WASHINGTON, April 18 (UPI) -- The UPI think tank wrap-up is a daily digest covering brief opinion pieces, reactions to recent news events and position statements released by various think tanks.
The Cato Institute
WASHINGTON -- Tax cut-based attacks on personal investment reform proposals are wrong way to go, says Cato expert: Individual retirement accounts remain best solution for saving Social Security.
Today's congressional tax cut extension debate is being used as a forum for Social Security reform opponents to derail personal investment proposals developed by the president's commission, says Michael Tanner, director of the Cato Institute Project on Social Security Privatization.
"Rep. Robert Matsui yesterday confirmed that Social Security policy would be forced into today's debate on whether or not to extend tax cut legislation passed last summer. But the resolution of today's tax cut debate will not change the need to reform the system. Nor will it alter the demographic impact on the solvency of the system. On an issue as
crucial as saving Social Security, it's essential to remain clear of political maneuvering and evaluate proposals for reform in the light of day," Tanner said.
WASHINGTON -- Proposed legislation puts private arbitration at risk, study says.
Several bills currently before Congress would place limits on the long-accepted practice of arbitrating, instead of litigating, civil suits. For example, the Motor Vehicle Franchise Arbitration Fairness Act, sponsored by Rep. Mary Bono (R-Calif.) and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), passed the House in the last Congress and recently passed the Senate Judiciary Committee.
In a Cato Institute study released Thursday, Stanford University Law Professor Stephen J. Ware argues arbitration -- in which parties agree on private arbitrators to resolve contract disputes -- is more efficient than slow, costly and inefficient civil litigation in a government court.
"Before trial, lawyers routinely produce enormous amounts of paperwork," Ware writes. "They write and file numerous pleadings and motions. Those often lengthy documents are typically filled with legalistic jargon, technicalities, formalities and tedious repetition."
The more complex a case is, the more trial lawyers profit, Ware says. That's why the trial lawyer lobby has wanted to put an end to the streamlined process that arbitration offers. In two cases before the Supreme Court in 2000, trial lawyers sought to end arbitration but the Court reaffirmed arbitration in both instances.
"Having failed in the Supreme Court, the trial lawyers are taking their fight to the halls of Congress," Ware writes. In the paper, he explains why enactment of legislation, such as the Bono-Hatch bill that is strongly supported by trial lawyers' organizations, "would squelch private sector alternatives to lawyer-dominated court systems, violate freedom of contract and raise costs to American business."
A victory for the Bono-Hatch bill, which applies to auto franchise disputes, would set an anti-arbitration precedent, Ware says. "Trial lawyers have little at stake in disputes between auto dealers and manufacturers," he writes. "The Bono-Hatch bill is important to the trial lawyers not on its own but as a means of enacting other anti-arbitration bills -- the bills they really care about, the bills that cover the consumer and employment cases that enrich so many trial lawyers."
The report, "Arbitration Under Assault: Trial Lawyers Lead the Charge," is available as Policy Analysis No. 433 on the Cato Institute Web site at cato.org.
WASHINGTON -- Make smallpox vaccine available now, study says.
Concern has been growing about the possibility of a bioterrorist attack on the United States using a virus such as smallpox. Government preparations for such an attack focus on containing, rather than preventing an outbreak of this deadly disease. But a new Cato Institute study argues the smallpox vaccine should be made available to the public in advance, not stockpiled and handed out selectively once an attack is identified.
In "Responding to the Threat of Smallpox Bioterrorism: An Ounce of Prevention Is Best Approach," Cato scholars Charles Peña and Veronique de Rugy point out the potential threat is serious.
"The smallpox virus, on average, kills 30 percent or more of the people infected and leaves the others blind or terribly scarred for life. In fact, smallpox has killed substantially more people than warfare," they write.
The current government strategy calls for so-called ring containment -- isolation of the afflicted and vaccination of those who have had contact with them. But that policy, which does not allow vaccination before an attack, is not an acceptable approach in a society that values individual life and liberty, the authors write. "In the case of an outbreak in an unvaccinated population, people's fate will rest entirely in the hands of public health workers," who will likely be overwhelmed in such an event.
Another problem is that a terrorist smallpox attack may not be initially recognized as such. "Unlike a natural outbreak, which is likely to be an isolated incident with an identifiable point source, a terrorist attack might have multiple sources, not all of which would be immediately and easily known," the authors point out.
"Using a ring containment strategy also means that even if everything works according to plan people who were infected at the onset of the attack will die whereas they might have lived had they been previously vaccinated."
Giving the public access to the vaccine allows people to become more informed about the risks of vaccination and make their own choices, in consultation with their doctor, about whether to get inoculated, the authors write. Advance vaccination would also slow the spread of smallpox.
"Even if only a small fraction of the population were vaccinated, a community immunity effect, which would lower the rate of transmission of a disease as well as significantly increase the chances of success of a ring containment strategy, would be produced," they write.
Preventive vaccination also acts as a deterrent against attack, the authors argue. "A well-vaccinated population is probably unattractive to would-be bioterrorists. A partially vaccinated population creates uncertainty about the prospects for an attack's achieving the desired results of widespread panic, infection and death."
The report is available as Policy Analysis No. 434 on the Cato Institute Web site at cato.org.
National Center for Policy Analysis
(NCPA is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy research organization whose goal is to develop and promote private alternatives to government regulation and control, solving problems by relying on the strength of the competitive, entrepreneurial private sector.)
DALLAS -- Burnett: Congress should stop lawsuits against legal firearms.
Approximately 30 cities and counties are pursuing product liability lawsuits against manufacturers and licensed dealers for the criminal or accidental use of firearms. In Congress, the proposed "Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act," would immunize them from these lawsuits.
H.R. 2037 would not usurp local authority, according to H. Sterling Burnett of the National Center for Policy Analysis. He argues that:
* While a majority of the nation's states have banned these lawsuits within their borders, other states have not acted.
* A substantial judgment against the firearm industry in a state that lacks a law prohibiting these lawsuits would have the effect of regulating or ending firearms
manufacturing and sales in states with such a ban.
* When commercial regulations created by the legislature or the courts in one state significantly affect commerce in other states, Congress has legitimate oversight authority, because the U.S. Constitution delegates to Congress alone the power to regulate interstate commerce.
* Although both federal and state courts have held courts shouldn't legislate gun policy, the actual aim of the lawsuits is to push firms into bankruptcy, says Burnett.
* The lawsuits already have helped push two companies into bankruptcy.
* The firearms industry is relatively small, with sales of approximately $2 billion and profits of $200 million for the 1999 fiscal year.
* With each company's failure, the remaining companies must divert more of their limited resources to fight the lawsuits -- thus one large judgment, such as the $400 million sought by Chicago, could bankrupt the entire industry.
The lawsuits also are a threat to public safety. Burnett says he has calculated the net economic benefits from defensive gun uses range from between $1 billion to nearly $39 billion annually.
National Center for Public Policy Research
(NCPPR is a communications and research foundation dedicated to providing free market solutions to today's public policy problems, based on the principles of a free market, individual liberty and personal responsibility. NCPPR was founded to provide the conservative movement with a versatile and energetic organization capable of responding quickly and decisively to late-breaking issues, based on thorough research.)
CHICAGO -- Ten second response: Earth Day 2002 brings cause for celebration and concerns about over-regulation. By Gretchen Randall.
Background: April 22, 2002 marks the 32nd anniversary of the first Earth Day. Former U.S. Sen. Gaylord Nelson, Earth Day's co-founder, modeled Earth Day on anti-Vietnam War demonstrations called "teach-ins" that were common on college campuses. As many as 20 million Americans participated in environmental rallies, demonstrations and other activities in the 1970 Earth Day.
Since the first Earth Day, however, the environmental movement has increasingly transformed itself from a largely grassroots, citizen crusade to a professionally organized, established special interest. Environmental organizations now employ 3,400 full-time employees, including leaders who often make $150,000 or more. Non-profit foundations donate at least $400 million a year to environmental advocacy and research.
Ten second response: This Earth Day finds our air and water cleaner than it was over 30 years ago while our economy has become much more energy efficient.
Thirty second response: We should be proud of our accomplishments in cleaning our air and water over the past 32 years, but we should recognize the rise in the cost of federal regulations. In 2000, complying with federal regulations cost every American household approximately $8,000. We must work to lower the impact of regulations on small businesses so increasing numbers of jobs are not lost.
(Gretchen Randall is the director of the John P. McGovern, M.D. Center for Environmental and Regulatory Affairs at the National Center for Public Policy Research)
