The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News
1. TECHNOLOGY
The Senate Commerce Committee holds a hearing on the proposed merger of XM and Sirius Satellite Radio .
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews on how federal regulators should approach antitrust considerations:
“ Regulators should refrain from using the merger review process to extract a parade of concessions from these struggling companies. Meanwhile, antitrust policy should allow aggressive competitive responses to the combination. Wall Street, investors, programmers, consumers, already-poised rivals, and new entrants collectively will discipline more thoroughly than could the Federal Communications Commission. That's as it should be.”
2. LEGAL
Students at Virginia Tech caution against imposing drastic on-campus security measures when classes resume.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Eli Lehrer on what we can learn from the Virginia Tech shootings:
“The tragic mass shootings that killed over 30 and wounded at least as many at Virginia Tech earlier today will doubtless shine a bright light on university campus security around the country. More likely than not, groups will make predictable calls for things they support anyway: Colleges will demand more money to subsidize campus security, gun-control proponents will jump at an excuse to grab firearms, and gun-control opponents will call for stronger measures to let people defend themselves. Although the gun-rights advocates have an important point, the real tragedy at Virginia Tech appears to have stemmed from bad police work. Avoiding it will require a reassessment of the role campus police play.”
3. ENVIRONMENT
A group of 11 retired generals release a report calling on the Bush administration to begin considering global warming as a security threat .
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Marlo Lewis on the report's flawed premises :
“There are several problems with this report. The generals uncritically accept the alarmist view that global warming will dramatically increase the severity and frequency of droughts, floods, hurricanes, and disease. This is all very dubious. They also seem blithely unaware that investing significant resources in such highly technical yet thoroughly politicized fields as climate forecasting and climate policy could undermine the military's capacity to fight and win wars, such as the current one in Iraq. ”
Blog feature : For more news and analysis, updated throughout the day, visit CEI's blog, Open Market .