Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) Daily Update

Today we are bringing you all three topics from CEI because they are timely and people need to see what is happening. We love the fact that Senator Murkowski from Alaska has laid the regulations in the clean air act right at the foot of Obama -- there is nothing bipartisan about this scam. EPA has done more over the years to hurt the economy than they have to help the environment with some of the strangest rules they come up with like reformulated gas which costs people in most places 10 cents more a gallon. Why? What good does it do?

Now we learn that the Jones Act being strictly enforced by Obama is harming the efforts in the Gulf on the oil spill. To learn he is being tougher than the unions leaves us asking another Why? What good does it do? Why not take the help and not worry about the Jones Law when we have Gulf states under attack from the BP oil spill but then we are still wondering why he wouldn't talk to the President of BP at the beginning.

Ethanol the last topic of the day is one that leaves a really bad taste in our mouth as nothing has been proven it helps gasoline in any way but we are stuck paying extra to get ethanol free gas. This was done as a subsidy to corn farmers of Iowa without any justification whatsoever except some environmentalists pipe dream as a way to make money for corn producers and be less reliant on oil. Now we learn that a tariff is being put on imported ethanol which will raise the price even more. Why?

When does all this nonsense stop by this inept Administration? Election 2010 cannot come too soon for us.

The Competitive Enterprise Institute
Daily Update
Issues in the News
June 15, 2010

1. ENVIRONMENT

Last week, the Senate rejected Lisa Murkowski’s resolution of disapproval against the EPA.

CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Marlo Lewis on why Murkowski has won a political victory, even if she suffered a legislative defeat.

“By denying President Obama bipartisan cover for greenhouse gas regulation under the Clean Air Act, Sen. Murkowski has made EPA’s endangerment rule a political liability for Democrats and a political asset for Republicans in an election year. That should increase the pressure on moderate Dems and Republicans alike to distance themselves from Democratic leaders and eschew cap-and-trade, which, like EPA’s regulations, would increase consumer energy prices, killing jobs and growth.”

2. POLITICS

President Obama has refused offers from several European countries to help clean up the oil spill because he would have to waive union-backed laws mandating that American vessels have American crews.

CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Counsel Hans Bader on why the President’s priorities are skewed.

“Ironically, even the staunchest supporters of the Jones Act are now distancing themselves from refusals to accept foreign help, saying they have ‘not and will not stand in the way of the use of these well-established waiver procedures to address this crisis.’ Obama is being more intransigently pro-union than the unions themselves.”

3. TRADE

United Ethanol signs an agreement to license GreenShift Corporation’s patented corn oil extraction technology.

CEI Expert Available to Comment: Research Associate Brian McGraw on why the Congress should end the U.S. tariff on Brazilian ethanol.

“Taxes on imported ethanol force consumers to rely on inefficient and expensive ethanol produced from corn in the United States. These tariffs, in effect, declare war on consumers, raising the price at the pump as well as the price of all goods and services that require transportation to their final point of sale.”