The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News
1. TRADE
Heads of state issue a call to revive World Trade Organization negotiations, previously derailed by disagreements over agriculture subsidies.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Journalism Fellow Timothy P. Carney takes on farm subsidies in his new book, The Big Ripoff : How Big Business and Big Government Steal Your Money:
“The so-called ‘Doha round’ of negotiations began in 2001, but have been derailed, primarily over U.S. subsidies for agriculture–subsidies that mostly benefit a few large companies, such as John Hancock Insurance. These farm subsidies are part of an expanding web of corporate welfare.”
2. ENERGY
Demand for power during a week of high summer temperatures tests the limits of U.S. electric grids.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Iain Murray on the lessons we should have learned from the massive East Coast blackout of 2003:
“Much of North America has grown profoundly anti-energy over the past few years, despite our dependence on it. We don’t want nasty power plants, new or old, to pollute the countryside and rivers. We don’t want unsightly electricity transmission lines spoiling the view. And we certainly don’t want greedy power companies making a profit from giving us all the power we need for our air conditioning, refrigerators and SUVs. So we’ve tried to regulate them away.”
3. TECHNOLOGY
Calls for age verification on social-networking websites like MySpace.com could face technical hurdles.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Technology Analyst Peter Suderman on the misguided government demands for stricter age verification measures online:
“The computer literate younger generation isn’t going to be stymied by a little bit of software. Parents are going to have to stop relying on government, or government-mandated action by private companies, to watch over what their kids are doing.”
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