Al Gore’s Energy Plan, Fannie Mae’s Lobbying Bill and Intel’s Legal Troubles
Al Gore delivers a major speech calling for the U.S. to eliminate all fossil fuel use in the next ten years.
The Associated Press reports that embattled mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac spent $170 million on lobbying Congress over the past ten years.
European regulators prepare to file antitrust charges against chip maker Intel.
1. ENVIRONMENT
Al Gore delivers a major speech calling for the U.S. to eliminate all fossil fuel use in the next ten years.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Director of Energy and Global Warming Policy Myron Ebell reports from the event:
“This 10-year plan will move us from coal, natural gas, and nuclear (not sure if hydropower still qualifies as a renewable) to solar, wind, and geothermal power…The fact is that utilities are having a hard time keeping up with population and demand growth building every kind of power plant they can — coal, natural gas, wind. Meeting all new demand in the next few decades just with renewables would be extremely difficult and expensive. Doing that and replacing all current coal and gas power plants in ten years is preposterous.”
2. BUSINESS
The Associated Press reports that embattled mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac spent $170 million on lobbying Congress over the past ten years.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Special Projects Counsel Hans Bader on the Treasury Department’s inaction on Fannie Mae reform:
“Over a year ago, Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson refused to push for reforms of fraud-ridden government-backed mortgage giant Fannie Mae, even though colleagues in the Bush Administration had long been advocating them. Why? Because he thought it would look ‘political’ and offend powerful liberal Senators like Charles Schumer and Chris Dodd and Congressman Barney Frank, who have long blocked any reform of Fannie Mae. Fannie Mae has long been managed by liberal power brokers, who engaged in a massive accounting scandal. Now, a federal bailout of it is being planned.”
3. TECHNOLOGY
European regulators prepare to file antitrust charges against chip maker Intel.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews on obstacles tech companies have faced in Europe:
“It’s a familiar story; subjecting Europe’s technology sector to political predation via aggressive antitrust regulation and involuntary licensing is less about protecting consumers than about competitors’ regarding themselves as entitled to someone else’s customers. Antitrust regulation protects politically connected competitors, not mom-and- pop operations, and certainly not the competitive process.”