China in Copenhagen, Cash for Fannie and Freddie and the Pandemic that Wasn’t There
Officials debate the role of China as a “spoiler” in recent UN climate change negotiations.
The Treasury Department announces the availability of “an unlimited amount of capital” for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to purchase delinquent mortgages.
The World Health Organization announces it may take a year to conquer the H1N1 flu pandemic.
Listen to LibertyWeek, the CEI podcast, here.
1. ENVIRONMENT
Officials debate the role of China as a “spoiler” in recent UN climate change negotiations.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Director of Energy and Global Warming Policy Myron Ebell observes one small cause for optimism at the conference:
“There was one little ray of hope in President Obama’s remarks at his press conference. In thanking India for their role in the negotiations, the President observed that hundreds of millions of Indians don’t have electricity and that he understood that they need more energy, not less, in order to reach decent standards of living. Yes, the world is not energy rich. It’s energy poor. That is a much bigger challenge than global warming, and focusing on global warming obstructs progress on increasing access to energy.”
2. BUSINESS
The Treasury Department announces the availability of “an unlimited amount of capital” for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to purchase delinquent mortgages.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Director of the Center for Investors and Entrepreneurs John Berlau on the problem with greater government intervention:
“But the bailouts and partial nationalizations are still premised on what Friedrich A. Hayek, Nobel laureate in economics, called the ‘fatal conceit.’ Once again, it is assumed that government bureaucrats can plan the direction of the economy better than millions of consumers and investors can. Bailout proponents also rest on a misread of recent history in viewing the current mess as the result of ‘unfettered’ markets. In truth, numerous government interventions from housing subsidies to directed lending have been big factors in this crisis.”
3. HEALTH
The World Health Organization announces it may take a year to conquer the H1N1 flu pandemic.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Adjunct Fellow Michael Fumento on the pandemic that didn’t happen:
“So while you may recall all those ‘excess’ deaths we were supposed to be getting from swine flu (30,000 to 90,000 according to the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and ‘89,000 to 207,000’ according to flu book author John Barry), we will actually get far fewer flu deaths overall both worldwide and in the U.S. because of swine flu. While the media are finally beginning to admit that the World Health Organization’s swine flu ‘pandemic,’ made possible only by completely redefining the definition, may be the mildest in history, they are not willing to admit that we will actually have fewer flu deaths internationally because of this alleged pandemic.”
Listen to LibertyWeek, the CEI podcast, here.