The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News
1. CONGRESS
Democrats unveil new energy legislation.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Marlo Lewis on what Congress can do to improve access to affordable energy:
“Congress will continue its long debate over federal energy policy, but what we really need from Washington is an end to its current anti-energy policy. The government operates on the assumption that energy use is a bad thing that needs to be reduced as much as possible by being saddled with a host of burdensome laws and regulations.”
2. ENVIRONMENT
The World Affairs Council hosts a lecture by Lloyd’s of London chairman Peter Levine on the impact of global warming on the insurance industry.
CEI Experts Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Iain Murray on global warming and natural disasters:
“There is no provable link between weather events like Hurricane Katrina and global warming. For example, research by German scientists has demonstrated that the devastating floods in central Europe in 2002 were perfectly normal events when compared against the historical record.13 Allegations that extreme weather has been more damaging recently do not take into account the fact that mankind is now living and investing resources in more dangerous areas.”
3. TECHNOLOGY
FCC chairman Kevin Martin addresses the issue of network neutrality regulation at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Policy Analyst Brooke Oberwetter takes on misconceptions about net neutrality:
“So that’s the popular conception: everything must move at the same speed, and if it doesn’t, it’s because network operators are either extorting higher rents, or they’re degrading non-preferential data just because they can. And that’s the challenge that’s facing opponents of regulation. For some reason, the totally logical example anti-regulation folks often use—it’s like upgrading from the USPS to Fed-Ex standard to Fed-Ex overnight—is being internalized as though my choice to upgrade to Fed-Ex overnight means that your Fed-Ex standard package goes slower. Obviously that isn’t the case.”