CEI Today: Life of Julius video, national ID, and EU "cultural diversity"

Meet Julius: How Unions Hurt The Average Worker

Julius is an African American man living in modern-day America. Julius is a fictitious character, but the problems he faces are real problems that real people face every day. He wants the American Dream. He wants prosperity and opportunity. He wants his kids to have a better life than he did. When he retires, he wants to know that his years of hard work have meant some level of comfort in his old age.

In other words, Julius wants what all of us want. Unfortunately, his economic hopes are continually frustrated in ways both large and small, both obvious and subtle, by a powerful force: labor unions.

Please come see Julius’s story at WorkplaceChoice.org, and share with your friends and family. After all — you are Julius. And so are we all. > View the video

IMMIGRATION  - DAVID BIER Openmarket.org: Gang Of 8’s Euphemism For National ID System: “Identity Authentication Mechanism” Our new euphemism for a national identification system is “identity authentication mechanism.” The Gang of 8, the leaders of which are biometric national ID card proponents, included a provision in the electronic employment verification portion of the immigration bill that calls for such a “mechanism” to identify every American at the click of a mouse. The exact thing that Americans have resisted for the past 80 years, ever since the Social Security card was first proposed.  > Read the full commentary > Interview David Bier

US-EU TRADE TALKS - FRAN SMITH Openmarket.org: Will EU “Cultural Diversity” Exception Undermine U.S.-EU Trade Talks? A possible bump in the road  toward  a U.S.-EU trade agreement emerged  today as a parliamentary committee of the European Commission voted to begin trade talks with the U.S. but to allow a “cultural exception” for film and audio-visual subsidies. That means that the EU would be carving out this exception early on, possibly creating an obstacle to real progress on eliminating non-tariff trade barriers between the two parties.   > Read more > Interview Fran Smith

More in the news... Obama’s Controversial Nominee for Labor Secretary To Be Voted On Maryland Bill Will Force Teachers To Pay For The Privilege Of Going To Work New York Times: Obama Administration Discrimination Settlement Was “Magnet For Fraud” That Enriched Trial Lawyers

CEI ANNUAL DINNER & GALA FEATURING THE HONORABLE RAND PAUL JUNE 20, 2013 cei.org/ceidinner

CEI is a non-profit, non-partisan public policy group dedicated to the principles of free enterprise and limited government.  For more information about CEI, please visit our website, cei.org, and blogs, Globalwarming.org and OpenMarket.org.  Follow CEI on Twitter! Twitter.com/ceidotorg.

CEI Today: Obama recess appointments, cheese ban protests, and how unions harm workers

OBAMA RECESS APPOINTMENTS  - JOHN BERLAU

Openmarket.org: Did Hensarling Force Obama’s Hand On “Recess” Appointments?

They called it a “stunt” early last week when House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) refused to allow Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) director Richard Cordray to testify due to the constitutional cloud over Cordray’s appointment. But this “stunt” just may have forced the Obama administration’s hand in submitting a brief later in the week urging the Supreme Court to resolve the issue.  > Read the full commentary

> Interview John Berlau

CHEESE BAN - HANS BADER Openmarket.org: U.S. Government Bans French Cheese Based On Food Prejudices The U.S. government is banning a standard, normal-smelling French cheese based on its own squeamishness. The cheese in question is Mimolette, a commonplace, orange French cheese. The ban has triggered protests in New York City. Who cares if it has tiny, invisible mites in it? The cheese mites in Mimolette are there to enhance its flavor: as Wikipedia notes, the “crust of aged Mimolette is the result of cheese mites intentionally introduced to add flavor by their action on the surface of the cheese.” > Read more > Interview Hans Bader

LABOR UNIONS - IAIN MURRAY National Review: The Life of Julius Remember the White House’s poster child for welfare dependency, Julia? Meet Julius. Julius is the star of a new original production from my team at the Competitive Enterprise Institute and narrated by AlfonZo Rachel, “The Life of Julius: How Unions Hurt Workers.” Julius is a fictional character, but his aspirations, hopes, and values are shared by every American. He wants opportunity and economic security. He wants his years of hard work to mean some level of comfort in his retirement. Unfortunately, labor-union bosses, and the politicians and laws they support, continually frustrate Julius’s prosperity in ways both large and small, both obvious and subtle. > Read more You can see Julius’s story, and learn more about unions’ effects on the economy at WorkPlaceChoice.

More in the news... Jerry Brown’s Legacy Train Wreck Gang Of 8’s Euphemism For National ID System: “Identity Authentication Mechanism”

CEI ANNUAL DINNER & GALA FEATURING THE HONORABLE RAND PAUL JUNE 20, 2013 cei.org/ceidinner

CEI is a non-profit, non-partisan public policy group dedicated to the principles of free enterprise and limited government.  For more information about CEI, please visit our website, cei.org, and blogs, Globalwarming.org and OpenMarket.org.  Follow CEI on Twitter! Twitter.com/ceidotorg.

CEI - New Labor Policy Video: The Life of Julius

CEI Produces Counterpoint to Obama's "Life of Julia"

WASHINGTON, D.C., April 29, 2013 — The Competitive Enterprise Institute unveiled a new video today: “The Life of Julius: How Unions Hurt Workers.” The two-minute animated film can be viewed on YouTube or at CEI's labor policy website WorkplaceChoice.org.

“The Life of Julius,” like the Obama campaign’s controversial “Life of Julia,” follows the life of a working American. Julius is an African-American man who has suffered under pro-union labor policies.

For example, as a 17 year-old in search of his first job, Julius finds that the labor pool in his hometown is artificially small thanks to minimum wage laws, which have been promoted by labor unions for decades.

Later in life, as a father and home-owner in his 40s, Julius finds that the collective bargaining agreements of public-sector workers have driven his taxes up, leaving his family with less take-home pay for groceries, gas, and vacations.

Finally, at the end of his working life, a 64 year-old Julius is looking forward to retiring on the pension fund he's contributed to for decades. Unfortunately, the unionized workforce at his company has driven the enterprise into insolvency by increasing labor costs to unsustainable levels. The company is forced to shut its doors, and Julius finds he has an empty nest egg, just when he needs it.

"The Life of Julius" tells the story of how the average person is affected by politically empowered unions and the laws and regulations they support. Watch the video here.

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CEI is a non-profit, non-partisan public policy group dedicated to the principles of free enterprise and limited government.  For more information about CEI, please visit our website, cei.org, and blogs, Globalwarming.org and OpenMarket.org.  Follow CEI on Twitter! Twitter.com/ceidotorg.

CEI Today: Life of Julius video, GOP v Margaret Thatcher, and Calif. chemical regulation

Meet Julius: How Unions Hurt The Average Worker

Julius is an African American man living in modern-day America. Julius is a fictitious character, but the problems he faces are real problems that real people face every day. He wants the American Dream. He wants prosperity and opportunity. He wants his kids to have a better life than he did. When he retires, he wants to know that his years of hard work have meant some level of comfort in his old age.

In other words, Julius wants what all of us want. Unfortunately, his economic hopes are continually frustrated in ways both large and small, both obvious and subtle, by a powerful force: labor unions.

Please come see Julius’s story at WorkplaceChoice.org, and share with your friends and family. After all — you are Julius. And so are we all. > View the video

GOP vs MARGARET THATCHER - MATTHEW MELCHIORRE & RYAN YOUNG American Spectator: Republicans Dishonor Thatcher Margaret Thatcher got entrepreneurialism. Why won’t the GOP? Margaret Thatcher’s passing led many around the world to reflect on her legacy. In the United Kingdom, reactions ranged from fond remembrances by supporters to street protests by detractors. In America, Republicans have lionized her, highlighting her strong ideological bond with Ronald Reagan. But today’s GOP seems to have strayed very far from the Reagan-Thatcher vision. This is especially true in the fields of financial and fiscal policy.  > Read the full commentary > Interview an expert

BPA CHEMICAL RISK - ANGELA LOGOMASINI Openmarket.org: Why BPA (And Other Chemicals) Don’t Belong On Proposition 65 If you want to have fun in California’s Disneyland, avoid reading the warning signs saying that products used in the park may give you cancer and reproductive problems! They’re not just a buzz kill, they are plain dumb and misinformed. But it’s state law that they be there. California’s nonsensical Proposition 65 law directs regulators to place chemicals on a “toxic” substances list, and then forces companies to issue warning labels when they use these substances to make consumer products and food. But regulators list chemicals for myriad stupid reasons.   > Read more > Interview Angela Logomasini

More in the news... Will EU “Cultural Diversity” Exception Undermine U.S.-EU Trade Talks? Obama’s Controversial Nominee for Labor Secretary To Be Voted On Maryland Bill Will Force Teachers To Pay For The Privilege Of Going To Work Regulation Roundup New York Times: Obama Administration Discrimination Settlement Was “Magnet For Fraud” That Enriched Trial Lawyers

CEI ANNUAL DINNER & GALA FEATURING THE HONORABLE RAND PAUL JUNE 20, 2013 cei.org/ceidinner

CEI is a non-profit, non-partisan public policy group dedicated to the principles of free enterprise and limited government.  For more information about CEI, please visit our website, cei.org, and blogs, Globalwarming.org and OpenMarket.org.  Follow CEI on Twitter! Twitter.com/ceidotorg.

CEI Today: Internet sales tax, Iron Man vs Musicians Union, and lessons from austerity

INTERNET SALES TAX - MICHAEL GREVE

Forbes: The Internet Sales Tax Reveals Its Foolish Head Yet Again

They’re at it again: On Monday, the U.S. Senate voted 74-20 to proceed with debate on the “Marketplace Fairness Act.”

But, so long as we live with state and local tax autonomy, neutrality is impossible. Any move in that direction—by means of destination taxation—will entail huge compliance costs.  > Read the full commentary

> Interview an expert

IRON MAN & THE UNION - MATT PATTERSON Workplacechoice.org: Iron Man vs. The Musicians Union Can the Iron Avenger triumph over a new nemesis stalking his box office prospects? The American Federation of Musicians (AFM), it appears, is unhappy with Marvel Studios and its parent company Disney for using–gasp!–non-American musical talent to score their blockbuster hits Iron Man 3, and last year’s The Avengers. >Read more > Interview Matt Patterson

AUSTERITY - MATTHEW MELCHIORRE Investor's Business Daily: U.S. Should Copy Estonia, Which Made Austerity Work Another month of disappointing job numbers is a painful reminder that the U.S. economy is struggling after almost five years of fiscal and monetary stimulus. For a better way forward, let's look at Estonia, which took its medicine as soon as the global financial crisis broke. It cut government spending relatie to its pre-crisis level drastically — 2.8% in 2009 and 9.5% in 2010 — and is now one of Europe's fastest growing economies.  > Read more > Interview Matthew Melchiorre

April 25, 2013: Regulations Are Less Than Transparent Every year, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) releases a report on the costs and benefits of the previous year’s new regulations. This year’s report was just released. Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews points out that the report ignores three quarters of all agencies and includes the costs of fewer than one half of one percent of last year’s regulations. > Listen to the podcast

More in the news... Will EU “Cultural Diversity” Exception Undermine U.S.-EU Trade Talks? Why BPA (And Other Chemicals) Don’t Belong On Proposition 65 Obama’s Controversial Nominee for Labor Secretary To Be Voted On Shielding EPA's McCarthy from scrutiny is what's 'totally bogus' Lawsuits Over “Customary International Law”: A Menace To Free Speech, Our Liberties, Our Companies, And Our Economy Why Is Congress Lethargic about Energy?

CEI ANNUAL DINNER & GALA FEATURING THE HONORABLE RAND PAUL JUNE 20, 2013 cei.org/ceidinner

CEI is a non-profit, non-partisan public policy group dedicated to the principles of free enterprise and limited government.  For more information about CEI, please visit our website, cei.org, and blogs, Globalwarming.org and OpenMarket.org.  Follow CEI on Twitter! Twitter.com/ceidotorg.