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Two GOP Senators Say Get Rid of Ethanol Subsidies; Gore Says His Support for Ethanol Subsidies a Mistake
In the Washington Post’s “Plum Line” column today Greg Sargent focuses on two GOP senators’ campaign to get rid of the ethanol subsidies that…
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Voters Rejected Enviro-Alarmism About Gulf Oil Spill
My colleague Ben Lieberman’s thoughtful op-ed in The Washington Times focuses on voters’ rejection of environmental alarmism about the Gulf oil spill. It appears…
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Russia’s Frozen Poulty Ban — Not Likely a Path for WTO Membership
Russia will be banning frozen chicken imports beginning January 1. The reason for the proposed ban? The head of the Russian agency in charge…
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Will Trade Be a Winner in the New Congress?
In its Sunday editorial, The Washington Post takes an upbeat post-election look at the prospects for stalled trade agreements, especially the pending U.S.-Korea Free…
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Rare Earths — Not So Rare?
What do yttrium, ytterbium, erbium and terbium have in common? They are rare earth elements first found in the Swedish town of Ytterby between 1828…
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Stalled Korea FTA May Get a Boost
U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk is scheduled to meet today with Korean Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon in San Francisco to discuss the pending U.S.-Korea…
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A Surge Toward a New “Scientific-Technological Elite”?
AEI’s Steve Hayward, in his article “Power Surge,” presents what he says is an innovative solution to foreign oil dependence and global warming: pump huge…
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Salute to Capitalism — And the Miners’ Rescue
“Capitalism saved the miners” is the provocative title of Daniel Henninger’s article in today’s Wall Street Journal. And he makes his case quite clearly. …
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EU-Korea Trade Pact Will Hurt U.S. Without its Own FTA
As the European Union signs a trade pact with South Korea, U.S. manufacturers are calling on policymakers to approve the U.S.-Korea Free Trade…
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Job Losses and Productivity Gains
I came across this chart tracking U.S. manufacturing jobs and U.S. productivity over the past 38 years (posted yesterday by Mark Perry). It’s worth…
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Sugar Program Opponents Stake Out Their Position
Sugar producers got a sweet deal in the 2008 Farm Bill. Now, with the next bill scheduled for 2012, some opponents of the U.S. sugar…
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Take a Look at U.S. Tariffs – They Raise Costs and Restrict Choice
With so much focus on “unfair” trade vis-à-vis U.S. trade partners, especially China, it’s sometimes sobering to look at protectionist U.S. policies that restrict…
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No Chickening Out on Trade Retaliation
Trade relations between the U.S. and China are heating up, with both countries bringing antidumping charges against the other — some in retaliation for earlier…
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Immelt Has Some “Thought Bullets”
Mr. “Ecomagination” — GE’s CEO Jeffrey Immelt — called on the U.S. to put a long-term price on carbon so this country could compete with…
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Canada’s Green Energy and Jobs Programs Butt Up Against WTO Rules, says Japan
Do green energy and green jobs mandates run counter to World Trade Organization rules? Japan says “yes” in relation to Canada’s program for renewable…
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Tricks Against Trade
Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch is up to its tricks against trade again. Noted for its past expertise in destroying the Seattle WTO negotiations, the…
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More Mercantilist Claptrap
No wonder people are confused about the trade issue when they read mercantilist articles like the front-pager by Howard Schneider in the Washington Post…
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Sugar in the News Again
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s September 2010 issue of its magazine, “Amber Waves,” has an excellent article on the U.S. domestic sugar program –…
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A Full-Court Press on Trade? Not Likely
Today’s Washington Times has a lengthy article on the Obama Administration’s trade agenda vis-à-vis the stalled free trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia, and…
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A “Chickening Out” Lesson
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Mexico’s Retaliation — A Good Idea?
Cato’s Dan Ikenson posted today in favor of the trade retaliation measures announced by Mexico in response to the U.S. refusal to open its…
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Public’s confidence in institutions at odds with Administration’s and Congressional attacks
In a new Gallup poll on confidence in institutions, Congress ranked last out of 16 institutions consumers were asked to consider. Only 11…
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Ebell in NYT on new Climategate report — “Establishment circling the wagons and defending their position”
CEI’s Myron Ebell was quoted on the front page of the New York Times today – “above the fold” – discussing the University of…
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What’s ahead for free trade?
In her column today, Kimberley Strassel throws some light on what’s behind President Obama’s recent endorsement of the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement and…
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Celebrating Bastiat
Economist Don Boudreaux reminds us that 209 years ago today, the great economic journalist Frédéric Bastiat (1801-1850) was born. F.A. Hayek in his introduction…
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President Obama to push U.S.-Korea FTA
Economic reality is beginning to take the place of anti-trade rhetoric on the U.S.-South Korea Free Trade Agreement, which has been on hold since it…
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A new low for science and the NAS — the “Black List”
In what has to be one of the most disgraceful examples of political, unscientific attacks, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences published…
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Canada sees a good deal in Colombia FTA
Canada ratified a free trade agreement with Colombia on June 21, showing that the U.S.’s northern neighbor knows a good deal when it sees…
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Bipartisan letter urges action on Korea FTA
On May 10, 2010, two high-ranking senators, a Democrat and a Republican, sent a joint letter to President Obama asking him to take action…
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Things are getting better and better
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“How many regulators does it take . . .?
On Bankstocks.com Thomas Brown has a clever piece about why a new consumer financial protection agency doesn’t make any sense. He describes a commercial…
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“Basic needs” need to be regulated, say Dems
Reason’s Ron Bailey, in an “I told you so” article today, points out that Senate Democrats are poised to support a bill that would…
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USDA may increase sugar quotas
The Wall Street Journal reported today that the U.S. Department of Agriculture may increase the import quotas for sugar to address a tightening supply…
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A salute to coal mining
In today’s Investor’s Business Daily, CEI’s Iain Murray tells about his first-hand experience with coal-mining and salutes the miners and the mine owners…
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U.S. avoids Brazil’s retaliatory tariffs — for now
With Brazil poised to retaliate against the U.S. for its cotton subsidies that were deemed unfair by the World Trade Organization, the two countries…
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Washington Post website today had December 30, 2009 news
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Menthol cigarettes aren’t cool to the FDA
In what could be one of its most paternalistic moves, the Food and Drug Administration is considering banning menthol in cigarettes – not because…
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Gaia’s creator in The Guardian — science scandals, skeptics, and “a more authoritarian world”
In a lengthy interview in The Guardian yesterday, James Lovelock, scientist and inventor, prominent global warming advocate, and originator of the Gaia theory,…
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Trade still has some support
Some politicians haven’t yet abandoned free trade, even in the face of widespread demagoging on the issue. As Scott Lincicome notes, five Republican Members…
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Tea Party antipathy
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USDA should increase sugar quota, says Washington Post
In an editorial today, the Washington Post attacks U.S. sugar policy, with its price supports and import restrictions that raise the cost of sugar…
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Some U.K. government ads on global warming too scary
“Is global warming the new apocalypse?” asks The Times of London in an article focusing on children’s fears about global warming in the context…
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Increase sugar imports and reduce prices
Today the front page of the Wall Street Journal published an article (subscription required) focusing on the current fight to increase the amount of…
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An even sweeter deal for United States Sugar
Big Sugar, in the guise of United States Sugar, is featured in a New York Times investigative article today that exposes the…
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Banks trying to recoup from bad loans and inadequate reserves urged to lend
There’s a juxtaposition in a Washington Post article today that deserves a “Wha?” The article focuses on the huge drop in bank lending in…
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Bhagwati on climate change — please, no
In today’s Financial Times, noted trade economist Jagdish Bhagwati strays again into the climate change debate – and he doesn’t apply his usually sharp…
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CEA’s Annual Report: Trade is good, but we need to make sure it’s good for everyone
While snowstorms were raging in the D.C. area, the White House released…
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Ronald Coase — a recent video
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Who dat claiming they own “Who dat”?
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“Big, bad banks” — a “faux-populist” response
Uh-oh. It was speculation yesterday, but reality today – President Obama and the Democrats have the banking industry in their sights with their trigger…