CEI Daily Update
Issues in the News
1. INTERNATIONAL
The budget of the United Nations is expected to grow by 25% in one year.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Adjunct Fellow Doug Bandow on the UN’s excessive spending:
“The U.N. can get away with its profligacy only if the U.S. and other industrialized states go along. Almost 200 countries theoretically ‘run’ the organization, but just a dozen or so actually pay for it. It’s time they — the U.S., Japan, the Europeans, and South Korea — said no more fun and games at taxpayer expense.”
2. CONGRESS
The mayor of San Francisco proposes a special tax on sugar-sweetened drinks.
CEI Expert Available to Comment:Adjunct Fellow Steve Milloy debunks a recent study linking soda consumption to obesity:
“…researchers…added insult to injury by summarizing the review with this outlandish sound-bite: ‘An extra can of soda a day can pile on 15 pounds in a single year, and the ‘weight-of-evidence’ strongly suggests that this sort of increased consumption is a key reason that more people have gained weight.’ While it’s certainly true that the caloric content of 365 sodas (of 140 calories each) equates to about the caloric content of 15 pounds of body fat, it’s not true that merely consuming one soda per day will translate to a 15-pound weight-gain over one year or that skipping one soda per day will translate to a 15 pounds weight-loss over one year. Bodyweight results from complex interactions between metabolism and lifestyle.”
3. HEALTH
California lawmakers move forward with a health care reform plan that would require most residents to purchase insurance.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Eli Lehrer on why mandatory purchasing isn’t a magic bullet for health care woes:
“To begin with, borrowing the most talked about feature of auto insurance—mandatory purchase—won’t actually provide coverage to all of the 47 million Americans who lack it. While over 95 percent of American motorists live in states that mandate auto insurance purchase, about 13 percent of accidents involve drivers without coverage. Countries like Switzerland, Israel, and Germany that require individuals to buy private health insurance, likewise, find that not everyone complies. Mandatory purchase would decrease the number of uninsured, but, alone, nobody can seriously contend that it would actually result in universal coverage.”
Blog feature: For more news and analysis, updated throughout the day, visit CEI’s blog, Open Market.
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