CEI Daily Update
Issues in the News
1. FINANCE
The Washington, D.C. City Council votes on a measure that would limit fees on payday loans.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Center for Entrepreneurship Director John Berlau on why the Council should reconsider its plans:
“Hopefully, it will become apparent to the majority of the Council that the laws of economics cannot be legislated away, and when governments attempt to do so, the final bill enacted is always attached to an additional piece of troubling legislations: the Law of Unintended Consequences.”
2. ENVIRONMENT
Non-profit group OMB Watch criticizes the Data Quality Act, a federal law requiring the use of the best available peer-reviewed science when crafting new federal regulations.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Director of Risk & Environmental Policy Angela Logomasini on the hypocrisy of the critics:
“Activists on the left don’t seem to mind expanding bureaucracy and red tape when it hits businesses, consumers, property owners, and taxpayers in general. They support heavy paperwork programs that produce little, if any environmental benefit, like those under the Toxics Release Inventory. They regularly launch lawsuits under the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act to stop construction, logging, and many other private-sector activities, costing taxpayers and small businesses millions. And they fight all efforts to make environmental laws more effective and affordable. Yet when government is required to do a little paperwork, leftists suddenly complain about bureaucracy and call for streamlining.”
3. AUTOMOBILITY
Anti-car activists celebrate “Car-Free Day” in Washington, D.C.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: General Counsel Sam Kazman on why we shouldn’t underestimate the value of the automobile:
“While a car-free lifestyle might be perfect for some, it would be pure misery for many others—among them the handicapped, the elderly, parents carrying infants, people lugging groceries, and suburban residents getting to work. And the car-free lifestyle itself depends for its existence on other motorized vehicles, which deliver everything from organic flour to the ingredients for lattes.”
Blog feature: For more news and analysis, updated throughout the day, visit CEI’s blog, Open Market.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
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