Cato Daily Dispatch for October 28, 2004
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Russian Parliament OKs Kyoto ProtocolD.C. Stadium Costlier than First Thought
U.N. Condemns U.S. Embargo against Cuba
Russian Parliament OKs Kyoto Protocol
"The upper house of the Russian parliament ratified the Kyoto Protocol global climate treaty Wednesday and sent it to President Vladimir Putin for his signature. Russia's ratification means the treaty should go into effect next year," according to USA TODAY.
In "The Consequences of Kyoto," Cato senior fellow Patrick J. Michaels writes: "The Kyoto agreement--if fully complied with--would likely reduce the gross domestic product of the United States by 2.3 percent per year. However, according to a climate model of the National Center for Atmospheric Research recently featured in Science, the Kyoto emission-control commitments would reduce mean planetary warming by a mere 0.19 degree Celsius over the next 50 years.
"... The Kyoto Protocol will have no discernible effect on global climate--in fact, it is doubtful that the current network of surface thermometers could distinguish a change on the order of .19 degree from normal year-to-year variations. The Kyoto Protocol will result in no demonstrable climate change but easily demonstrable economic damage."
D.C. Stadium Costlier than First Thought
The Washington Post reports: "The cost of building a baseball stadium and renovating Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium could be $91 million more than city officials initially estimated, according to an analysis released last night by the District's chief financial officer.
"In an eight-page letter to D.C. Council Chairman Linda W. Cropp (D), Natwar M. Gandhi said the total cost of the stadium package could reach $486.2 million, not the $395 million stated in the agreement between the District and Major League Baseball."
In "Government Schemes Cost More Than Promised," Chris Edwards, Cato's director of tax policy studies, writes: "Large cost overruns are commonplace in government construction projects, procurement, and entitlement programs. Politicians and officials routinely deceive taxpayers by low-balling cost estimates to win initial spending approval. Then, when programs go over budget and do not work as promised, politicians place the blame on particular management blunders by the bureaucracy and private contractors. But the evidence indicates that cost overruns and program failure are not isolated errors; they are systematic and widespread in the federal government."
Yesterday, the Cato Institute released a report that debunks the economic case for a taxpayer-funded stadium in Washington.
U.N. Condemns U.S. Embargo against Cuba
"The U.N. General Assembly, for the 13th consecutive year, voted overwhelmingly on Thursday against the 4-decade-old U.S. economic, financial and commercial embargo against Cuba," Reuters reports.
In the Cato Handbook for Congress, Ian Vásquez, director of Cato's Project on Global Economic Liberty, and former Cato scholar Jacobo Rodriguez, write: "Whether Cuba has a totalitarian or a democratic regime, though important, is not a vital U.S. national security concern. The transformation of Cuban society, as difficult as that may be, should be left to the Cuban people, not to the U.S. government."
Vásquez and Rodriguez recommend U.S. policies toward Cuba that are "consistent with traditional American principles." Thus, Congress should grant political asylum to Cuban refugees, recognize free trade with Cuba as a right of the citizenry, and focus Cuba policy on U.S. national security.
Wyatt DuBois, editor, wdubois@cato.org