The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update

Issues in the News

1. POLITICS

Congress’s approval rating plummets to an all-time low of 18 percent.  

CEI Expert Available to Comment: Crasher-in-Chief Jason Talley on the need for change in Washington: 

“With approval ratings for both a Republican President and a Democrat-led Congress in the tank, more people are beginning to realize that we need to start moving in the direction of smaller government and greater personal responsibility. Nothing proves the need for change better that the expensive and intrusive policies that we’ve been saddled with by the current crop of politicians and bureaucrats.”

2. ENVIRONMENT

Scientists warn of a possible wave of pollution from increased production of corn-based ethanol.

CEI Expert Available to Comment: Adjunct Scholar Fran Smith on the many drawbacks to expanding ethanol use:      

“…the huge subsidies for corn-based ethanol production have serious unintended consequences. These include increased pollution, higher food prices, higher land costs, and other problems caused not by supply and demand in the marketplace, but by the government determining what is to be supplied – ethanol — and demanding its use.”

3. TECHNOLOGY

Municipal wireless networks around the country fail to meet expectations.

CEI Expert Available to Comment: Technology Policy Analyst Cord Blomquist on why city governments should stay out of the Wi-Fi business:

“Consider Google and Earthlink’s plans to create city-wide Wi-Fi for San Francisco. As the city prepares to put the issue to a vote in a referendum, Earthlink CEO Rolla Huff is acting as though the future of the project is a foregone conclusion, adopting a new strategy for dealing with critics: the silent treatment. But Huff isn’t just miffed; his company is facing a serious financial meltdown in San Francisco and potentially many other wireless projects. But wasn’t municipal Wi-Fi the wave of the future?”

Blog feature: For more news and analysis, updated throughout the day, visit CEI’s blog, Open Market.

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To contact a CEI expert for comment or interviews, please call the CEI communications department at 202-331-2273 or email to [email protected].