Odds & Ends

OPINION

GLENN G. LAMMI: “Court Should Dismiss Privacy Group’s Suit vs. FTC Over Google Buzz Settlement”
“On Friday, a federal court in Washington, D.C. will hear what the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) thinks about a lawsuit the online privacy advocate EPIC has filed demanding that FTC charge Google with violations of a settlement agreement between FTC and Google involving Google Buzz. [...] The issue here is whether a non-party to the FTC-Google agreement can force FTC to fine Google.”

PHILLIP KLEIN: “Obama’s High Wire Act on Insurance Mandate Crashes”
“By 2009, Obama was publicly touting the mandate. And in a famous interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that September, he insisted that the mandate to purchase health insurance was not a tax. Yet by the following June, things had changed. The Obama administration’s legal team was scrambling to respond to lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the health care law. [...] Acknowledging the mandate is a tax would mean that it was a direct violation of his pledge not to raise taxes on those earning under $250,000. But publicly denying that it is a tax directly contradicts the administration’s legal argument.”

NEW YORK POST EDITORIAL: “The Bad-Teacher Test”
“Team Cuomo sounded upbeat yesterday about a deal for a new system for rating teachers — and, presumably, firing bad ones — as its self-imposed Thursday deadline nears. Indeed, odds are good that New York’s biggest teachers union will strike an ‘agreement’ with the State Education Department — or that Gov. Cuomo will keep his vow to impose teacher-evaluation guidelines as part of his budget. But the devil resides very much in the details. Once the smoke clears, will public schools finally be able to easily rid themselves of incompetent teachers? The depressing answer: Not likely.”

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OPINION

MICHAEL BARONE: “A Failure of Imagination Put Metro on Wrong Track”
“Believers in central planning should take a look at Washington’s Metro rail transit system. While they will find many things to like, they will also see examples of how central planners — and especially rail transit planners — can get things disastrously and expensively wrong.”

JAMES GLASSMAN: “Auction the Spectrum, Grow the Economy”
“The big problem for the [telecom] sector today is what Genachowski himself calls a ‘looming spectrum crunch.‘ There is not enough bandwidth, even today, for wireless users to do all they want with the speed they require. AT&T attempted to get extra bandwidth by merging with T-Mobile, which the DOJ and FCC failed to embrace. Now AT&T and others are looking to the FCC, which controls the electromagnetic spectrum, to hold an auction for underused and unused portions. Since 1994, such auctions have raised more than $50 billion for the U.S. Treasury. There hasn’t been one in four years, but the next auction could raise an estimated $25 billion, which would make a nice dent in deficit.”

MICHAEL TANNER: “A Debate About Contraception of Religious Freedom? No, a Debate About Economic Choice”
“First, let’s be clear: This issue never had anything whatsoever to do with women’s health. There is nothing that prevents any woman who wants contraceptives from purchasing them. No one is threatening to take that right away, and no one should. The debate does not even have anything to do with whether or not women can get insurance that covers contraceptives. Most insurance plans already do so, and when they don’t, women can purchase a rider that provides the additional coverage. What this debate was really about is who pays for that coverage. And as much as some would like to obscure it, there is a difference between having the freedom to buy something for yourself and forcing someone else to pay for it.”

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OPINION

DAVID WEIGEL: “Why Super PACs Are Good for Democracy”
“It’s getting harder to argue that super PACs have horribly degraded our elections. In this first presidential election since the dawn of the supers, they have actually—and probably by accident!—given us a more competitive, transparent Republican primary. They are, in a sense, a good thing for our democracy.”

JERRY BRITO and TATE WATKINS: “Cyberwar is the New Yellowcake, Fueling a Cybersecurity-Industrial Complex”
“The reason cybersecurity legislation is so pressing, proponents say, is that we face an immediate risk of national disaster. [...] Yet evidence to sustain such dire warnings is conspicuously absent. In many respects, rhetoric about cyber catastrophe resembles threat inflation we saw in the run-up to the Iraq War. And while Congress’ passing of comprehensive cybersecurity legislation wouldn’t lead to war, it could saddle us with an expensive and overreaching cyber-industrial complex.”

DON BOUDREAUX: “Looking High and Low for Sources of Economic Growth”
“High-skilled immigrants are sexy.  By definition, they possess talents that are rare relative to the skills possessed by the bulk of workers in both developing anddeveloped countries.  High-skilled immigrants, therefore, stand apart from other immigrants as well as from most workers in destination countries. [...] [But] a focus on the (very real) benefits of a liberalized policy toward high-skilled immigrants removes attention from the (very real) benefits of a liberalized policy toward low-skilled immigrants.  Put differently, treating the immigration of high-skilled workers separately misleadingly suggests that a categorical distinction separates high-skilled immigrants from low-skilled immigrants.”

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OPINION

SHIKA DALMIA: “GM Profits, But Taxpayers Are Still On the Hook”
“Three years after being rescued by a taxpayer bailout, General Motors (GM) last week announced some rather ambitious profit targets for 2012. But even if it meets these targets — a big if — taxpayers should not wait on one foot to recover their remaining “investment” in the company.”

TYLER COWEN: “Break Up the Banks? Here’s an Alternative”
“The more a bank is legally limited in terms of easily measurable size, the more it may resort to off-balance-sheet activities to make up the difference. ‘Breaking up big banks’ may really mean making these less-transparent bank activities much more important to a bank’s fate. [...] There is a better alternative: expanding the liability for major financial institutions. If a shareholder invests a dollar in a big bank, why not make that shareholder liable for the first $1.50 — or more — of losses as insolvency approaches? In essence, we would be making the shareholders liable for the costs that bank failures impose on society, and making the banks sort out the right mixes of activities and risks.”

MEGAN MCARDLE: “New Drugs Cost Even More Than You Think”
“For every approved drug, pharma spent between $4 billion and $11 billion on R&D.  Yes, there’s probably some wiggle room on the accounting, but not that much–your auditor is not going to let you reclassify your new delivery trucks, or a Human Resources SVP, as a research expense.  As Herper points out, this isn’t necessarily a vindication of pharma–one could demand to know why they have to spend so much money to develop new drugs.  Yes, I know, it’s getting harder to find approvable new drugs, but the industry has been flailing for ten years, and so far, the only answer they have hit on seems to be ‘more layoffs!’”

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OPINION

DON BOUDREAUX: “The Twistocracy”
“[U.S. Senator Kirsten] Gillibrand (D-NY) said: ‘The power to decide whether or not to use contraception lies with a woman – not her boss.  What is more intrusive than trying to allow an employer to make medical decisions for someone who works for them?‘ The twisted logic underlying Ms. Gillibrand’s worldview is stunning.  First she wants to collectivize health-care funding.  Second, she then expresses indignance that express orders by the state on how private parties spend their funds are resisted by those private parties.  And third, she parades her indignance as being a defense of private spheres of actions that ought not be intruded into by outsiders!”

PETER SCHWEIZER: “Warren Buffett: Baptist and Bootlegger”
“Warren Buffett is very much a political entrepreneur; his best investments are often in political relationships. In recent years, Buffett has used taxpayer money as a vehicle to even greater profit and wealth. Indeed, the success of some of his biggest bets and the profitability of some of his largest investments rely on government largesse and “coddling” with taxpayer money.”

KATY WALDMAN: “Uncle Sam Is Not Coming For Dinner”
“America is fat, but Americans disagree about what this means. Either the country’s obesity rates—one third of all adults are obese—are a dangerous health crisis, or they show that the nation is healthier and wealthier than ever. Either the government must act immediately to curb our waistlines, or we must act to curb our bloated government. These were the questions debated in NYU’s Skirball Center last night at theSlate/Intelligence Squared live debate, in which four health and policy experts argued the motion that “Obesity is the government’s business.””

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OPINION

MARK BUCHANAN: “A Bar May Be The Place to Understand Markets”
“Economists have wondered for decades why markets have ‘excess volatility’ — that is, why prices move up and down more than they should by any sensible reckoning of assets’ fundamental value. [...] Imagine a college bar with music and cheap drinks every Thursday night. Naturally, lots of students want to go. Trouble is, it’s a tiny place, and they will enjoy it only if 60 percent or fewer of them go. Otherwise, they will suffer miserably in the cramped heat. Hence, each week, every student faces a tricky decision: How to do what most other people will not do.”

FARHAD MANJOO: “The Thermostat Wars”
“Late last year Tony Fadell, the guy who created the iPod at Apple, launched Nest, a new company that aims to reinvent household devices. Nest’s first product is a beautiful, easy-to-use, $249 ‘learning thermostat.’ It launched to rave reviews, and sold out instantly. [...] Honeywell filed a wide-ranging patent infringement suit against Nest, alleging that the startup used seven different Honeywell inventions. [...] The Honeywell v. Nest lawsuit is being justifiably criticized as another black mark on our broken patent system. If Honeywell invented all these cool features, why didn’t it make something of them?”

MARK CALABRIA: “Bernanke’s Anti-Stimulus”
“One of the direct results of the Federal Reserve’s zero interest rate policies has been a massive reduction in interest income going to households. Since 2008, household interest income has fallen by about $400 billion annually. That’s $400 billion each year that families have not had to spend.”

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OPINION

SEN. ROB PORTMAN and SEN. MARK PRYOR: “A Push for Smart Regulations”
“The Regulatory Accountability Act, which we introduced along with Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), would set the stage for lower-cost rules, greater transparency and a more stable regulatory environment for job creation and investment. First, drawing on executive orders by presidents of both parties over three decades, our legislation requires agencies to evaluate the costs and benefits of proposed regulations; consider the potential effect on jobs and the economy and choose the least burdensome approach that accomplishes the intended policy goals.”

BEN BAJARIN: “Why Technology and Innovation Are Critical to America’s Future”
“While much technological innovation has taken place in the past 30 years, I believe that we’re just now at the beginning stages of one of the most technologically innovative time periods in our world’s history. It’s important that we ensure the new technological advancements, technology companies and innovations come from the United States.”

NEW YORK POST EDITORIAL: “Curb the Pensions!”
“The unions may be dead set against it, but New Yorkers overwhelmingly support a new pension system for future government employees. [...] Cuomo’s proposal is simple: Let new state and local hires pick between a traditional, but slightly less generous, pension and a 401(k)-style savings plan. Most private-sector workers don’t even get such a choice — but the unions were quick to denounce it as ‘an assault on the middle class.’”

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OPINION

STEVEN HORWITZ: “Creating Jobs Versus Creating Value”
“Picking on New York Times columnist Paul Krugman is one of the largest participation sports on the Internet. And rightfully so, since he often says ridiculous things that demand a response from those who understand basic economics better than he does, despite his having won a Nobel Prize. His January 26 column has him, once again, making such an argument. This time it’s on the subject of job creation.”

CECIL ADAMS: “Your Light Bulb Questions Answered”
“1. Although halogen bulbs don’t offer much of an energy savings over ordinary incandescents, compact fluorescents sure do, and you’d be a fool not to use them whenever you could. Me, I’ve got ‘em all over the house, including right here in the desk lamp.
2. Telling me I have to use them — production and import of conventional 100-watt incandescent bulbs were effectively banned Jan. 1– is a pointless intrusion on my personal rights.”

NANCY SCOLA: “Interview with Aneesh Chopra”
“When the president needs advice on technology policy, he calls on Aneesh Chopra. As the first Chief Technology Officer of the United States, a post created by Barack Obama as the manifestation of a campaign promise, Chopra is charged with advising the president about where technology and innovation can spur job growth, boost industry, and improve quality of life for 21st century Americans when it comes to energy, education, health care, and more.”

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CEI Weekly is a compilation of articles and blog posts from CEI’s fellows and associates sent out via e-mail every Friday. Also included in the weekly newsletter is a brief description of CEI’s weekly podcast and a feature on a major CEI breakthrough made during the week. To sign up for CEI Weekly, go to http://cei.org/newsletters.

CEI Weekly

February 3, 2012

>> Featured Story

In 2011, CEI labor policy analysts created the Big Labor vs. Taxpayers Index to measure the influence of union lobbyists on state governments. The purpose of the Index was to educate lawmakers and taxpayers about union handouts at the state level. Now, in early 2012, the Index is certainly making a difference: Oklahoma Senator David Holt is introducing legislation to empower Oklahoma taxpayers, citing his state’s poor ranking on CEI’s Index. Read Research Associate Jack Mann’s OpenMarket commentary on Sen. Holt’s announcement for more details.

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