Somali Pirates, GM Executives and FDA Regulators
The U.S. military considers attacking Somali pirate bases.
Treasury officials instruct General Motors to plan for bankruptcy.
The Food and Drug Administration reconsiders its ban on morphine used to relieve the pain of dying patients.
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1. SAFETY
The U.S. military considers attacking Somali pirate bases.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Eli Lehrer on how non-military forces could join the fight against the pirates:
“The world has changed a lot since nations last made significant use of letters of marque and reprisal [which allow private parties to attack and seize the property of other parties that have committed violations of international law]. If Congress were to decide to issue them, it would certainly have to revisit the concept. It’s the type of free-market solution to a real problem that Congress should consider but hasn’t in any serious way.”
2. BUSINESS
Treasury officials instruct General Motors to plan for bankruptcy.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Director of the Center for Investors & Entrepreneurs John Berlau on why the company should have gone into bankruptcy to begin with:
“The prospect of an ever-increasing supply of tax dollars is leading parties with auto industry contracts — unions, bondholders, dealers and others — to play a game of chicken. No one wants to renegotiate a contract when they think the government will come in with more money to cover the losses. And the Obama administration, as with AIG, does not have the power of a bankruptcy court to discharge debt. Allowing the companies to go into bankruptcy is what should have been done from the start. As with multiple businesses such as airlines that have successfully emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy, debts could be discharged and the companies could be restructured in bankruptcy court.
3. HEALTH
The Food and Drug Administration reconsiders its ban on morphine used to relieve the pain of dying patients.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Gregory Conko on the difficulty of finding proper treatment for chronic pain:
“Today, millions of Americans live in chronic pain, without adequate access to prescription pain medications, because their doctors are too afraid of being harassed or even arrested by the Drug Enforcement Administration to prescribe sufficient doses. Everyone agrees that doctors should not be using their positions to supply addicts with narcotics or feed the illicit drug market. Many doctors, however, have been arrested or threatened with loss of their medical licenses simply for prescribing opiate-based pain medications in doses that federal drug authorities believe are too high.”
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