Credit Card Fees, Nike Resigns and EU Chemical Policy
Convenience store chain 7-Eleven lobbies for restrictions on credit card processing fees.
Nike resigns from the board of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in protest over the Chamber’s opposition to cap and trade regulation for greenhouse gases.
Regulators in Europe add new chemicals to their list of restricted substances.
Listen to LibertyWeek, the CEI podcast, here.
1. CONSUMERS
Convenience store chain 7-Eleven lobbies for restrictions on credit card processing fees.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship John Berlau on the repercussions of the 7-Eleven proposal:
“7-Eleven is trying to force a ‘big gulp’ of big government down the throats of American consumers. If Congress acts on 7-Eleven’s misleading petition to put price controls on interchange fees, consumers will pay the price through the reduction of credit card reward programs such as frequent flier miles, and the possible return of annual fees. Credit unions and community banks will pay the price too, in higher costs that will make it more difficult to offer cards at all. This could force their customers to abandon their local lending institutions if they want the convenience of credit and debit cards.”
2. ENVIRONMENT
Nike resigns from the board of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in protest over the Chamber’s opposition to cap and trade regulation for greenhouse gases.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Marlo Lewis on the bottom line to Nike’s decision:
“The vast majority of Nike’s production facilities are in China and other Asian developing countries such as Thailand, Indonesia, and Vietnam. Nike factories in developing Asia would not be subject to CO2 controls from either Waxman-Markey or EPA regulation under the Clean Air Act. What’s more, if the G-77 Plus China hang tough at the Copenhagen climate conference, and the successor treaty to the Kyoto Protocol continues to exempt developing countries from legally binding emission limits, then the comparative advantage (lower energy costs) those countries already enjoy under Kyoto will increase, making Nike factories even more profitable to invest in.”
3. HEALTH
Regulators in Europe add new chemicals to their list of restricted substances.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Director of Risk and Environmental Policy Angela Logomasini on why the U.S. should not be imitating Europe’s system:
“Be careful what you wish for because sometimes you might not like the result. And big-government advocates should be particularly careful since government rarely meets the goals it sets. That’s what some leftists are learning about the European Union’s chemical law called REACH, which stands for ‘registration, evaluation, and authorization of chemicals.’ It sounds bureaucratic because it is. In fact, even its supporters are learning that it is a green regulatory monster. And Animal rights activists, which relinquished their opposition to appease left-wing allies, are now learning that the law has become a gratuitous lab-rodent extermination program. And despite all the problems with this law, U.S. lawmakers are looking at this law as a model to emulate!”
Listen to LibertyWeek, the CEI podcast, here.