CEI Weekly (10/2/09)

>>CEI Takes On Both Cap and Trade and Endangerment as a Senate Bill Emerges

CEI fought for sensible energy policy on a number of fronts this week. On Monday, Chris Horner notified the Treasury Department of CEI’s “intent to sue” for all internal communications regarding a cap-and-trade energy tax. Two days later, CEI’s Iain Murray picked apart anti-energy climate legislation introduced this week by Senators Barbara Boxer (D-California) and Joh n Kerry (D-Massachusetts). And on Thursday, Senior Fellow Marlo Lewis responded to the Environmental Protection Agency’s illegal proposal to impose energy rationing on the American economy.

>>Shaping the Debate

Aristocrats Can Afford Car-Free Days - Sam Kazman's op-ed in the San Francisco Examiner

Net Neutrality Has Many Facets, Some of Them Known - Ryan Radia's letter in the Wall Street Journal

How to Reduce Unemployment - William Yeatman and John Berlau's op-ed in the Washington Times

Make Florida More Hurricane Resistant - Eli Lehrer's op-ed in the Miami Herald

>>Best of the Blogs

Senate Finance Committee Rejects Public Option - by Greg Conko

The Senate Finance Committee, by a 15-8 vote, rejected an amendment proposed by Senator Jay Rockefeller that would have added a government-run, or ”public,” health insurance option to the overhaul proposal. Joining all ten of the committee’s Republicans in voting “no” were five Democrats, including Baucus, Bill Nelson, Kent Conrad, Blanche Lincoln, and Thomas Carper. . . Of course, Liberal Democrats are fuming. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and House Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Cal.) remain committed to a public option.

7-Eleven serves up Big Gulp of Big Government to Credit Card Consumers - by John Berlau

If Congress acts on 7-Eleven’s misleading petition to put price controls on interchange fees, consumers will pay the price through the reduction of reward programs such as frequent flier miles, and the possible return of annual fees.

New Study on How Government Employee Unions Squeeze Public Budgets - by Ivan Osorio

Now it seems like not a month goes by without another state facing a budget crisis. Now it’s Michigan’s turn. Predictably, state politicians are trying to scare the public with talk of cutting funding for libraries and prisons, in order to make tax increases an easier sell. Also predictably, policy makers appear to be avoiding looking for budget savings where substantial ones could be realized: government payrolls.

>>Liberty Week Podcast

Episode 62: Soak the Rich, Reap the Wind

We start with the semi-proposed allegedly not-a-bailout of the newspaper industry, Steven Chu’s condescending views on energy policy and Google’s copyright troubles in France. We then look at what soaking the rich has done to New York’s finances, Obama’s presence at the UN and a good old fashioned Washington, D.C. corruption scandal.

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