Net Neutrality, Poultry Wars and Disaster Insurance
The House Telecommunications and Internet Subcommittee holds a hearing on proposed rules for “net neutrality.”
The European Union refuses to lift a ban on the sale of American poultry products.
Members of Congress consider expanding federal subsidies for disaster insurance.
1. TECHNOLOGY
The House Telecommunications and Internet Subcommittee holds a hearing on proposed rules for “net neutrality.”
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Technology Policy Analyst Cord Blomquist on why the fears of neutrality advocates are overblown:
“Neutrality regulation’s supporters underestimate how well the American public understands Internet technology and values the freedom to view what they want online. Bloggers—the citizen journalists of cyberspace—are poised to react to any discriminatory behavior from ISPs. Content portals like YouTube and iTunes also have an overwhelming incentive to reject threats from ISPs to pay-up or suffer degraded service quality.”
2. TRADE
The European Union refuses to lift a ban on the sale of American poultry products.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Journalism Fellow Lene Johansen on the real reason for the import ban:
“According to North, the EU banned U.S. poultry imports because U.S. poultry farmers wash the poultry in a disinfectant to eliminate pathogens such as e. coli and such. This is not allowed in the EU, so they stopped importing poultry from the U.S. EU’s version of the FDA has said this practice is not only safe, but desirable. EU bureaucrats however, know how angry EU poultry farmers will be if the ban is lifted, so they are dragging their feet, just like they do in every other case of import bans on agricultural products.”
3. CONGRESS
Members of Congress consider expanding federal subsidies for disaster insurance.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Eli Lehrer on why creating a national catastrophe insurance fund could itself be catastrophic:
“A national catastrophe fund, also known as ‘federally backed reinsurance’ or ‘backstopping,’ would essentially transform the U.S. Treasury into the ultimate insurer of last resort for nearly every disaster-prone private home in the country. When damages exceeded a certain level as a result of natural disaster or terrorist attack, a newly created reinsurer – under a proposal currently in Congress, a ‘private’ company with a board made up of high government officials – would step in and pay off the insurers. Another similar proposal focuses on selling such ‘reinsurance’ to states. Under any such proposal, the insurers, in turn, would pay out claims to consumers.”
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FOR MORE INFORMATION
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