French Pensions, Porn Regulations, and Chinese Energy Subsidies

French Pensions

The French are still protesting government efforts to raise the retirement age. The Young Turks’ Ana Kasparian argues that Americans should emulate the French and “fight for their rights.”

Communications Coordinator Lee Doren criticizes Ms. Kasparian’s argument.

“[Kasparian] says nothing about the sustainability of the system. Instead, she seems to be thrilled that these people are ‘fighting for their rights.’ Does she ever consider that the money has to come from somewhere, which results in it just being other people’s money? As will most Leftist ideas, there is no consideration whatsoever about whether the policy works. To Ana, she certainly feels good about it, and with the Left that is all that matters.”

Porn Regulations

Liberal media outlets are joining the campaign for condom mandates in the porn industry.

Policy Analyst Michelle Minton debunks claims that porn stars who don’t use condoms are endangering the public by discouraging condom use.

“It is not the porn industry’s responsibility to teach anything to anyone. They make films and money. We can call them artists, or business people, and though some may release instructional videos, it isn’t fair to label them as custodians of anyone’s sexual decisions. It may be interesting to examine possible correlations between behavior and viewing habits, but even a evident connection would not make actors, directors, or producers culpable for that behavior.”

Chinese Energy Subsidies

Sun Guoshun, the first secretary of the Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C., is quoted as saying, “It is the consensus of the international community that renewable energy is not in a position to compete with fossil fuel energy. So if you’re not going to subsidize renewable energy, there will be no renewable energy.”

Senior Fellow Marlo Lewis says that the U.S. should take Guoshun’s statement as a sign to stop subsidizing renewable energy–not as an indication that they should ramp up subsidies to compete with China.

“Today, ‘progressives’ warn that China will ‘eat our lunch’ in the ‘clean tech race’ unless we aggressively subsidize domestic manufacturers of wind turbines, solar panels, and the like, to counter China’s clean-tech subsidies, which, we are told, constitute ‘unfair’ trade practices. If there is any consistency in these discussions, it is that subsidies are always either good or bad, fair or unfair, depending on whether they rig the market for ‘our’ companies or ‘their’ companies.”