CEI Weekly: The Value of Market Voices

Friday, April 27, 2012

Feature: Fred L. Smith, Jr. explains how the attack on ALEC is part of a broader attack on "market voices."

FEATURE: The Value of Market Voices In a powerful letter to The Wall Street Journal this week, CEI President Fred L. Smith Jr. explains that the ongoing attacks on the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) are part of a broader attempt to "drive market voices from the marketplace of ideas." If businesses are excluded from policy debates, Fred argues, then the only people left will be motivated by ideology--which can be dangerous, as history proves. "Our Founders gave us a system based on the battle of ideas," he writes. "If critics of the free market believe they have a strong case, they should seek to win that battle openly, rather than by silencing the opposition through intimidation."  Read the full letter here. SHAPING THE DEBATE Right to Work Laws Vincent Vernuccio's television interview on Fox Business My Succession Plan Fred Smith's latest vodcast How a Cybersecurity Protection Bill Might Differ From CISPA Wayne Crews' column in Forbes More Than Good Enough for Government Work Ivan Osorio's article in The American Magazine Supply-Side Critics Offer Only Trickle Down Solutions Bill Frezza's op-ed in Real Clear Markets A Free-Market Solution for Fisheries Andrew Langer & Iain Murray's op-ed in The Washington Examiner Are We Subsidizing Student Debt Too Generously Hans Bader's interview in The Washington Post $60 Light Bulb Comes Down in Price--Just in Time for Earth Day Brian McGraw's citation on MSNBC.com Conservative Groups Slam House Cybersecurity Bill Ryan Radia's citation in The Hill CISPA Revision Allows DHS Countermeasures Ryan Radia's citation on CNET Building a 21st Century FDA Sam Kazman's citation in Reason Magazine Believers, Skeptics Stand Ground on Climate Change Myron Ebell's citation in The Toledo Blade

CEI PODCAST April 26, 2012: CISPA  After a public uproar over privacy concerns killed the SOPA and PIPA bills, Congress is back with the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act of 2011, or CISPA. Associate Director of Technology Studies Ryan Radia goes over CISPA’s own privacy problems, and discusses the bill’s political prospects. BEST OF THE BLOGS The Awful Truth ABout the Highway Bills By Marc Scribner CAFE, RFS Endanger Convenience Stores, Study Says By Marlo Lewis TSA in the News By Ryan Young Congressional Hearings Question National Toxicology Program's Science By Angela Logomasini EPA's MATS Economic Analysis Omits Economy From Analysis By David Bier