Energy Taxes, the Kagan Nomination and Toyota’s Safety Record
Sens. John Kerry and Joseph Lieberman prepare to introduce their much-anticipated energy bill on Wednesday.
Obama nominates Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court.
Toyota posts a $1.2 billion quarterly profit.
1. ENVIRONMENT
Sens. John Kerry and Joseph Lieberman prepare to introduce their much-anticipated energy bill on Wednesday.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Director of Energy and Global Warming Policy Myron Ebell on what’s really in the bill.
“Kerry’s draft has restricted cap-and trade to electric utilities only. And he’s stopped calling it cap-and-trade because the American people have figured out that it is an indirect tax on them. Now it’s ‘pollution reduction and investment.’ Similarly, a gasoline tax has been renamed ‘linked fee.’ Call it whatever you want, it’s still a tax that consumers will have to pay. Adding some offshore oil or nuclear incentives or clean coal research can’t hide the fact that prices will go up when energy is rationed.”
2. LEGAL
Obama nominates Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Counsel Hans Bader on why Kagan is a bad choice.
“Liberal lawyer Glenn Greenwald has written that Kagan is hostile to civil liberties and constitutional rights. Ilya Shapiro, a legal scholar at the free-market-oriented Cato Institute, also suggests that Kagan is hostile to free speech. But given how little Kagan has written, it’s hard to be certain. She is a stealth nominee. Every current member of the Supreme Court had served as a judge before being nominated to the Supreme Court. Kagan has not. [ . . .] Polls consistently show that most Americans favor prior judicial experience for Supreme Court nominees — seven in ten Americans. But Kagan has no such experience.”
3. TRANSPORTATION
Toyota posts a $1.2 billion quarterly profit.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Adjunct Scholar Michael Fumento on why Toyota recalls were just another example of a government-endorsed scare-campaign.
“’Stop driving’ recalled Toyotas, Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood told owners in February. Congress has held three days of hearings on the matter. Never mind that despite its bad press last year, Toyota easily grabbed first place in Consumer Reports‘ reader survey. Edmunds.com found that while Toyota ranked third in U.S. car sales over the past decade, it ranked only 17th in safety complaints to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.”