New from the Business & Media Institute
Wal-Mart: Always under Attack. Always. [1]
Whether its health care, a high-paid CEO, bicycles or banking, theres no
end to the medias gripes about Wal-Mart. As critics complain about the
Wal-Mart effect on business competitors, the Business & Media Institute takes a
look at the effect on media coverage slanting it against business.
Herman Cain: Media Whine, Consumers Win [2]
Its no secret that the unions are
behind most of the attacks on Wal-Mart. But more people are starting to
realize these attacks wont stop with the retail leader. An attack on
Wal-Mart is an attack on the free market and the institutions that allow
it to work, providing jobs and low-cost goods for Americans.
Global Warming Fever over Glacier Thaw [3]
A new report about Greelands glaciers has the media awash in global
warming stories. From
ABC [3] to
CBS [4] and in between, journalists produced one-sided tales of rising
seas, ignoring the evidence that glacial melting is likely a function of a
natural weather cycle.
The Good, the Bad & the Ugly [5]
The Good, the Bad & the Ugly tracks the best and worst media coverage of
business and economics. Readers are invited to submit suggestions or news
tips to staff writer
Ken Shepherd [6].
This week: IBD reports on natural gas price drop; New York
Times laments curbs on eminent domain; '60 Minutes' meltdown on global
warming.
Also from BMI:
American Morning Comes Down with the Flu [8]
CNN Prescribes an End to Free Medicine Samples [9]
Bernanke Co-Author Frank Says Everyone Would Love $2 Gas Tax [10]
Research, News & Commentary
Free Trade/National Security
Commentary [12]: The Independent Institutes Ivan Eland addresses the controversy surrounding Dubai Ports Worlds pending acquisition of a British firm that runs six American seaports. Eland argues that the United Arab Emirates-based company should be evaluated on its qualifications to operate the ports, not on McCarthy-like litmus tests for Arabs or the UAE. He says rather than giving incentive to terrorists, foreign ownership would put additional pressure on the company and the Emirati government to safeguard seaports against terrorism.
Taxes
Commentary [13]: In Virginia, while the tax man always takes away, the tax man just may give back, but only if you keep a years worth of receipts from the gas station. Gerald Prante of the Tax Foundation comments on a proposal in the Old Dominion to raise the gas tax but to refund the increase at the end of the year to taxpayers who furnish receipts.
Commentary [14]: Its time to cut out the highway funding meddle man in Washington, argues Edwin J. Feulner, president of the Heritage Foundation. [C]ontrol of all federal gas tax money collected inside a state should be given to the state itself it would stop forcing states to filter billions of dollars through Washington, says Feulner, concluding, wed all enjoy the benefits: a more efficient government that can do more for less.
Environment
Analysis [15]: Slowly, most governments are coming around to what has been President George W. Bush's position on the matter since taking office in 2001: The Kyoto Protocol is a nonstarter, AEIs Steven Hayward writes in the February 27 Weekly Standard magazine. With just a few years to go before the end of the initial target date of Kyoto, almost no nation is on course to meet its targets.
Investing/Retirement
Analysis [16]: J. Mark Iwry of the Brookings Institution and David C. John of The Heritage Foundation find in the so-called automatic IRA a new and promising approach to expanding the benefits of automatic saving to a wider array of the population. The best part of this plan, Iwry and John write, is the lack of red tape for employees, which would would lead to the indirect intended effect to draw small employers into the private pension system.
Education
Commentary [17]: Citing the success of students in private or home schooling as opposed to the public school monopoly, Heritages Rebecca Hagelin argues It's essential to the future of our children and our country that we make school choice the centerpiece of a renewed No Child Left Behind Act.