• SUPPORT CATO
• FOR STUDENTS
• FOR MEDIA
• FREE NEWSLETTERS

• HOME

• ABOUT

• BLOG

• BOOKSTORE

• EVENTS

• EXPERTS

• MULTIMEDIA

• PUBLICATIONS

Books

Reviews & Journals

Public Filings

Policy Studies

Opinion & Commentary

• RESEARCH AREAS

• SPEAKERS BUREAU

• SUPPORT CATO

• CATO UNBOUND

• DOWNSIZING
  GOVERNMENT.ORG

• ELCATO.ORG

Cato Daily Dispatch for November 2, 2005

Subscribe to the Daily Dispatch via email

(Links to outside sources were active as of the date of this dispatch; however, not all news sources maintain links to current stories indefinitely. Some links also may require registration.)

'Of Course He's against Abortion'

"If there was any doubt about where U.S. Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito stands on abortion, his 90-year-old mother quickly and decisively put that question to rest," reports The Christian Science Monitor. "'Of course he's against abortion,' Rose Alito told the Associated Press in a telephone interview from her Hamilton, N.J., home."

"Her candid statement may go down in history as the most blunt and honest admission of a Supreme Court nominee's view on the hot-button issue. But the true test of appeals court judges isn't which personal views they hold, but to what extent those personal views may influence how they rule in a particular case."

In "The Key Issue for the Court Isn't Abortion," Edward Crane, Cato's president, writes: "For too long conservatives who understand the Enumerated Powers doctrine and the role the Constitution plays in limiting the power of government have allowed the religious right and Planned Parenthood to control the debate over the future of the judiciary in America. The litmus test for any judge must always be his or her view on Roe v. Wade, as though abortion and abortion alone should determine who sits on the federal bench.

"Now, abortion is a serious issue -- one in which I've always believed neither side gave due credit to the valid arguments of the other. But the fact that the abortion debate so controls the debate over judicial philosophy is unfortunate. There are more important issues out there, such as federalism and private property rights, the cornerstones of our liberty."

Federal Official to Oversee Gulf Recovery

"The chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was assigned by the Bush administration Tuesday to oversee the federal government's disaster recovery efforts on the Gulf Coast," according to The Associated Press.

"Donald Powell, 64, a wealthy contributor to President Bush's presidential campaign, will be in charge of coordinating longterm plans to rebuild the states hit by hurricanes Katrina and Rita in late summer. The sluggish federal response to Katrina, the first and most damaging of the two storms, has been widely criticized."

In "Bush's Blank Check," Stephen Slivinski, Cato's director of budget studies, writes that President Bush "is planning to give each displaced worker [of Hurricane Katrina] $5,000 of taxpayer money for job training. He's proposed $2 billion in tax 'incentives' to bring businesses back to the area. Federal taxpayers will also pick up the tab for the education expenses of all students forced to relocate, whether they attended private or public school. Certainly the biggest part of the whole plan is the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast. But that doesn't just mean the infrastructure the federal government has control over. It's likely an assortment of other things too: from homes and businesses to shopping malls and parking lots."

Slivinski continues: "[T]he president states that the federal government will pay a 'great majority' of the bills. For all intents and purposes, Bush has given a blank check to elected officials in the states affected by the hurricane."

China, U.S.: A Love-Hate Relationship

"China's trade surplus is set to rise to a record $90bn in 2005, according to government forecasts, but export growth may slow next year," reports BBC News. "China enjoyed a positive trade balance of $68bn in the first nine months of 2005 alone, the Commerce Ministry said, compared to a $32bn surplus in 2004."

A new study released today by Cato addresses the United States' relations with China. In "U.S.-China Relations in the Wake of CNOOC," James Dorn, a China specialist and Cato's vice president for academic affairs, explains why Washington's interference with the CNOOC-Unocal deal was unwarranted and hurts America in the long run. The paper argues that Unocal shareholders should have been free to weigh the competing offers from CNOOC and Chevron.

While China's competitiveness does pose a threat to certain U.S. economic interests, it also benefits American consumers and exporters. Dorn notes that while it is proper to criticize China for its human rights violations and its lack of a transparent legal system, America should not ignore the substantial progress China has made since it embarked on economic liberalization in 1978.

Dorn concludes: "The United States needs to treat China as a normal great power, not as an adversary; ensure that only those commercial transactions that genuinely threaten national security are blocked; and recognize that by increasing economic freedom we increase personal freedom. Our economic security, as well as China's, will depend on sound free-market policies, not on destructive protectionism."

Greg Garner, editor, ggarner@cato.org