Cato Daily Dispatch for October 29, 2001
Bush Would Compromise On Airport Security FederalizationArgentina To Restructure National Debt
Business Groups Push For Fast Track
Bush Would Compromise On Airport Security Federalization
President Bush would prefer not to make airport security screeners employees of the federal government but he would sign such a bill if Congress passed it, an administration official said yesterday, according to Reuters.
Senate Democrats want to have all passenger and baggage screeners employed by the public sector in the hope that government procedures would mean better security to prevent a repeat of the Sept. 11 hijack attacks.
The Senate unanimously passed a bill with that requirement two weeks ago. But Republicans in the House of Representatives favor an approach that would only require federal supervision of airport security personnel.
In "Airlines in the Aftermath," Edward L. Hudgins writes that federalization, "while relieving the airlines of a financial burden in the short-term, could cause serious long-term problems."
Argentina To Restructure National Debt
Confronting a deepening economic crisis, Argentine officials today acknowledged the need to restructure the national debt, saying the cash-strapped government will move this week to voluntarily renegotiate payments with its foreign and domestic creditors, according to The Washington Post.
The decision -- which is expected to be officially announced by President Fernando de la Rua in coming days and was outlined by de la Rua and Economy Minister Domingo Cavallo in interviews today -- was the first admission after months of financial turmoil here that foreign lenders are unlikely to receive everything they are owed. But the decision also amounted to an effort by Argentina to find a middle ground with creditors that stops short of an involuntary suspension of payments, or default, on the country's $132-billion debt.
In "Argentina's Boom and Bust," Steve H. Hanke recounts that country's recent economic freefall. He concludes that the best way to allay the market's fears and provide stability would be for Argentina to dollarize its economy. In "Is There a Need for an International Lender of Last Resort?" Anna J. Schwartz shows that International Monetary Fund meddling proves to be counterproductive, in fact hurting the countries it is trying to help.
Business Groups Push For Fast Track
With time slipping away, a leading U.S. business group said today it had launched a major ad campaign aimed at winning congressional approval of new trade negotiating authority for President Bush, according to Reuters.
The television, print, and radio ads target about 20 lawmakers -- most of them Democrats -- in the House of Representatives who could hold the key to approval of trade promotion authority (TPA), the Business Roundtable said.
Altogether, the ads will run in more than 60 congressional districts for at least part of the next two weeks. Congress is expected to wrap up its work for the year in November.
The bill would allow Bush to negotiate trade agreements that Congress could approve or reject but not amend.
In "The Fast Track to Freer Trade," Daniel T. Griswold writes that "the case for passing fast-track trade legislation is simple: The most promising approach for advancing free trade in today's global economy is through negotiated trade agreements, and those agreements will be difficult if not impossible to reach if the president of the United States is denied fast-track authority."