Kagan Confirmed, Ford Motor’s Finances and Critiquing Obama’s Economic Policy
1. LEGAL
The U.S. Senate confirms Elena Kagan to be the next member of the Supreme Court.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Attorney Hans Bader offers his personal perspective on the vote.
“She has been criticized by conservatives and liberals alike for her scanty output as a law professor. Liberal law professor Paul Campos says that ‘Kagan’s scholarly writings are lifeless, dull, and eminently forgettable.’ Conservative lawyer Paul Mirengoff says she has published so little that she is a ‘stealth law professor.’”
2. BUSINESS
President Obama announced a $250 million government loan to Ford Motor Company.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Director of the Center for Investors and Entrepreneurs John Berlau discusses how Obama had to give this loan, since he blocked Ford’s access to other credit.
“Just days after Obama signed the Dodd-Frank so-called financial reform bill (here is my general overview of the Dodd-Frank monstrosity), Ford found that it couldn’t issue a bond and create more credit for its customers. The reason, as reported by AOL Daily Finance, is that Dodd-Frank ‘fixed’ the problem of poorly researched credit ratings by designating the three big rating agencies as ‘experts’ subject to the same liability as professionals such as auditors. Since the Securities and Exchange Commission requires that bond offerings have a credit rating, Ford’s venture became a no-go.”
3. ECONOMICS
Nobel Laureate Vernon Smith criticizes the Obama administration’s economic policies.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Attorney Hans Bader on the list of mistakes the White House has made on fiscal policy.
“The stimulus package is now going to cost $75 billion more than the Obama Administration estimated, and foolish provisions in it wiped out thousands of jobs. Undaunted by its record of failure, the Obama Administration recently persuaded the Senate to approve borrowing even more money, billions more, to bail out public employee unions, and subsidize bloated and mismanaged school systems. The House is expected to pass the measure soon.”