Obama on Wall Street, EPA Backlash and Health Care Roadblocks
President Obama gives a major speech in New York on the future of Wall Street.
The Environmental Protection Agency’s attempt to censor data on global warming sparks an online activist campaign.
President Obama struggles to push his version of health care reform through Congress.
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1. BUSINESS
President Obama gives a major speech in New York on the future of Wall Street.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Director of the Center for Investors and Entrepreneurs John Berlau on what the White House is proposing:
“One year after the Wall Street meltdown, President Obama is touting new regulations he says are urgent for preventing a crisis like this from ever happening again…But a closer look at new rules Obama is proposing shows that the bulk of them do not go after the Wall Street culprits, but Main Street entrepreneurs that had nothing to do with the crisis. The regulatory ‘white paper’ issued by the Obama administration in June would shower mounds of red tape around job-creating venture capital firms, discount brokerages and the small investors who use them, and the limited banking operations of everyday businesses from discounter Target Stores to motorcycle maker Harley-Davidson.”
2. ENVIRONMENT
The Environmental Protection Agency’s attempt to censor data on global warming sparks an online activist campaign.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: General Counsel Sam Kazman on what the activists are hoping for:
“Despite the new administration’s repeated claims of scientific integrity and transparency, EPA’s whistleblower scandal suggests that this agency is committed to a predetermined regulatory agenda. We urge EPA to take the steps outlined in this email campaign if it wishes to demonstrate any degree of fairness on this issue.”
3. HEALTH
President Obama struggles to push his version of health care reform through Congress.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Gregory Conko on how previous attempts at reform have failed:
“To ensure affordable coverage for those in poor health or with potentially expensive medical conditions, governments have implemented guaranteed renewability, guaranteed issue, and community rating laws that force healthy individuals to subsidize those with higher health care costs. Many states require insurance policies to pay for niche specialists, including acupuncturists, pastoral counselors, and massage therapists, or to cover alcoholism and substance abuse treatment, smoking cessation, and in vitro fertilization. But these regulations further raise the price of insurance coverage, leading many healthy individuals to forgo insurance altogether.”
Listen to LibertyWeek, the CEI podcast, here.