New from the Business & Media Institute
Media Myths: Global Warming is Causing Stronger Hurricanes
The 2005 hurricane season was destructive and tragic for thousands of
Americans. Unfortunately, the media did a disservice by cluttering the
coverage with sensationalized portraits of the storm season. Despite
scientists repeated assurances that global warming wasnt to blame for
this years storms, journalists continued to link the two. And those
scientists werent the only ones who were ignored the historical record
putting the 2005 season in context was also largely absent, as this new
Business & Media Institute analysis shows.
Get our Fact Sheet on global warming and hurricanes.
Econ 101: Has the Economy Been Good or Bad?
No matter how hard the media try, they cant get the U.S.
economy on the naughty list. And as BMI Adviser Gary Wolfram explains, the
secret of its continued success is tax cuts.
Ask the professor: Do you have a question about an economic issue
covered in the news?
Its Beginning to Look a Lot Like a Very Good Christmas
As a clichd broadcast journalist would say, those arent sleigh bells you
hear; theyre cash registers ringing! But how can this be? The media told
us wed get nothing but lumps of coal this year. From Black Friday to
Cyber Monday and beyond, eager shoppers have been proving them wrong.
The Good, the Bad & the Ugly
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.
This week: The smell of good news in the morning; confusion
on CNN; and Dobbs strikes on CBS.
Also from BMI:
CNNs Dobbs Gives Hot Economy a Cold Shower
Morning Shows Return to Pessimism on the Economy
CNNs Serwer Huffs and Puffs about Bad News from Detroit
Research, News & Commentary
Global Warming
Research: Even though atmospheric carbon dioxide levels increased in the same time period, there was no net change in either the mean onset or duration of snow cover for the entire continent of North America from 1950 to 2002, reports the Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change.
Taxes
Commentary: Japanese lawmakers recently were dealt a sharp lesson in the power of popular opposition to bad tax policy, writes the Tax Foundations Andrew Chamberlain. The economist argues the failure of the iPod tax in Japan is just the latest example of how the days of selective excise taxes as reliable revenue sources are numbered.
Research: Cato Institutes Director of Tax Policy Chris Edwards looks at how flat tax reforms have helped countries that adopted them.
Commentary: CEI Senior Fellow Marlo Lewis concludes that windfall profits taxes are just energy taxes by another name, and cannot but stifle investment and increase U.S. dependence on foreign oil.
Free Market
Commentary: James Womack of the Lean Enterprise Institute chalks up Detroits woes to labor unions and pension arrangements, which havent responded to the market, and urges the Big Three automakers to learn from Toyota.
Research: Catos Doug Bandow examines how the Medicare drug benefit could lead to price controls on medicine, and with it, starving pharmaceutical companies of funding for research and development.
Property Rights
Commentary: Heritage's Ronald Utt argues the President and Congress have been too slow in curtailing abuse of eminent domain.
Commentary: Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn asks Whatever Happened to the Ownership Society? in the November issue of Imprimis.
School Vouchers/Education
News: The growth of school choice in Milwaukee has led to more than $118 million in spending on new and remodeled schools in Milwaukee reports Mike Ford for the Heartland Institutes School Reform News.
