Financial Regulation, Online Gambling and Chewing Tobacco
The Senate is set to vote on Senate Banking Committer Chairman Chris Dodd’s bill to extend financial regulation.
A new study estimates that the ban on online gambling in the last five years has cost the country 32,000 jobs and $57.5 billion in tax revenue.
Rep. Henry Waxman wants to ban chewing tobacco in Major League dugouts.
1. FINANCE
The Senate is set to vote on Senate Banking Committer Chairman Chris Dodd’s bill to extend financial regulation.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Director of the Center for Investors and Entrepreneurs John Berlau on the coalition letter that explains how Main Street businesses will be hit by the Dodd bill.
“The letter highlights what it calls ‘a by-no-means exclusive list’ of major concerns with the bill. These include the bill’s broad definition of ‘nonbank financial company’ that would mean that many ‘Main Street non-financial businesses would be hit with taxation, regulation, and possible nationalization by the Federal Reserve,’ the proxy access mandates that would usurp state incorporation law and ‘empower union pension funds and other progressives by forcing companies to fund their Saul Alinsky-style campaigns for a company’s board of directors,’ and the lack of any reforms in the bill of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – the two government-created mortgage giants that were ‘primary causes of the crisis.’”
2. LEGAL
A new study estimates that the ban on online gambling in the last five years has cost the country 32,000 jobs and $57.5 billion in tax revenue.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Policy Analyst Michelle Minton on why politicians who claim to want to create jobs and boost the economy should focus on legalizing banned industries.
“Republicans eagerly courting the tea party vote use the rhetoric of less government, less spending, no more bailouts. If they want to continue to use that logic while claiming that they can improve the US economy, not banning an industry is a good first step. As for the regulations, one might say that gambling in the US would really thrive if it were not legal or illegal. If the activity was simply regulated and taxed as any other business in the US more casinos would be interested in housing operations (and thus creating jobs) in the states.”
3. HEALTH
Rep. Henry Waxman wants to ban chewing tobacco in Major League dugouts.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Adjunct Scholar Michael Fumento on why Waxman’s initiative is ridiculous, regardless of how one feels about chewing tobacco.
“My problem with Waxman’s would-be edict is that this isn’t something the government should do, it’s something Major League Baseball, individual teams, and fan groups should do. There has never been a more powerful motivator than societal opprobrium and approval. Society makes clear certain things are wrong or right through social carrots and sticks. But it doesn’t work when government does it, because government just passes a law. The more government became involved in negative behaviors like unwed pregnancy the worse they got, in part because government involvement replaced the old strictures.”