Online Poker, Auto Workers and Public Works Programs
60 Minutes reports on fraud in the world of online poker.
The president of the United Auto Workers union makes a public plea for a bailout of domestic carmakers.
President-Elect Barack Obama announces plans to spur economic growth with public works projects.
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1. INTERNET
60 Minutes reports on fraud in the world of online poker.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Eli Lehrer on how current government policies are making the problem worse:
“If Internet gambling were expressly legalized in the U.S., this sort of thing would happen far, far less and be dealt with much more quickly. The government needs to prevent fraud while otherwise staying out of the way of people who want to gamble online.”
2. BUSINESS
The president of the United Auto Workers union makes a public plea for a bailout of domestic carmakers.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Special Projects Counsel Hans Bader on the problems with the auto bailout proposal:
“Current bailout proposals also seek to artificially prop up wages. Liberal lawmakers and the President-elect plan to bail out the automakers, at a cost to taxpayers of tens of billions of dollars. But the automakers wouldn’t be going broke if they didn’t pay their workers so much more than the average American worker — a whopping $70 an hour. The auto bailout proposals contain largely symbolic limits on CEO pay, but nothing limiting the inflated compensation packages of unionized auto workers.”
3. ECONOMY
President-Elect Barack Obama announces plans to spur economic growth with public works projects.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Adjunct Analyst Steven Milloy on why throwing money at infrastructure programs won’t create a healthy economy:
“It’s true that road building can contribute to economic growth, but not like Obama seems to think. The road building boom of the 1950s and 1960s did boost U.S. economic growth, according to Federal Reserve economist John Fernald. But this was because mass expansion of the interstate road system facilitated growth-producing economic activity. While necessary for keeping traffic moving safely and smoothly, simply re-building roads and bridges doesn’t spur commerce and, so, isn’t a strategy for economic growth.”
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