Law Schools, Drug Shortages, and the Warren Brookes Fellowship
LAW SCHOOL DEBT – HANS BADER
Federal financial aid policies have encouraged law students to borrow increasing amounts to attend law school, despite the glut of lawyers (oddly, government policies encourage more people to go to law school, driving up law school tuition, even as the Obama administration seeks to cut back on vocational education aimed at training the skilled blue-collar workers who are in desperately short supply in much of the country). The result, says law professor Brian Tamanaha, is a “Quickly Exploding Law Graduate Debt Disaster” in which most recent graduates of many law schools will never be able to pay off their staggering student loan debt. > Read the full story on Openmarket.org
DRUG SHORTAGES – GREG CONKO
Heartland.org: Critical Drug Shortages Reaching Crisis
CEI Senior Fellow Greg Conko explains why forcing drug companies to inform the FDA when a shortage of a key drug is impending would be of little help.
“To some extent, these measures may help, but the FDA has taken some modest steps on its own to address some of the most problematic shortages. And nothing in the legislation is likely to change the fundamental nature of how the agency operates. Nor would any of the bills address the fundamental underlying economic considerations that are the primary cause of the shortages,” Conko told the Heartlander.
Conko says delays in the FDA’s approval process and overly strict regulation of drug manufacturing facilities are the primary culprits for drug shortages. “Drug shortages are a real problem. But the way to alleviate them is not to eliminate the market signals that incentivize adequate production,” said Conko. “In the end, we would be better off if Congress did nothing at all. Better still, though, would be for Congress to lift the rules that have contributed to the shortages in the first place.” > Read the full news article on Heartland.org
WARREN T. BROOKES JOURNALISM FELLOWSHIP
The Competitive Enterprise Institute offers a one-year fellowship for journalists seeking to improve their knowledge of the principles of free markets and limited government. The fellowship is named in honor of the late Warren T. Brookes (1929-1991), a nationally syndicated columnist known for his tradition of reporting from a sound scientific and economic perspective.
CEI established the Warren T. Brookes Fellowship to inspire new generations of journalists to learn from Brookes’s legacy and to benefit from CEI’s free market, public policy environment. Through the fellowship program, CEI identifies both talented young people and experienced journalists who wish to improve their knowledge of policy issues and free market economics. The fellowship provides an opportunity for young writers to hone their skills while immersing themselves in public policy issues. For more experienced journalists, the fellowship affords a chance to work on longer projects, such as books, or in-depth investigative pieces, without the pressure of regular deadlines.
Previous Warren T. Brookes Fellows have included columnist Reason Magazine senior editor Brian Doherty and science correspondent Ron Bailey, syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin, Washington Examiner columnist Timothy Carney, and best-selling author James Bovard.
Applicants should submit a proposal for a year-long project that is related to CEI’s issue advocacy work, along with résumé, cover letter, and writing samples (op-eds and articles). The 2012-13 fellowship begins in October, 2012.
For more information or to apply, contact: [email protected]