As one need is satisfied, others arise.”

3. BUSINESS

House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-WI) takes
the Obama administration to task for inaccurate reporting on stimulus jobs.

CEI Expert Available
to Comment: Senior Attorney Hans
Bader on how the stimulus package has actually destroyed
jobs in the real world:

“The stimulus package actually destroyed thousands of real
world jobs by triggering trade wars with Canada
and Mexico that killed jobs
in America’s export sector
(the stimulus package barred a measly 97 Mexican truckers from U.S. roads, a minor NAFTA violation that led to
massive Mexican retaliation against U.S. exports of 40 farm products
and kitchen goods worth $2.4 billion). 
It also is wiping out jobs by inflicting costly mandates on state governments.”

Listen to LibertyWeek,
the CEI podcast, here.