The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News
1. TRADE
Congress votes to attach labor provisions to new trade agreements.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Adjunct Scholar Fran Smith on how organized labor is opposing liberalized trade:
“It’s expected that more stringent environmental mandates will be part of the new [trade] deal as well. Meanwhile, the trade pact with <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />Colombia is likely to languish; the AFL-CIO’s legislative policy director was quoted as saying that ‘she could envision no scenario that would win labor’s approval for a trade deal with Colombia.’ Free trade takes another blow from special interests. Review what labor and environmental activists already have inserted in previous FTAs and CEI comments and analysis on those.”
2. ENERGY
Gas prices rise above $4.00 a gallon in some cities.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Bastiat Scholar Doug Bandow on gas price politics:
“As gas prices rose [last summer], customers blamed gas station owners and oil producers alike. Politicians moved from somnolence to frenzy at record speed. Never mind that there were many reasons for rising prices: Officeholders and candidates alike campaigned to stem energy costs. […]But prices soon fell dramatically, and remain well below their peak, when a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline ran about $3.00. The price of crude oil dropped by 35 percent from its high. If the energy producers controlled prices, why did prices decline?”
3. INTERNATIONAL
British Prime Minister Tony Blair announces plans to resign his office.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Iain Murray on Blair’s legacy:
“Blairism was born in 1994, the summer of Britpop, and for a while seemed to embody a Britain of revolutionary art, fashion, and music in political terms. Yet just as Cool Britannia faded after the death of its royal figurehead, the Princess of Wales, Blairism turned quickly from a new form of politics into meddlesome managerialism. Proving the truth of Burke’s adage, “To innovate is not to reform,” Blair’s government innovated away, bulldozing centuries-old institutions and customs without adequate replacement. He attacked freedom of speech, the right of self-defense, trial by jury, double-jeopardy protections, pre-trial protections, the independence of local government, and other institutions you might recognize from the Bill of Rights.”
Blog feature: For more news and analysis, updated throughout the day, visit CEI’s blog, Open Market.
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