CEI Daily Update
Issues in the News
1. CONGRESS
Both House and Senate pass major energy legislation prior to the August recess.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Energy Policy Analyst William Yeatman on the final result:
The House and Senate head into recess having produced equally awful, yet complimentary energy bills. Like Tetris pieces, their respective energy packages fit one another perfectly, and together form what is perhaps the worst energy bill ever….It is anyone’s guess what kind of energy Frankenstein Congress will patch together in Conference after it reconvenes this September. Given the building blocks at hand, however, we can be sure that the final legislation will be a monstrosity.
2. BUSINESS
Chrysler hires former Home Depot CEO Robert Nardelli to lead the company.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Eli Lehrer on the philosophy behind CEO paychecks:
Chrsysler, has hired former Home Depot CEO Robert Nardelli to run the now-private, once-again-American-owned automaker. Nardelli, of course, did a good job at Home Depot but left after six years when its stock price started to sink. At Chrysler, it’s reported, he’s getting what I think corporate boards should make the base salary for the CEOs of almost all public companies: $1 plus potential enormous bonuses if the company does well. Chrysler may have the least certain future of any really large American company and the fact that it can get a top-quality CEO on this basis shows that other companies can do the same.
3. MEDIA
Newsweek magazine publishes a cover story on global warming skeptics, mentioning CEI analysts .
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Director of Energy & Global Warming Policy Myron Ebell on the problems with the story:
On top of all the factual errors, the thesis is ridiculous. The idea that those opposed to global warming alarmism are well funded is easily disproved. [Lead author Sharon] Begley and her crew could have spent 10 minutes on the web comparing the annual budgets of the alarmist groups with the anti-alarmist groups. CEI has one of the larger efforts on our side, which amounts to less than one quarter of our annual four million dollar budget. Grist, the online environmental news and opinion outlet, this year quoted an unpublished foundation study that estimated that the alarmist groups have been spending $100-150 million a year to promote their cause. That’s not counting all the free media coverage and promotion or the outlandish scaremongering of scientists like James Hansen of NASA.
Blog feature: For more news and analysis, updated throughout the day, visit CEI’s blog, Open Market.
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