The Credit Card Bill of Rights, Chrysler’s Bankruptcy and Carbon Trading
President Obama signs the credit card “bill of rights” into law.
A federal bankruptcy judge prepares to rule on Chrysler’s financial future.
Carbon trading is expected to grow under proposed global warming legislation.
For more news, listen to the LibertyWeek podcast here.
1. CONSUMER
President Obama signs the credit card “bill of rights” into law.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Director of the Center for Investors and Entrepreneurs John Berlau on what we can expect from the new rules:
“The goal of simplifying disclosure for consumers in credit card marketing, as professed by President Obama and members of Congress, is one that I share. Unfortunately, however, the so-called ‘Credit Card Holder Bill of Rights’ signed today by the president goes beyond disclosure and imposes paternalism that limits consumers’ choices as well as sound risk-based pricing practices by banks that issue credit cards. This will result in less availability of credit and actually force card holders to pay higher rates in many instances.”
2. BUSINESS
A federal bankruptcy judge prepares to rule on Chrysler’s financial future.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Special Projects Counsel Hans Bader on how the White House is making recovery even more difficult:
“While saddling Chrysler with excessive compensation costs and union ownership, the Obama Administration has inflicted a body blow to its ability to sell its traditional lines of large vehicles by radically ratcheting up federal CAFE fuel-economy standards, which harm the Detroit automakers more than their foreign competitors. 50,000 jobs could be destroyed as a result. Meanwhile, the global-warming regulations backed by the Administration will destroy millions of jobs and ‘decrease average household purchasing power,’ thus cutting auto sales and further hurting automakers like Chrysler.”
3. TECHNOLOGY
Carbon trading is expected to grow under proposed global warming legislation.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Marlo Lewis on what else is in the bill:
“These measures are economically and environmentally irrational even if you believe that global warming is a ‘planetary emergency.’ As the Charles River Associates report for the National Black Chamber of Commerce points out, the renewable electricity, Carbon Storage Research Consortium, electric vehicle, and energy efficiency mandates will not yield net emission reductions beyond what the bill’s emission caps already require. The targeted interventions may accelerate GHG reductions in some industries or sectors, but that just allows emissions to increase elsewhere in the economy without breaking the cap..”
Listen to LibertyWeek, the CEI podcast, here.