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Going, Going, Gone! Spectrum Auction Starts Today
By: Daniel R. Ballon, Ph.D
1.24.2008
The Federal Communications Commission begins auctioning off a large swath of the nation's airwaves today, making room for faster mobile broadband technologies. According to a recent survey, 61 percent of respondents did not know about this auction. Even among those with familiarity, 77 percent did not understand the rationale, significance, or consequences. Operating under the public's radar, a coalition of special interest groups and corporate lobbyists have used this auction to manipulate the FCC, impose regulations on the wireless industry, and restrict innovation over the airwaves.
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The Fed Painted Into a Keynesian Corner
By: Robert Patrick Murphy
1.22.2008
This morning the Fed announced a surprise rate cut of 75 basis points, the biggest cut in 24 years. Yet the stock market nosedived anyway, with the S&P 500 shedding 1.1% during the session, bringing its total losses to 10.75% for 2008. The Fed is finding that it has lost control over the market: If it stays pat, investors gripe about a credit crunch and stocks plunge, while if it cuts aggressively, then investors assume things are worse than they realized and rush to Treasuries.
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Different Shades of Green
By: Thomas Tanton
1.21.2008
The environmental community is exhibiting concerns about the pitfalls of biofuels, that I and PRI have been pointing out for several years. This past weekend, both the venerable New York Times and Sacramento Bee had feature articles on the environmental and human downsides to the expanded demand for biofuels. The fuel's expansion comes with devastating environmental damages, especially the destruction of rain forest and important animal habitat. And the cause? Heavy, and increasingly obese, mandates and subsidies foisted on energy markets by well-intentioned but myopic government agencies. Those mandates require certain percentages of biofuels, and the subsidies use taxpayer funds to cover over half the cost of production.
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Amazon Leads La Résistance Against Protectionism
By: Daniel R. Ballon, Ph.D
1.15.2008
The CEO of Amazon.com vowed this week to challenge a French law making it illegal to offer customers discounts and rebates. Last month, a French court ruled that Amazon must raise its prices, or face a fine of $1500 per day. Baffled that a country would force its citizens to pay more for his company's products, Amazon's Jeff Bezos proclaimed that "France would be the only country in the world" where offering a good deal "would be declared illegal." Sadly, however, protectionist policies are spreading all across Europe, punishing consumers with fewer choices and higher prices.
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More on Thermostats
By: Thomas Tanton
1.15.2008
The North County Times, in northern San Diego, reports that the CEC has backed off a proposal written about here last week. In an about-face, the California Energy Commission plans to give customers final control over the energy saving thermostats that are to be required in new homes, Claudia Chandler, the commission's assistant executive director, said Friday.
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The Writers Strike and Jay Leno's Monologue
By: Robert Patrick Murphy
1.11.2008
In entertainment news, the excitement this week was the decision by Jay Leno and Jimmy Kimmel to appear as guests on each other’s show. During Kimmel’s appearance on “The Tonight Show,” the issue came up that Leno himself—in his capacity as a writer and member of the Writers Guild—is prohibited from writing jokes. Incredibly, not only is Leno forbidden from writing jokes for Kimmel…he can’t even write jokes for himself. I’m not exaggerating: The official Writers Guild position is that Leno has permission to do a monologue. But if he writes his own monologue, then he has crossed the picket line.
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Mayor Newsom’s Wi-Fi Flip-Flop
By: Daniel R. Ballon, Ph.D
1.8.2008
On the eve of this morning's inauguration ceremony, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom is renewing his pledge to blanket the city with free municipal Wi-Fi Internet access. At first glance, Mayor Newsom's comments revive memories of the waste, bureaucracy, and mismanagement which plagued the city's previous projects. At second glance, these words signal a revelation: the Mayor finally understands that success can only be achieved by taking the ‘muni' out of ‘muni Wi-Fi.'
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Let's Move Inside
By: Thomas Tanton
1.8.2008
Perhaps recognizing that political efforts to control the climate is a futile endeavor, regulators seem bent on controlling comfort anyway. California utilities would dictate the temperature of new homes and commercial buildings with a radio-controlled thermostat, under a proposed state update to building energy efficiency standards.
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