Cato Daily Dispatch for December 21, 2005
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D.C.'s Sport PorkEarly Results in for Iraq Election
FEMA Revisited
D.C.'s Sport Pork
"D.C. officials said yesterday that the D.C. Council will not vote on a lease agreement for a new ballpark for the Washington Nationals before a Dec. 31 deadline. However, they said they think Major League Baseball will negotiate with the city rather than pursue arbitration,'" The Washington Times reports.
The article continues: "The delay technically places the city in violation of the baseball stadium agreement approved by the council last year. Officials, however, said they don't expect the matter to go to arbitration, which could make the city liable for millions of dollars in damages."
In the Cato Briefing Paper "Caught Stealing: Debunking the Economic Case for D.C. Baseball," economists Dennis Coates and Brad R. Humphreys argued that a taxpayer-subsidized ballpark for Washington's new baseball team would not improve the district's economy. They examined all 37 U.S. cities that had one or more professional football, basketball, or baseball teams between 1969 and 1996. Their findings suggested that the District can expect at best no economic impact and at worst a negative effect on the local economy.
Coates and Humphreys found that the presence of pro sports teams: (1) had no measurable positive impact on the overall growth rate of real per capita income; (2) had a negative impact on the level of real per capita income; (3) had a negative effect on the retail and services sectors of the local economy; and (4) tended to reduce wages in eating and drinking establishments by about $162 per year.
Early Results in for Iraq Election
"The apparent failure of secular, Western-oriented political groups to win many seats in Iraq's four-year legislature puts new pressure on the Bush administration in its efforts to stabilize the country," reports The Los Angeles Times.
"In Iraq, U.S. officials will have to intensify their efforts to contain ethnic and sectarian divisions that have deepened over the last year and, if allowed to fester, could push the country toward civil war. And as initial results indicate that the Iraqi government will be led by Shiite Muslims with ties to Iran, U.S. officials also may face pressure to establish their own direct working relationship with Tehran. Both tasks could prove crucial if the administration is to achieve its oft-stated goal of creating a stable, unified, democratic and peaceful country."
In "U.S. Should Call It a Wrap after Iraq Elections," Chris Preble, director of foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute, writes: "The elections represent the last best hope, a narrow -- and closing -- window of opportunity, to leave Iraq on our terms. The United States got rid of Saddam Hussein's government, the Iraqis drafted and ratified a constitution, and in December they will elect a parliament under that constitution. The next political benchmark may not come along for years; as currently written, the Iraqi constitution does not require the government to hold another parliamentary election until near the end of 2009.
"Now is the time to chart a new course. The first step should be a firm pledge to begin the withdrawal of American troops soon after the December 2005 elections. The Bush administration should further commit to have all U.S. troops out of Iraq by the end of 2007 at the latest. By taking these steps to end the U.S. military presence in Iraq, we will reaffirm that the elections are the culmination of a political process that Americans started, but that Iraqis must finish."
FEMA Revisited
"The government may have to radically change FEMA, the agency that proved unprepared to help victims of Hurricane Katrina, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Tuesday," according to the Associated Press.
"Chertoff offered no specifics for changing the Federal Emergency Management Agency but said FEMA employees must be given authority to cut through bureaucracy to assist disaster victims quickly."
In "When the Catastrophe Is Government," Cato policy analyst Radley Balko writes, "Sept. 11 is no longer the most catastrophic failure of government in my lifetime. Its response to Hurricane Katrina is. Government at all levels, run by both parties, regardless of race, inexcusably failed to secure the safety of the people of New Orleans. The lesson here is not the failure of one party or the other. The lesson here is the failure of government."
"While government bureaucrats dawdled, politicians covered their rumps, and partisans played the blame game, civil society -- private entities -- got to the business of helping people," Balko writes. "What's worse, in some cases, government prevented the private dissemination of aid. Wal-Mart had three water trucks in New Orleans almost immediately after the hurricane hit. FEMA turned them away. The Red Cross reported on its website that federal and local officials had barred the organization from actually entering New Orleans. Same with the Salvation Army."
Holiday Dmitri, editor, hdmitri@cato.org
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