Spectrum, Wal-Mart, and the CEI Podcast

Spectrum

In a recent Washington Times op-ed, Mark Hyman argued for a spectrum inventory.

Policy Fellow Luke Pelican comments.

“It’s unreasonable to expect that government can ensure that each segment of spectrum allocated to the private market will be immediately put to its most efficient use. For example, if someone buys a plot of land intending to build a mall, the mall won’t be built overnight. Development of a parcel of land necessarily takes time and resources, as there are transaction costs like construction permits and regulatory compliance that inflate the amount of time it takes to complete such a project.Spectrum is not dissimilar.”

Walmart

The residents of Chanhassen, Minnesota are protesting the building of a Wal-mart in the neighborhood.

Policy Analyst Marc Scribner comments.

“Things are so great in Chanhassen that Money magazine ranked it #2 on their 2009 list of Best Places to Live in the United States (it appeared at #10 in the nation in 2011).Locals are fond of these mostly arbitrary rankings, almost as fond as some of them are in believing Wal-Mart will destroy their quality of life if the mega-retailer is allowed to open a store in Chanhassen. After several hundred angry, presumably wealthy NIMBYs showed up at a recent Planning Commission meeting to demand that a site currently occupied by a large vacant building not be put to productive use (yes, you read that correctly), the notoriously anti-development Commission denied the Wal-Mart request for a necessary upzoning (a designation that permits more intense development).”

CEI Podcast

In the latest CEI Podcast, Senior Fellow Angela Logomasini talks about environmentalists’ paranoias about cosmetic safety.

Listen here.