Cost of Fuel Economy, Apple Lawsuit, and the Paycheck Fairness Act
FUEL ECONOMY STANDARDS – MARLO LEWIS
In a report released Thursday, the National Auto Dealers Association (NADA) estimates that the Obama administration’s model year (MY) 2011-2025 fuel economy standards could price nearly 7 million consumers out of the market for new motor vehicles. > Read the full commentary on Globalwarming.org
DOJ SUES APPLE – WAYNE CREWS
Forbes.com: Why is Apple Getting Cored in Washington?
What should be the price of the paperless word, now that books are going digital in one of the most important transformations in history?
Only the Justice Department knows, it would seem.
The Antitrust Division has filed an antitrust suit against Apple and several publishers (Simon & Schuster, NewsCorp’s HarperCollins, Hachette, Pearson, PLC’s Penguin Group (USA) and Macmillan).
The complaint seems to be that collusion and smoke-filled rooms paved the way to a deal by which Apple gets a 30 percent cut of the publishers’ eBooks sold for Apple devices, while other vendors are forbidden from selling below a pre-specified price.
Such ordinary business deals, you see, involve a now-disparaged free market instrument called a “contract” and may not be permitted.
PAYCHECK FAIRNESS ACT – HANS BADER
Lilly Ledbetter, who made false claims about her pay discrimination lawsuit, has returned to the political arena, as you can see at this link. This may set the stage for another Congressional push for passage of the costly and misleadingly-named “Paycheck Fairness Act,” which Ms. Ledbetter backed in the past, or for “comparable worth” legislation, or other trial-lawyer backed legislation that would require pay to be set based on factors other than merit.
The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which extended the deadline for suing over pay discrimination under one federal law, was enacted in 2009 based partly on false claims that the Supreme Court’s Ledbetter v. Goodyear decision, which barred untimely pay-discrimination claims, had made it impossible to bring equal-pay claims over discrimination unless employees learn of the discrimination quickly. > Read more at Openmarket.org
Also featuring…
CEI Liberty Week Podcast – April 12, 2012: Apple, E-Books, and Antitrust Former NASA Scientists, Astronauts Attack Agency’s Climate Change Stance 99% Spring: An Anatomy of Destruction Union Recalcitrance on Race Relations Competition in Water Infrastructure