CEI Daily Update
Issues in the News
1. CULTURE
A “media watchdog group” calls for stricter regulation of video game violence.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Technology Policy Analyst Cord Blomquist and Senior Fellow Eli Lehrer on what makes for sensible content ratings:
“…while no media ratings system can or will ever achieve perfection, the best rating systems have three attributes: They attempt to describe, rather than prescribe, what entertainment media should contain; they are particularly suited to their particular media forms; and they were created with little or no direct input from government.”
2. TRADE
Free market advocates take on government subsidies for sugar producers.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Adjunct Scholar Fran Smith on the problems with the current sugar program:
“The 2007 Farm Bill would make the sugar program even worse than it is now. The system of price supports and import restrictions allows growers in the U.S. to charge consumers and other users artificially high prices for sugar and other sweeteners, currently more than two times the world market price. In the bill being considered by the Senate, the price supports would be increased, restrictions on imports would be further tightened, and a new program would keep prices high by mandating that the government buy excess sugar for conversion to ethanol.”
3. ENVIRONMENT
Former Vice President Al Gore joins famed venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins to pursue investments in “green” energy technologies.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Energy Policy Analyst William Yeatman on the opportunities for getting rich off of government energy policy:
“According to the Daily Mail, Al Gore left a London audience wanting more after one of his $6,000/minute climate speech. To be sure, the Goracle rakes in piles of cash with his climate schtick, no matter how boring it is, but his honorariums are chump change compared to what he stands to make as a green venture capitalist. The House recently passed an energy bill that would repeal $13 billion in tax breaks for fossil fuel companies and use the new revenue to fund alternative energy sources. Who is better positioned to reap these government handouts than Al Gore?”
Blog feature: For more news and analysis, updated throughout the day, visit CEI’s blog, Open Market.
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