The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
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Issues in the News
1. MEDIA
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. makes a bid for Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews on why the government should not attempt to block such a deal:
“We need to see what market discipline emerges before we jump to government discipline. […] We create wealth and information in news markets just like we do in fiscal, goods and service markets. With a bid like this, and the potential for expansion of coverage in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />Asia and the expansion of global markets, we need to see what the capital markets do in response to this merger and not worry so much, but see what happens and see what new level this takes us to.”
2. ENVIRONMENT
Al Gore labels the threat of global warming a “spiritual crisis”.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Iain Murray on the five biggest myths about global warming:
“With Al Gore getting so much mileage from his fame as both a former vice president and now Oscar winner to advance his ideological (if not personal) agenda of getting people to use less energy, it’s worth reviewing the global warming debate to clarify a few misconceptions. First, we are not in imminent danger of massive sea-level rises. In his movie “An Inconvenient Truth,” Gore warns of seas rising by 20 feet, and shows a dramatic image of lower Manhattan flooded by the swollen Hudson River.”
3. BUSINESS
A new study finds a disconnect between lucrative CEO pay and shareholder value.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Center for Entrepreneurship Director John Berlau on executive compensation at publicly-held corporations:
“Shareholders have their say when they vote on a company’s directors and on the basic design of executive compensation plans. So shareholders having an additional non-binding annual vote on the pay package of each executive is totally unnecessary. It's comparable to voting on the prices of computers and TVs. With these products and with CEO pay, the market is the ultimate vote. Shareholders ‘vote’ for CEO salaries when they buy and sell their stocks.”
Blog feature: For more news and analysis, updated throughout the day, visit CEI’s blog, Open Market.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
To contact a CEI expert for comment or interviews, please call the CEI communications department at 202-332-2273 or email to [email protected].