CEI Daily Update
Issues in the News
1. ENVIRONMENT
Al Gore wins the Nobel Peace Prize.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Director of Global Warming Policy Myron Ebell on why Gore was a poor choice:
“Al Gore should probably get a prize for most travel in a private jet, but not the Peace Prize. The energy-rationing policies he espouses would perpetuate the poverty and human misery associated with political instability and conflict.”
2. BUSINESS
Congress considers expanding the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) in response to recent unease in the subprime mortgage market.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Center for Entrepreneurship Director John Berlau on why the FHA is not the answer to the so-called subprime “meltdown”:
“But before the FHA’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.’”
3. HEALTH
President Bush vetoes an expansion of federal health care to have been funded by expanded tobacco taxes.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Special Projects Counsel Hans Bader on cigarette tax revenue and deficits:
“One of the surest ways to create a budget deficit is to assume that a government health care program can be funded solely by a cigarette tax. That’s because health care costs rise faster than inflation, while cigarette consumption falls over time, reducing cigarette tax revenue. That leads to a progressively larger gap between cigarette tax revenue and spending on the government program it was originally earmarked to finance.”
Blog feature: For more news and analysis, updated throughout the day, visit CEI’s blog, Open Market.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
To contact a CEI expert for comment or interviews, please call the CEI communications department at 202-331-2273 or email to [email protected].