Archive

Archive for June, 2018
June 25th, 2018 at 5:41 pm
Image of the Day: Obama Rated “Worst Presidency Since World War II” in USA Today Poll
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Not exactly the post-presidency verdict that Barack Obama or leftists would have preferred, from USA Today:

Ouch

Ouch

June 25th, 2018 at 4:18 pm
This Week’s Radio Show Lineup
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Join CFIF Corporate Counsel and Senior Vice President Renee Giachino today from 4:00 p.m. CDT to 6:00 p.m. CDT (that’s 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. EDT) on Northwest Florida’s 1330 AM WEBY, as she hosts her radio show, “Your Turn: Meeting Nonsense with Commonsense.” Today’s guest lineup includes:

4:00 CDT/5:00 pm EDT: Peter Murphy, Vice President for Policy at the Invest in Education Foundation:

4:15 CDT/5:15 pm EDT: Michael Tanner, Cato Institute Senior Fellow: America’s Growing Entitlement Crisis;

4:30 CDT/5:30 pm EDT: Quin Hillyer, Contributing Editor of National Review Magazine, Senior Editor for The American Spectator Magazine, and Nationally Recognized Authority on the American Political Process: Conservatism Just Ain’t What It Used to Be;

5:00 CDT/6:00 pm EDT: Andrew Moylan, Executive Vice President of the National Taxpayers Union Foundation: SCOTUS and Internet Taxation;

5:15 CDT/6:15 pm EDT: Ryan Radi, Research Fellow and Regulatory Counsel: AT&T/Time Warner Merger; and

5:30 CDT/6:30 pm EDT: William J. Conti, Partner at Baker & Hostetler: Immigration and FBI IG Report.

Listen live on the Internet here. Call in to share your comments or ask questions of today’s guests at (850) 623-1330.

June 18th, 2018 at 11:32 pm
CFIF Strongly Opposes Senator Ron Wyden’s “ACCESS to Sound Recordings” Act
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CFIF has long championed greater fairness for recording artists and protection of intellectual property (IP) rights in the music industry.   Among other problems, current law generally protects recording artists’ rights for post-1972 songs, but not pre-1972 classics:

Under byzantine laws, artists receive just compensation whenever their post-1972 recordings are played, but in many cases not for their pre-1972 recordings.  That’s an indefensible and arbitrary artifact that has persisted far too long.  Why should Neil Diamond receive payment whenever ‘America’ is played, but not classics like ‘Solitary Man?’

Fortunately, the opportunity to correct that unfairness has arrived.  Even better, legislation to correct the existing flawed system arrives alongside other music legislation that galvanizes the coalition to finally correct the situation.  As a result, a broad coalition of music organizations representing everyone from songwriters, composers, performers, publishers and labels supports three new pieces of legislation…”

Accordingly, CFIF strongly supports the Music Modernization Act, which passed the House of Representatives unanimously earlier this year:

Introduced by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R – Virginia) and Ranking Member Jerrold Nadler (D – New York), the Music Modernization Act combines music licensing reforms outlined in the CLASSICS Act, Songwriters Equity Act of 2015, the rate standard parity provisions of the Fair Play Fair Pay Act, and AMP Act into a single, consensus piece of legislation.  The MMA addresses specific music legacy issues such as establishing federal copyright protection for artists who recorded before 1972, creating a single licensing entity to administer music publishing rights for all digital music and ensuring producers and engineers receive royalties for their contributions to the music they help create.”

Unfortunately, Senator Ron Wyden (D – Oregon) has counterproductively introduced the so-called “ACCESS to Sound Recordings” Act.

Just as the Music Modernization Act claims nearly unanimous support among all stakeholders in the music industry, Sen. Wyden’s proposed legislation rightfully garners similarly consensus opposition:

Seven leading unions, membership organizations, and advocacy groups representing recording artists, performers, vocalists, musicians, producers, and songwriters today sent a letter to the U.S. Senate detailing the flaws in Sen. Ron Wyden’s so-called ‘ACCESS to Sound Recordings Act.’  The groups, which include American Federation of Musicians, Content Creators Coalition, Future of Music Coalition, The Living Legends Foundation, the Recording Academy (GRAMMYs Organization), The Rhythm & Blues Foundation, and SAG-AFTRA detailed how Wyden’s bill would undermine the retirement security of elderly artists before reiterating their support for the CLASSICS Act.”

The group’s letter, which is worth reading in its entirety of detail, highlights the flaws of Sen. Wyden’s proposal:

We are disappointed that the introduction of the ‘ACCESS Act’ was done without consulting any artist group, organization, or union who would have made it clear that the bill’s eleventh-hour introduction is not a viable solution.  The ‘ACCESS Act’ would undercut the goals of the MMA by cutting compensation for the older artists that it is expressly designed to benefit.  It would unfairly shorten the period in which pre-1972 recordings produce royalties for the artists and copyright owners, effectively shutting down a lifeline of payments to artists who need it most.”

There is simply no justification for Sen. Wyden’s proposed legislation.  The MMA received unanimous House support, which is incredible in this hyperpartisan era, and the Senate should pass it for President Trump’s signature at long last.

June 14th, 2018 at 3:33 pm
President Trump’s Prescription Drug Reforms Already Showing Progress
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It’s been just one month since President Trump unveiled his American Patients First plan to reduce drug prices and, despite the naysayers, we’re already seeing results.

This week, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar appeared before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee to provide detail on the progress that has already occurred.  His testimony extended over two hours, and Sec. Azar answered tough questions from both Democrats and Republicans, reiterating some key parts of the President’s plan.  Among other important testimony, he highlighted the transparency failures of Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) and stressed the need to increase competition throughout the market to bring prices down.

That stands to reason, since President Trump’s plan pays special attention to PBMs – “middlemen” that operate in the opaque prescription drug pipeline – who negotiate with insurers, drug manufacturers and pharmacists to bring drugs to market.  As Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) pointed out in the hearing, the way in which PBMs earn profits creates an “incentive for higher list prices,” further driving up the price of prescriptions throughout the industry.

Accordingly, President Trump’s plan deliberately opens up this opaque system, providing greater information to all parties to stop what Sec. Azar characterized as the “perverse” incentives in the system.  By removing the ability for PBMs to profit from price increases, the President’s plan allows the natural downward pressures of the market to take hold, eliminating another driver of cost that consumers feel at the pharmacy counter.  Secretary Azar described the blueprint as a “comprehensive tackling and restructuring of the drug channel, nothing short of that,” further evidence of the President’s bold commitment to this issue.

Senator Collins continued to highlight PBM abuses, explaining how PBMs often employ “gag clauses” that prevent pharmacists from helping consumers to find the best price for their medication.  Those clauses are widely used to help PBMs maximize their profits, but the Trump Administration has already taken action to ensure that contracts with CMS cannot employ gag clauses.

Secretary Azar also explained how the President’s plan will bring greater competition to Medicare Part B, modeled on the success of the Part D program.  Currently, the federal government purchases drugs for Part B at the list price, costing the program billions in extra costs.  In contrast, Medicare Part D allows private companies to negotiate and manage plans to keep costs low.

Secretary Azar further explained to Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) that President Trump’s plan proposes greater negotiation between private-sector actors to help lower costs down across the program.  Nevertheless, Sec. Azar cautioned that, due to the size and complexity of the program, the President’s plan purposefully remains open on that issue, so that the Administration can work with Congress and other stakeholders to ensure that these competitive reforms are implemented without harming existing enrollees.

Those actions, along with an overall increase in transparency in the marketplace for all parties to bring more information and competition, are already at work.  President Trump’s plan works because it finally addresses the real drivers of cost, and removes the barriers that are stopping free market forces from bringing costs down.  On that basis, Sec. Azar’s testimony shows us that we are finally on the right path to bring prices down.

June 13th, 2018 at 3:59 pm
Let the AT&T/Time Warner Ruling Be a Lesson Against Needless Federal Market Interference
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Hopefully this will serve as a deterrent lesson to the U.S. Department of Justice, and the federal government more generally.

Yesterday, Federal Judge Richard Leon delivered his decision rejecting the Justice Department’s misguided lawsuit to prevent AT&T and Time Warner from merging.  The government had no business even bringing the suit, as the merger poses no threat of consumer harm.  To the contrary, as noted in today’s Wall Street Journal by Michael D. Smith and Rahul Telang, it promises more choices and greater market competition for American consumers.  Because the merger was “vertical” in nature, rather than a “horizontal” merger of direct market competitors, federal bureaucrats would only inflict harm by delaying or denying its fruition:

[T]he unique characteristics of digital markets have allowed a small number of internet giants – among them Amazon, Google, Netflix and Facebook – to dominate their industries and forestall entry by competitors.  These companies have put serious money into customer connections, data analytics and back-end systems, and these investments scale very well.  Netflix has penetrated more than half of U.S households.  Google and Facebook control almost three-quarters of online advertising.  Amazon does nearly half of all online retail sales.  These are astonishing numbers.

Now that these tech giants have established their downstream power in the distribution business, they are beginning to amass upstream power by getting into the content-creation business…  Given the dominance of Silicon Valley’s internet giants, it makes no sense to prevent AT&T and Time Warner from merging.  These companies aren’t trying to join forces because they want to take control of a dying industry;  they want to be allowed to compete in a new one.”

The American economy has accelerated since President Trump’s election as a consequence of his deregulatory and tax-cutting agenda, and that same logic should apply to the realm of market mergers between mutually bargaining parties.

As one example, Comcast recently announced a bid for certain assets of 21st Century Fox.  In the same way as described above regarding the AT&T/Time Warner merger, Comcast’s acquisition would greatly benefit consumers.  The film and television businesses have never been more competitive, dynamic or creatively rich, and consumers possess more entertainment choices than ever before.  Free markets work, and federal bureaucrats have zero business interfering in this matter.

As Judge Leon noted in his decision, federal government decisions to interfere come at great cost:

The government has had this merger on hold now since October of 2016 when it launched its investigation.  In that 18-plus month period, the companies have twice extended the break-up date to accommodate the government’s litigation of this case.  During that same period, the video programming and distribution industry has continued to evolve at a breakneck pace.  The cost to the defendants and the government to investigate, litigate and try this case has undoubtedly been staggering – easily in the tens of millions of dollars.”

That same logic applies to Comcast’s proposed acquisition.  Let’s not be forced to repeat yesterday’s harsh lesson to the Justice Department, after needless waste of time and taxpayer resources in meritless litigation that only serves to harm American consumers and competitive marketplaces.

June 13th, 2018 at 3:01 pm
In Good News for Consumers, Federal Judge Rejects DOJ Attempt to Block AT&T/Time Warner Merger
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In a decision that came as no surprise but nevertheless merits celebration, a federal judge yesterday rejected the Justice Department’s needless lawsuit attempting to block AT&T’s acquisition of Time Warner.

Whenever federal bureaucracies seek to disrupt functioning markets by prohibiting mutual agreements between two willing parties, they carry a heavy burden of proof to establish impending consumer harm.  In this case, the opposite was true – the federal government’s needless interference, not the proposed acquisition, would result in consumer harm.  Accordingly, Judge Richard Leon ruled that Justice’s allegations “do not come close to answering the question before the Court.”

So why is yesterday’s ruling important going forward?  Hopefully, it provides federal bureaucrats an abject lesson against future destructive campaigns of a similar sort.

As one immediate example, consider the proposed merger between T-Mobile and Sprint announced recently.  Although the T-Mobile/Sprint proposal involves characteristics unique to it, it offers the consumer market similar sorts of benefits.

Namely, T-Mobile/Sprint prospectively offers an enhanced array of consumer services in comparison to what is available today.  For example, the two current companies’ differing but complementary assets would create a new network with enhanced capacity, wider coverage and more effective wireless performance for customers than currently exists.  It also promises network upgrades, lower prices and job creation.  In particular, the proposed merger offers significant potential benefits through deployment of the first 5G wireless network in the U.S.

Through that $40 billion investment in 5G, consumers will enjoy data delivery at a lower cost, and the incentive for competitors to similarly lower prices to consumers.  That will also prompt market competition to expand spectrum in rural areas in addition to urban centers, as well as capacity improvements for consumers.

That’s how market competition works.  A T-Mobile/Sprint merger and its 5G deployment would also mean billions in new private infrastructure investment and countless new jobs.  In contrast, the absence of a T-Mobile/Sprint merger would mean slower deployment of a 5G nationwide network, and the absence of a market competitor of greater scale.  Ultimately, that means consumers would lose.

The Trump Administration has demonstrated to date how deregulation can turbocharge the economy and benefit American consumers.  That logic applies with added potency to the ever-evolving telecommunications market, and the Justice Department should learn its lesson and refrain from future needless interference that will only cost consumers and trigger embarrassing legal defeats.

June 11th, 2018 at 3:02 pm
This Week’s “Your Turn” Radio Lineup
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Join CFIF Corporate Counsel and Senior Vice President Renee Giachino today from 4:00 p.m. CDT to 6:00 p.m. CDT (that’s 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. EDT) on Northwest Florida’s 1330 AM WEBY, as she hosts her radio show, “Your Turn: Meeting Nonsense with Commonsense.” Today’s guest lineup includes:

4:00 CDT/5:00 pm EDT:  Karen Kerrigan, President and CEO of the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council – Sugar Subsidies;

4:15 CDT/5:15 pm EDT:  Ilya Shapiro, Senior Fellow in Constitutional Studies and Editor-in-Chief, Cato Supreme Court Review – SCOTUS Update;

4:30 CDT/5:30 pm EDT:  Marc Scribner, Senior Fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute – Driverless Vehicles;

4:45 CDT/5:45 pm EDT:  Richard Sander, UCLA Professor and Economist – Moving Toward Integration;

5:00 CDT/6:00 pm EDT:  Bruce Herschensohn, American Political Commentator, Author and Senior Fellow at the Pepperdine University School of Public Policy – Singapore Summit;

5:30 CDT/6:30 pm EDT:  Andrew M. Grossman, Partner at Baker & Hostetler – Unappointed Judges; and

5:45 CDT/6:45 pm EDT:   Timothy Lee, CFIF’s Senior Vice President of Legal and Public Affairs – U.S. Competitiveness Ranking and Arbitration.

Listen live on the Internet here. Call in to share your comments or ask questions of today’s guests at (850) 623-1330.

June 11th, 2018 at 12:40 pm
Image of the Day: Available Jobs Outnumber Unemployed for First Time Ever
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In our latest Liberty Update, we note how the U.S. has quickly reclaimed its position as the world’s most competitive economy under President Trump after slipping under Barack Obama.  This image vividly illustrates one point we highlight – that for the first time ever, the number of job openings exceeds the number of unemployed Americans in the workforce to fill them:

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Jobs, Jobs, Jobs

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs

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June 4th, 2018 at 12:42 pm
Image of the Day: Trump Is Destroying America, Cont’d
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Donald Trump’s presidency continues to destroy America, as the political left warned:

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Consumer Confidence Soars

Consumer Confidence Soars

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