In a message dated 10/13/99 12:07:31 PM Central Daylight Time,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
<<
"NATURAL PROCESSES" ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANTARCTIC MELTING
Global warming is not -- that's NOT -- responsible for melting
the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, say scientists. In a study
published in the prestigious journal Science, a team of
scientists led by Howard Conway of the University of Washington
say the Ice Sheet may be headed for a complete meltdown in a
process that started thousands of years, and there is no
evidence the rate is accelerating.
o The process "may have been predetermined when the
grounding line retreat was triggered in early Holocene
time," says the report -- about 10,000 years ago.
o The grounding line -- the boundary between floating ice
and ice thick enough to reach the sea floor -- has
retreated about 800 miles since the last ice age, withdrawing
an average of about 400 feet per year for the last 7,600
years.
o "It seems like the rate [of melting] that has been going on
since the early Holocene is similar to the rate right now,"
says Conway. "Collapse appears to be part of an ongoing
natural cycle, probably caused by [a] rising sea level initiated
by the melting of the Northern Hemisphere ice sheets at the end
of the last ice age."
o Continued shrinking, perhaps even complete disintegration, "could
well be inevitable," the report concludes.
According to estimates, the ice sheet's complete melting could raise the
global sea level by 15 feet to 20 feet. But at the current rate of melting,
which is raising sea levels about 0.04 inches annually, that would take
about 7,000 years.
Source: Associated Press, "Melting of Antarctic Ice Sheet Is Linked to
Ancient History," New York Times, October 12, 1999.
For NCPA's Global Warming Hotline go to
http://www.ncpa.org/hotlines/global/gwhot.html
SUPPLY-SIDE REFORMS BOLSTER JAPAN
The Japanese economy, recently in the doldrums, has rebounded
remarkably. The reason for this, observers believe, is a set of
reforms similar to those the world has seen work at least twice
before: Ronald Reagan's in the U.S., and Margaret Thatcher's in
Britain.
o In April, the Japanese government cut the highest marginal
personal tax income rate (federal and local) from 63
percent to 47 percent.
o The highest corporate tax rate was cut by 10 percent to
just over 40 percent.
o Small business tax rates were cut from about 34 percent to
27 percent.
o There were no phase-outs, no exceptions, no ties to
deficit reductions; in other words, pure supply-side
economics.
That wasn't all. Japan also cut the capital gains tax rate and
the death tax rate, abolished the tax on stock trades, and
suspended for two years the special one percent tax on corporate
pensions. As a result, the yen has strengthened on the foreign
exchange markets, the stock market shows dollar gains of 36
percent (and is now the best performer in the world) and Prime
Minister Keizo Obuchi's popularity is soaring.
The changes are just in time. During the 1990s, government
spending led to huge deficits and a national debt in dollar terms
larger than that of the United States. In response, Japan
leveled the highest tax rate of any Group of Seven country, which
slowed the economy further without raising extra revenue. Even
now, after reforms are underway, Japan still has an all-time high
in unemployment and output growth has been non-existent. Prime
Minister Obuchi's reforms, which now could include social
security reform, couldn't have been more timely, observers say.
Source: Arthur B. Laffer, "Japan Rises Again," Wall Street
Journal, October 11, 1999.
For more on Japan http://www.ncpa.org/pi/internat/intdex9.html
>>
National Center For Policy Analysis
DAILY POLICY DIGEST
Wednesday, October 13, 1999
PointCast can automatically load NCPA's Policy Digest summaries
on your desktop for easy reading. For information go to
http://www.ncpa.org/pointcast.html
IN TODAY'S DIGEST
o PRODUCTIVITY COULD GROW 2.9 PERCENT WITHOUT INFLATION,
says a new study, indicating economic growth of 4 percent
would be noninflationary....NCPA
o TRIAL LAWYERS WANT TO SUE PAINT COMPANIES for the health
costs of lead paint poisoning....WALL STREET JOURNAL
o ABOUT 20 PERCENT OF WORKERS OFFERED HEALTH INSURANCE
REFUSE IT, according to a new survey....CENTER FOR
STUDYING HEALTH SYSTEM CHANGE/USA TODAY
o SOME 14 PERCENT OF TEXAS TEACHERS ARE ALTERNATIVELY
CERTIFIED, and nationwide the ranks of such teachers are
growing....USA TODAY
o PLAINTIFFS SUE TO BE MONITORED for illnesses they may not
have....INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY
o GLOBAL WARMING IS NOT CAUSING THE ANTARCTIC ICE SHEET TO
MELT, according to scientists who found it has been going
on since the last Ice Age....SCIENCE/NEW YORK TIMES
o TAX CUTS, OTHER FREE MARKET REFORMS, REVIVE JAPAN,
bringing it back from the economic depths....WALL STREET
JOURNAL
o CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM JUST MAKES POLITICS TRICKIER as
politicians find new ways around the rules....DALLAS
MORNING NEWS
IN TODAY'S NEWS
NEW ECONOMY? OR INFLATIONARY BUBBLE?
Do the economy and the stock market reflect a new era or a bubble
that likely will burst? New era advocates believe computers and
the internet have changed the economy and stock market valuations
permanently. Those who support the bubble view think psychology
has far outstripped fundamentals.
Bubbles are built on easy money. Thus Federal Reserve policy is
critical. The Fed has been tightening monetary policy to prevent
a bubble, and Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan has repeatedly warned
that the stock market may be overvalued.
Fed Governor Laurence H. Meyer has warned that the economy was on
the brink of an inflationary explosion. He has been especially
worried about the steady decline in unemployment, which in the
past has preceded rising inflation.
But in a September 8 speech in Philadelphia, Meyer finally
conceded that the trend rate of productivity growth may have
risen enough to negate the old relationship between inflation and
unemployment.
o In fact, according to a new study by Meyer's old firm,
Macroeconomic Advisers, potential productivity growth has
risen from 0.3 percent in 1994 to a current level of 2.9
percent -- almost 10 times higher.
o In the past, this company's forecasts have mirrored
Meyer's generally pessimistic view that the economy can't
grow more than 2 to 2.5 percent without triggering
inflation.
o However, if productivity can rise at 2.9 percent per year,
then potential economic growth may reach 4 percent without
creating inflationary pressures.
Source: Bruce Bartlett, senior fellow, National Center for Policy
Analysis, October 13, 1999.
For text http://www.ncpa.org/oped/bartlett/bartlett99.html
For more on Current and Future Growth
http://www.ncpa.org/pd/economy/econ4.html
...AND NOW LEAD PAINT SUITS
Goaded by a law firm that reaped hundreds of millions of dollars
from state lawsuits against tobacco companies, Rhode Island is
suing eight paint manufacturers who years ago used lead in their
products.
The South Carolina-based law firm of Ness, Motley, Loadholt,
Richardson & Poole has also approached four states and three
major cities to explore filing similar suits on their behalf.
This suggests the start of a new wave of actions against paint
companies.
o The Rhode Island suit seeks to recover public costs of
providing health care and special education to children
supposedly harmed by lead poisoning -- as well as
requiring the industry to strip all lead paint from public
and private buildings accessible to children in the state.
o The law firm is financing Rhode Island's suit in return
for a 17 percent share of any recovery it wins for the
state.
o The suit alleges that eight companies that either made
lead paint, or acquired companies that did, conspired to
promote their products while failing to disclose the
danger it posed to children.
o Yet paint makers stopped using lead in interior paints in
the 1950s -- while the federal government banned lead in
paint in 1978.
Lead Industries Association Inc., the industry's trade
association which was also named in the suit, claims that similar
conspiracy charges have been rejected by courts in the past --
most notably in a 1997 decision in Maryland that found the
hazards of lead paint had been widely publicized with warning
labels and industry campaigns to discourage its use inside homes.
Similar suits against paint makers are in the works in Baltimore,
Cleveland, New York and Buffalo, N.Y.
Source: Milo Geyelin, "Former Makers of Lead Paint Are Sued by
Rhode Island for Child Health Costs," Wall Street Journal,"
October 13, 1999.
For text (requires WSJ Interactive subscription)
http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB939770266795100483.htm
For more on Product Liability
http://www.ncpa.org/pd/law/tcr/index5g.html
GOING WITHOUT HEALTH INSURANCE VOLUNTARILY
Substantial numbers of Americans are going without health
insurance even though they have been offered coverage by their
employers. A survey of 33,000 households by the Center for
Studying Health System Change has revealed that about one in five
people who were offered health insurance have turned it down.
o Two-thirds of those who refused coverage blamed the high
cost of policies -- with the remainder saying they didn't
want it or need it.
o Of the estimated 35.4 million uninsured Americans, 7.3
million turned down an offer of coverage.
o At firms which pay an average of less than $7 an hour,
workers pay out nearly 11 percent of pretax income for
coverage.
o But at firms which pay an average of more than $15 an
hour, workers pay an average of about 3.2 percent of
pretax income for coverage.
The survey established that Hispanics and blacks were more likely
to forgo insurance than whites.
Some 19 percent of workers earning below the poverty line refused
insurance when it was offered.
Source: Julie Appleby, "One in Five Uninsured Turned Down
Coverage," USA Today, October 13, 1999.
For more on the Uninsured
http://www.ncpa.org/pi/health/hedex11.html
SMALL BUT GROWING CADRE OF TEACHERS WITH ALTERNATIVE
CERTIFICATION
The overwhelming majority of teachers in America's classrooms
arrived there having been certified by some traditional means --
often having graduated from a teaching school. But school
districts are increasingly introducing teachers who have switched
from another career and been licensed through a non-traditional
route.
In fact, nearly every state has some type of alternative
certification, reports the National Center for Education
Information. And just about every state requires teachers to
have a bachelor's degree and pass state teacher exams.
o Although the U.S. Department of Education estimated that
only 1 percent of the nation's teaching force had received
certification through alternative routes as of 1994,
educators say that figure has grown considerably in recent
years.
o The National Association for Alternative Certification
estimates that as many as 80,000 teachers have been
licensed through non-traditional means.
o One of the larger alternative programs is Troops to
Teachers, which was created in 1993 to train ex-military
personnel in the teaching profession -- and which has
helped more than 3,000 participants get certified.
Two states have pioneered alternative teacher-training programs.
Texas has 27 alternative programs which have supplied the state
with 14 percent of its teachers. California has 65 such
programs, involving 430 of its 1,000 school districts and 7,923
teachers.
Yet despite its alternative program, 11 percent of California's
teachers have an emergency permit or a waiver to teach.
Source: Stephaan Harris, "Leading Classrooms After Leading
Troops," USA Today, October 13, 1999.
For related USA Today story
http://www.usatoday.com/life/dcovwed.htm
For more on Teacher Performance
http://www.ncpa.org/pi/edu/edu7.html#d
SUE NOW TO MONITOR FOR INJURIES LATER
Legal scholars point out that for 200 years tort law has required
that a plaintiff in a personal injury suit establish that he has,
indeed, been injured by some action of the defendant. But
recently lawyers have begun filing so-called "medical monitoring
suits," which experts say represent a disturbing legal trend.
o Typically, plaintiffs who have been exposed to a toxic
substance sue to obtain periodic medical tests to detect
the possible onset of disease -- even if no symptoms are
present currently.
o Five states -- California, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Utah
and West Virginia -- allow such suits, and Nevada may soon
join the list.
o Legal observers warn that if uninjured people are allowed
to sue, a tidal wave of abusive claims may result -- with
such industries as asbestos, chemical and pharmaceutical
firms being particularly vulnerable.
o If lawyers can refocus the suit away from actual harm
toward risk of harm, they can avoid having to prove
causation on an individual basis -- opening the way for
massive class-action suits.
"Medical-monitoring class actions represent an attractive way for
plaintiffs' lawyers to get all the benefits of a class action
without having to meet the procedural requirements," warns
California defense attorney Brian Anderson.
Source: Kevin Butler, "Suing Just in Case You Get Ill,"
Investor's Business Daily, October 13, 1999.
For more on Class Action Suits
http://www.ncpa.org/pd/law/tcr/index5d.html
IN OTHER NEWS
"NATURAL PROCESSES" ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANTARCTIC MELTING
Global warming is not -- that's NOT -- responsible for melting
the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, say scientists. In a study
published in the prestigious journal Science, a team of
scientists led by Howard Conway of the University of Washington
say the Ice Sheet may be headed for a complete meltdown in a
process that started thousands of years, and there is no
evidence the rate is accelerating.
o The process "may have been predetermined when the
grounding line retreat was triggered in early Holocene
time," says the report -- about 10,000 years ago.
o The grounding line -- the boundary between floating ice
and ice thick enough to reach the sea floor -- has
retreated about 800 miles since the last ice age, withdrawing
an average of about 400 feet per year for the last 7,600
years.
o "It seems like the rate [of melting] that has been going on
since the early Holocene is similar to the rate right now,"
says Conway. "Collapse appears to be part of an ongoing
natural cycle, probably caused by [a] rising sea level initiated
by the melting of the Northern Hemisphere ice sheets at the end
of the last ice age."
o Continued shrinking, perhaps even complete disintegration, "could
well be inevitable," the report concludes.
According to estimates, the ice sheet's complete melting could raise the
global sea level by 15 feet to 20 feet. But at the current rate of melting,
which is raising sea levels about 0.04 inches annually, that would take
about 7,000 years.
Source: Associated Press, "Melting of Antarctic Ice Sheet Is Linked to
Ancient History," New York Times, October 12, 1999.
For NCPA's Global Warming Hotline go to
http://www.ncpa.org/hotlines/global/gwhot.html
SUPPLY-SIDE REFORMS BOLSTER JAPAN
The Japanese economy, recently in the doldrums, has rebounded
remarkably. The reason for this, observers believe, is a set of
reforms similar to those the world has seen work at least twice
before: Ronald Reagan's in the U.S., and Margaret Thatcher's in
Britain.
o In April, the Japanese government cut the highest marginal
personal tax income rate (federal and local) from 63
percent to 47 percent.
o The highest corporate tax rate was cut by 10 percent to
just over 40 percent.
o Small business tax rates were cut from about 34 percent to
27 percent.
o There were no phase-outs, no exceptions, no ties to
deficit reductions; in other words, pure supply-side
economics.
That wasn't all. Japan also cut the capital gains tax rate and
the death tax rate, abolished the tax on stock trades, and
suspended for two years the special one percent tax on corporate
pensions. As a result, the yen has strengthened on the foreign
exchange markets, the stock market shows dollar gains of 36
percent (and is now the best performer in the world) and Prime
Minister Keizo Obuchi's popularity is soaring.
The changes are just in time. During the 1990s, government
spending led to huge deficits and a national debt in dollar terms
larger than that of the United States. In response, Japan
leveled the highest tax rate of any Group of Seven country, which
slowed the economy further without raising extra revenue. Even
now, after reforms are underway, Japan still has an all-time high
in unemployment and output growth has been non-existent. Prime
Minister Obuchi's reforms, which now could include social
security reform, couldn't have been more timely, observers say.
Source: Arthur B. Laffer, "Japan Rises Again," Wall Street
Journal, October 11, 1999.
For more on Japan http://www.ncpa.org/pi/internat/intdex9.html
MYTHS ABOUT CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM
Is campaign spending really excessive and exploding? Critics point
to several statistics.
o In 1998, winning House candidates spend an average of
$675,478, 28 percent higher (inflation adjusted) than
1986, and hardly an explosion.
o For Senate, winning candidates spent $4,660,847, only 3.9
percent higher than 1986 after adjusting for inflation.
While it's true that politicians devote enormous amount of time
to fundraising, most of the money problems result from the 1974
campaign finance reform laws which hamper fundraising by imposing
tight limits on contributions, analysts believe. In a federal
election, an individual can give $1,000 to any candidate per
election, or $20,000 to any national parties or committees per
year.
The problem is that 25 years of inflation have reduced the buying
power of that money by two-thirds, leading politicians to look
for other ways raising it -- such as "soft money," donations of
any size to a party or committee that aren't technically federal
election activities.
Critics note that every "reform" inspires new evasions.
Source: Robert Samuelson (Newsweek), "Is Campaign Finance
'Reform' Needed?," Dallas Morning News, October 8, 1999.
For more on Spending Limits
http://www.ncpa.org/pd/govern/govern2.html
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
NATIONAL CENTER FOR POLICY ANALYSIS
DALLAS, TEXAS
"Making Ideas Change the World"
Internet Address:
http://www.ncpa.org
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
