Issues in the News

1. ENVIRONMENT

Senators vote to increase the severity of fuel economy regulations.

CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Marlo Lewis on the implications of ever higher mileage mandates:

 

“…if fuel-economy mandates improve consumer welfare, why stop at 35 mpg? Why not decree that the average car must achieve 100 mpg? The answer, in part, is that few people could afford to buy a 100-mpg vehicle. No hybrid today gets anywhere close to 100 miles per gallon, yet hybrids can cost several thousand dollars more than comparable non-hybrids. Also, just as the current 27.5-mpg standard eliminated the large station wagon, a 100-mpg standard would eliminate many other vehicle types (probably anything larger than a go-cart).”

 

2. BUSINESS

Congress considers changing the way banks and credit unions are allowed to operate.

CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Eli Lehrer on how the two kinds of organizations are regulated:

 

“For a variety of historical reasons, credit unions face more regulatory burdens than banks. Banks can serve anybody who walks through their doors, while credit unions have defined fields of membership, such as the employees of a particular company or the residents of a particular community. The government does not mandate to banks how much they can charge in interest, but regulates credit union interest rates very strictly. Credit unions also face restrictions on the amount of their assets they can lend to businesses.”

 

3. HEALTH

A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel rejects the use of colon and lung cancer drug Avastin for treatment of breast cancer.

CEI Expert Available to Comment: Policy Analyst Michelle Minton on who should be making decisions about cancer treatment:

 

“The FDA hinted that the benefits of Avastin [for breast cancer patients] were not great enough to outweigh the risk [of side effects]. But who is the FDA to make that judgment? Each person values different things for different reasons. While someone at the FDA might find little value in improving the time before you die, for the women and families of women with metastatic breast cancer (who live an average of 24 months) the potential benefit is immeasurable. We should not let the FDA tell us what to value in life.”

 

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 202-331-2273 or email to [email protected].