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181. Fairness 2.0: Media Content Regulation in the 21st Century

Author:
Robert Corn-Revere
Publication Date:
11-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
Civil libertarians feared that a change of administrations would herald a revived Fairness Doctrine, a policy that previously permitted the government to oversee broadcast news coverage for "balanced views." A return to the Fairness Doctrine, however, now seems unlikely. It is very likely, however, that politicians from both the left and the right will try to extend government control over the media beyond current policies. New rules adopted or proposed by the Federal Communications Commission suggest that the agency may be poised to enforce the most intensive government oversight of broadcast programming in decades—perhaps even in the history of the agency. The FCC voted last year to require each broadcast licensee to file quarterly "enhanced disclosure" reports—highly detailed information regarding its programming and editorial choices. This information will be used by organized groups to file complaints to pressure broadcasters to air programming that the complainants prefer. The FCC is also formulating programming guidelines based on the enhanced disclosure reports purporting to ensure that broadcasters meet local needs. This "broadcast localism" effort may also require broadcasters to appoint local boards to oversee their performance and their editorial decisions. As the FCC seeks to expand regulation of broadcast media, the traditional justification for its authority—spectrum scarcity—has lost credibility, and the agency's new efforts are likely to run afoul of the First Amendment.
Topic:
Civil Society, Mass Media, and Culture
Political Geography:
United States

182. The Citizens' Guide to Transportation Reauthorization

Author:
Randal O'Toole
Publication Date:
12-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
Sometime in 2010 or 2011, Congress expects to decide how to spend the $250 billion or more of federal gas taxes and other highway user fees that will be collected over the next six years. The process of doing so is called surface transportation reauthorization. A major point of contention in this law is how much of our transportation system should be centrally planned and how much should be built and operated in response to the needs of actual transportation users.
Topic:
Economics and Infrastructure
Political Geography:
United States

183. Is the Gold Standard Still the Gold Standard among Monetary Systems?

Author:
Lawrence H. White
Publication Date:
02-2008
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
Critics have raised a number of theoretical and historical objections to the gold standard. Some have called the gold standard a “crazy” idea. The gold standard is not a flawless monetary system. Neither is the fiat money alternative. In light of historical evidence about the comparative magnitude of these flaws, however, the gold standard is a policy option that deserves serious consideration.
Topic:
Economics and Government
Political Geography:
United States

184. WHO's Fooling Who? The World Health Organization's Problematic Ranking of Health Care Systems

Author:
Glen Whitman
Publication Date:
02-2008
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
The World Health Report 2000, prepared by the World Health Organization, presented performance rankings of 191 nations' health care systems. These rankings have been widely cited in public debates about health care, particularly by those interested in reforming the U.S. health care system to resemble more closely those of other countries. Michael Moore, for instance, famously stated in his film SiCKO that the United States placed only 37th in the WHO report. CNN.com, in verifying Moore's claim, noted that France and Canada both placed in the top 10.
Topic:
Health, Human Welfare, Humanitarian Aid, and International Organization
Political Geography:
United States

185. Learning the Right Lessons from Iraq

Author:
Harvey Sapolsky, Christopher Preble, and Benjamin Friedman
Publication Date:
02-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
Foreign policy experts and policy analysts are misreading the lessons of Iraq. The emerging conventional wisdom holds that success could have been achieved in Iraq with more troops, more cooperation among U.S. government agencies, and better counterinsurgency doctrine. To analysts who share these views, Iraq is not an example of what not to do but of how not to do it. Their policy proposals aim to reform the national security bureaucracy so that we will get it right the next time.
Topic:
International Relations and Oil
Political Geography:
United States, Iraq, and Middle East

186. Cracks in the Foundation: NATO's New Troubles

Author:
Stanley Kober
Publication Date:
01-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is beginning to fracture. Its members, sharing the triumphalism that underpinned U.S. foreign policy after the Cold War, took on burdens that have proved more difficult than expected. Increasingly, they are failing to meet the challenges confronting them.
Topic:
International Relations, Defense Policy, NATO, and International Organization
Political Geography:
United States

187. Book Review: World War IV: The Long Struggle against Islamofascism by Norman Podhoretz

Author:
Christopher Preble
Publication Date:
03-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Cato Journal
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
“9/11 constituted an open declaration of war on the United States and … the war into which it catapulted us was nothing less than another world war.” So says Norman Podhoretz in the opening passage of this alarmist, rambling screed. The enemy is Islamofascism, a “monster with two heads, one religious and the other secular.” This scourge, Podhoretz warns darkly, may be “even more dangerous and difficult to beat” than Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union.
Political Geography:
United States and Soviet Union

188. Markets vs. Monopolies in Education: A Global Review of the Evidence

Author:
Andrew J. Coulson
Publication Date:
09-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
Would large-scale, free-market reforms improve educational outcomes for American children? That question cannot be answered by looking at domestic evidence alone. Though innumerable “school choice” programs have been implemented around the United States, none has created a truly free and competitive education marketplace. Existing programs are too small, too restriction laden, or both. To understand how genuine market forces affect school performance, we must cast a wider net, surveying education systems from all over the globe. The present paper undertakes such a review, assessing the results of 25 years of international research comparing market and government provision of education, and explaining why these international experiences are relevant to the United States.
Topic:
Economics, Education, Government, and Markets
Political Geography:
United States

189. Learning the Right Lessons from Iraq

Author:
Benjamin H. Friedman, Harvey Sapolsky, and Christopher Preble
Publication Date:
02-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
Foreign policy experts and policy analysts are misreading the lessons of Iraq. The emerging conventional wisdom holds that success could have been achieved in Iraq with more troops, more cooperation among U.S. government agencies, and better counterinsurgency doctrine. To analysts who share these views, Iraq is not an example of what not to do but of how not to do it. Their policy proposals aim to reform the national security bureaucracy so that we will get it right the next time.
Topic:
Foreign Policy and War
Political Geography:
United States, Iraq, and Middle East

190. Parting with Illusions: Developing a Realistic Approach to Relations with Russia

Author:
Nikolas Gvosdev
Publication Date:
02-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
A review of America's post-Soviet strategy toward Russia is long overdue. The illusions that once guided policy are now at an end. What is needed is a dispassionate approach to Russia, wherein Americans would neither magnify nor excuse the virtues and vices of the Russian Federation but would accept the following realities: Russia is unlikely to become integrated into the Euro-Atlantic community and is unwilling to adjust its foreign policy priorities accordingly; There is broad-based support within Russia for the direction in which Vladimir Putin has taken the country; Russia has undergone a genuine—if limited— recovery from the collapse of the 1990s; Washington lacks sufficient leverage to compel Russian acquiescence to its policy preferences; and On a number of critical foreign policy issues, there is no clear community of interests that allows for concepts of "selective partnership" to be effective.
Topic:
International Relations and Diplomacy
Political Geography:
Russia, United States, America, Europe, Asia, and Soviet Union