July 6, 2001

Back And Forth over Kyoto Protocol
Democrats Pick Soft Money over Rhetoric
Price Controls Making Energy Crisis Worse

Back And Forth over Kyoto Protocol

Meanwhile, Australia remains firm in its decision not to sign the Kyoto Protocol, despite attempts by visiting European Union delegates to persuade it otherwise, the Associated Press reports. Environment Minister Robert Hill said the government is committed to an effective international process in curbing greenhouse gases and one that is fair to all parties. Australia continues to back the U.S. position on the treaty, Hill said.

In testimony before Congress, Senior Fellow in Environmental Studies Patrick Michaels explained why the Kyoto Protocol is "a useless appendage to an irrelevant treaty." And in "Europe's Kyoto Scam," Michaels argues that "If we implement Kyoto as our European friends want, it would cost us about 3 percent of GDP per year. And for what? According to climate models (whose veracity is another subject), if every Kyoto signatory lived up to the Protocol, the net amount of warming prevented in the next 50 years would be 0.13ºF, an amount too small to measure."

Democrats Pick Soft Money over Rhetoric

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) has raised more than $20 million in the first six months of this year, with more than $13 million of that in soft money, which Democrats want to outlaw.

"It shows that the money race is more intense than ever," said Steven Weiss, a spokesman for the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks money in politics. "Both parties are raising soft money hand over fist in an attempt to sock away as much as possible before a reform bill passes."

In "Making the World Safe for Incumbents: The Consequences of McCain-Feingold-Cochran," Director of the Center for Representative Government John Samples shows how restrictions on campaign spending would boost re-election rates and depress voter turnout. "In close races, banning soft money would make the life of the challenger marginally more difficult than it already is," he says. "Banning soft money would tip the scales toward incumbents."

A special Web site dedicated to analysis of the role money plays in politics and the constitutional issues involved in campaign finance is available at www.cato.org/campaignfinance. It provides links to studies, testimony and op-eds by Cato scholars, and transcripts from Cato forums that tackle issues ranging from corruption to soft money.

Price Controls Making Energy Crisis Worse

The price controls, imposed June 19 by the Federal Energy and Regulatory Commission after much debate, were intended to maintain a steady supply of energy to watt-short Western states and prevent alleged price gouging in times of dire need.

Instead, generators in some Western states are holding back supplies this week because they say they have no idea how much they will be paid for their product.

In "Power Economics," Jerry Taylor and Peter VanDoren explain that regulators "think that the 'right' price for electricity (and thus, the maximum legal price during power emergencies) is not at the intersection of supply and demand, but at the actual cost of generating electricity." A special Web site about the Western electricity crisis is available at www.cato.org/electricity.

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