CEI Daily Update

Issues in the News

1. CONGRESS

Members of the Senate meet this afternoon to consider the 2007 Farm Bill.   

CEI Expert Available to Comment: Adjunct Scholar Fran Smith on the changing face of American agriculture:

“Both [House and Senate] farm bills expand and extend bloated programs that mostly began during the Great Depression, when the farm population accounted for one-fourth of America’s total population. Now that number is less than 1 percent.”

2. TECHNOLOGY

Google announces plans for an “open phone” coalition to help develop and launch the planned Google Phone.

CEI Expert Available to Comment: Technology Policy Analyst Cord Blomquist on the “open vs. closed” debate over wireless devices:

“Of course the real closed vs. open debate is whether we want an open economy. Open, that is, to varying business models–rather than one that is closed to any service or product that technophiles might describe with the now-curse-words ‘proprietary’ or ‘closed source.’ The techno-intelligentsia may value the notion of taking a phone from network to network, or being able to install Skype on anything with processor, but it turns out that most people couldn’t care less. Ultimately that’s what matters. The systems that are adopted shouldn’t be chosen by uber-geeks and regulators, but by every-day consumers.”

3. BUSINESS

Citigroup CEO Charles Prince resigns amidst record losses from subprime mortgages.

CEI Expert Available to Comment: Center for Entrepreneurship Director John Berlau on why more loans from the federal government aren’t the answer:

“But before the Federal Housing Administration’s loan spigots are opened up, a little due diligence by the political sector is in order. The FHA’s recent credit history shows it is far from the prudent institution it is said to be. By its own estimate, next year the agency expects to be in the red, paying out more for defaulted loans than borrowers pay to it in insurance premiums. ‘Because of adverse loan performance,’ the FHA states in its budget submission for 2008, ‘total costs exceed receipts on a present value basis, and therefore would require appropriations . . . to continue operation.’”

Blog feature: For more news and analysis, updated throughout the day, visit CEI’s blog, Open Market.

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