October 26, 2000

U.N. Panel, Gore Heat Up Over Global Warming
Minimum Wage: Why Not $50 an Hour?
Ballot Initiatives: We Want Our Money Back

U.N. Panel, Gore Heat Up Over Global Warming

The New York Times reports today that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which issued two previous assessments of the research into global warming theory in 1995 and 1990, has concluded that greenhouse gases produced mainly by the burning of fossil fuels are altering the atmosphere in ways that affect earth's climate, and are likely to have "contributed substantially to the observed warming over the last 50 years." The panel said temperatures could go higher than previously predicted if emissions are not curtailed.

The conclusions are likely to resonate loudly next month when negotiators from most of the world's nations gather in The Hague to work out details of the Kyoto Protocol, a treaty intended to cut releases of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The 1997 treaty has been signed by more than 150 countries but has not yet been ratified by any industrialized country.

Not surprisingly, Democratic presidential nominee Al Gore today will take an environmental message to the Upper Midwest, warning of global warming dangers in an area where Green Party candidate Ralph Nader may be a threat, according to Reuters.

Gore will give speeches on global warming in the Quad Cities area of Iowa and Illinois and later in Madison, Wisc. He is expected to compare his work to fight global warming against what his campaign said was Republican rival George W. Bush's lack of interest in the issue.

In a Cato Institute book, "The Satanic Gases: Clearing the Air About Global Warming," Patrick J. Michaels and Robert C. Balling, Jr. explain why global warming is vastly overrated as an environmental threat. The book marshals an impressive array of scientific data, studies and analyses that argue that the initial forecasts of rapid global warming were simply wrong. But, perhaps more important, the book points out that attempts to “fix” the forecast by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are even more misguided than the original projections. The first and fifth chapters of the book can be read online.

In "Kyoto's Chilling Effects," Michaels writes that the protocol has poor chances of being ratified by the United States as "both Democrats and Republicans can agree that Kyoto will wreck our economy, according to just about every credible study that uses realistic policy assumptions." Director of Natural Resource Studies Jerry Taylor agrees in "Hot Air in Kyoto," stating that "impoverishing society today to avoid a very uncertain problem tomorrow would harm, not help, future generations."

Minimum Wage: Why Not $50 an Hour?

According to the Associated Press, the Santa Cruz, Calif., City Council has voted unanimously to pass the nation's highest minimum wage -- $11 an hour, or $12 without benefits.

Initially, the "living wage" ordinance would only cover full-time workers for the city or for-profit companies with city contracts. Santa Cruz officials hope to eventually extend the minimum wage to temporary workers employed by the city and at social service agencies funded by the city.

The ordinance, approved Tuesday night, had no formal opposition as it was being developed over the last few months.

In "Minimum Wage Myth," Cato Institute President Edward H. Crane explains that the Law of Demand cannot be repealed by government and "increasing the minimum wage by government edict means fewer low-income workers will be hired." Senior Fellow Doug Bandow concurs in "Minimum Wage Redux," and suggests that rather than surrender to Democratic calls for a wage increase, "the GOP should push to allow states to decide whether to accept any increase, thereby tailoring the minimum to their own unique economic circumstances."

Ballot Initiatives: We Want Our Money Back

The Christian Science Monitor reports today that there will be 205 ballot initiatives decided in 42 states on Nov. 7.

As in recent years, such initiatives are taking aim at controversial issues such as same-sex marriage, school vouchers and gun control. But, by far, the leading target of reformers this year is taxes. Despite -- and in some cases, because of -- the runaway economy, disgruntled citizens and coalitions of activists are telling lawmakers they haven't gone far enough in cutting taxes.

"It's really quite remarkable that despite an unprecedented five straight years of record tax cuts by legislators themselves, disgruntled citizens have put still more tax cuts in their sights," says Dane Waters, president of the Initiative and Referendum Institute in Washington. "The potential impacts of these initiatives are huge and will have a far more immediate effect on people's daily lives than candidate selections, which always take time to percolate up."

In "Return the Surplus to Those Who Earned It," Doug Bandow writes that the individual tax burden is huge and giving it back to workers would be a boon to the economy. "Cutting taxes would also be the right thing to do. People are paying too much for too little. The budget is larded with pork, unnecessary programs, special interest subsidies and blatant waste." In "Tax Freedom Day," Bandow shows how that day, when the average taxpayer can relax after paying off the tribute demanded by politicians from city hall to Capitol Hill, comes later each year. The Cato Handbook for Congress also calls for drastic tax cuts.

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