competitive enterprise institute

Lee Doren Discusses ‘The Story of Stuff’ on Lou Dobbs

by Richard Morrison on September 28, 2009 · 1 comment

in Video, Zeitgeist

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vTJdpbUYhY 285 234]

Tech is Key in Ideas Battle

by Silvia Santacruz on April 16, 2009

in International, Nanny State, Tech & Telecom

Earlier today, Competitive Enterprise Institute President Fred Smith delivered an informative but lively, entertaining speech about the role of NGOs.  The speech was delivered at the Washington-based Atlas Economic Research Foundation, an umbrella organization that sponsors the creation of free-market NGOs worldwide.

Smith acknowledged that the libertarian movement, although weaker than its opponents, is gaining ground through the Internet, online video sharing and other peer-to-peer technologies.  The latest example of the successful usage of such technologies is yesterday’s landmark Tea Party protests, a spontaneous action on Tax Day led by regular American citizens.  CEI housed a supply of one million tea bags originally meant to be dumped at the White House, but a lack of adequate permission to legally make the delivery prevented the initiative.  Read 1,000,000 Tea Bags Find a Home

CEI’s president also recommended that the private sector end the mea culpa and allow libertarian think tanks to be a friendly critic of their policies.  “They spend $1 trillion trying to communicate with Joe and John citizens.  But businesses spend nothing defending businesses.  It is depressing how naïve the business community is with all their wisdom,” he asserted.

Other speakers at the April installment of Atlas’ International Thursday were Aleksandar Novakovic reporting on the rise of Liberty Camps in Slovenia, Feng Xingyuan of the Cathay Institute for Public Affairs and Marcos Victoria of the Argentinean Consultcom S.A.

Ironic Snowfall for Resource-Rich Greenies

by Silvia Santacruz on March 2, 2009 · 1 comment

in Energy, Environment, Global Warming, Natural Resources

Environmentalists characterize themselves as petite Davids battling gargantuan corporate Goliaths in order to grab media attention.  But hundreds of green activists demonstrated today to raise awareness of global warming and against coal production in front of the Capital Power Plant in southeast Washington D.C.  The group had plenty of resources ranging from a raised stage with microphones, to trucks loaded with food and coffee, to green plastic helmets, all the way down to fluorescent caps and fancy colored anti-industry signs.

We, the counter protesters, were comprised about 25 to 30 Davids.  Participants hailed from the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI)—the event organizers—as well as the producers of the film Not Evil Just Wrong, the National Mining Association (NMA), American for Prosperity (AFP), the National Center for Public Policy Research, Conservative Caucus and others.  All of us proudly held our no-frills signs celebrating coal, highlighting its importance to electricity generation and the nation’s economy.

Despite the disparity between the number of anti-coal demonstrators and the “Celebrate Coal” participants, the weather proved to be a major ally: the nation’s capital was anything but warm today, making the global warming argument sound absurd.  In fact, Americans needed a lot of affordable coal-generated electricity today to heat their homes.

One of my favorites images of today’s dual protest (see picture above) was a Greenpeace activist seen cleaning snow from the top of his solar-powered truck with a metal sign that read, “Stop Global Warming Now”.  One of my colleagues couldn’t resist and asked, “How is that global warming sign working with cleaning out the snow?”

The greenie was too ashamed to continue, and left.

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