CEI Daily Update
Issues in the News
1. POLITICS
President Bush unveils his proposed budget for the next fiscal year.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews on the hidden costs of federal spending:“While the awesome scope of spending in the 2009 federal budget causes ample distress, the unbudgeted, and mostly hidden, costs of complying with tens of thousands of government rules is perhaps worthy of more alarm. Regulatory costs mount each year, yet unlike congressional approval of new programs or taxes, few mechanisms hold lawmakers accountable for the costs imposed on us as consumers and business owners.”
2. ENVIRONMENT
Cities and countries around the world follow the lead of Ireland in taxing and otherwise restricting the use of plastic grocery bags .
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Adjunct Scholar Doug Bandow on the PC tyranny motivating such policies :“Yet another environmental crusade sacrifices consumer choice for political correctness. Plastic bags play a minimal role in filling landfills–they are squishable, if people haven’t noticed–and often are reused by consumers for multiple purposes. Yet it appears that to use a plastic bag in Ireland now is the moral equivalent to declaring oneself to be a serial killer. Liberty and convenience be damned, we must all now worship at the altar of cloth bags.”
3. BUSINESS
The U.S. Trade Representative announces new negotiations to lift barriers to trade in investments and financial services within the Pacific Rim.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Adjunct Analyst Fran Smith on the importance of closer financial ties with our Asia-Pacific neighbors:“Those negotiations are part of the 2006 Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership among Singapore, Chile, New Zealand, and Brunei, which has already been implemented. However, the investment and financial services chapters haven’t yet been negotiated. The U.S. already has implemented Free Trade Agreements with Singapore and Chile, and has a pending FTA with South Korea. These negotiations would further expand the U.S. economic presence in the Asia-Pacific region, which is rapidly growing. Countries in that region have also been active in negotiating other significant trade agreements.”
Blog feature : For more news and analysis, updated throughout the day, visit CEI’s blog, Open Market .
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