|
Following are highlights of national news coverage
that members of Mason’s School of Public Policy received in the
past month.
 Kenneth
Button
Wednesday,
April 30, Washington Post
United's
New Plan Could Cost D.C.
“The next potential
act in Airline Merger Mania
2008: United Airlines and US
Airways are negotiating a tie-up
that could have profound implications
for Washington-area air travelers,
according to sources familiar
with the discussions. Spurned
by Continental Airlines over
the weekend, Chicago-based
United has focused its attention
on smaller US Airways for the
second time in the past eight
years. In 2001, a similar proposed
merger was dashed after regulators
said it violated antitrust
laws.… US Airways and
United will probably have an
easier time reducing costs
by eliminating hubs and cutting
flights on overlapping routes,
analysts said.… However,
those cost savings may be short-lived,
according to Kenneth
Button, a professor
of public policy at George
Mason University. He said that
labor problems—both carriers
have them—and economic
issues, ranging from low-cost
competition to high oil prices,
will probably gnaw away at
any benefits. ‘This is
a short-term treatment of a
problem without actually curing
it,’ he said.”
 Mark
Rozell
Wednesday,
April 23, Montreal Gazette
Clinton
Clings to Symbolic Victories
“Fresh from beating Barack
Obama in Pennsylvania’s presidential
primary, Hillary Clinton on Wednesday
boasted about winning a ‘double
digit’ victory in the state
and taking the popular-vote lead
in the overall Democratic race.… With
99 per cent of precincts reporting,
Clinton won 1,260,060 votes to 1,045,148
for Obama—a 9.33-point advantage. ‘The
psychological impact remains that
it was a double-digit win’ because
that’s how it was reported,
said Mark Rozell, a
political scientist at George Mason
University in Fairfax, Va.… ‘She
is stretching it by saying she’s
winning the popular vote,’ said
Rozell. ‘I just don’t
think it’s accurate to put
Michigan and Florida into play like
that.’… ‘She
has a strong case to make about having
prevailed in the bigger, more populous
states,’ says Rozell. ‘The
problem, of course, is the delegate
count. She only picked up about a
dozen (in Pennsylvania). It just
barely begins to close the gap, and
time is running out.’”
 Jeremy
Mayer
Tuesday, April 22, Politico
War
Crimes Next October Suprise?
Professor Jeremy Mayer considers
what might happen if there is a late-breaking
news event or crisis in October 2008 and how
that might alter the presidential race. In
the article, Mayer poses the following question, “What
if the October surprise is the greatest legal
conflict between America and Europe since the
creation of the Atlantic alliance? ”
 Louise
Shelley
Monday, April 21, NPR
Colombia
Reflects Rising Threat of Nuclear
Terrorism
“There has been an increase in threatening rhetoric from the al-Qaida
leadership, directedspecifically against Western Europe and the United States.
And some of the nuclear material that was lost 10 years ago might only now
be turning up in the black market. Louise Shelley, who directs
the Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption [Center] at George Mason
University, says there is a potential threat. ‘I mean, when Osama bin
Laden says, “We're going to get at you,”’ Shelley said, ‘this
is the kind of point where you think that the rhetoric is escalating to something
that may make sense to use this.’ Much of the nuclear material, or alleged
nuclear material, moving through the black market, however, involves scams.
The uranium for which the Colombian rebels were reportedly willing to spend
more than $2 million was useless.”
Monday, April 21, Today's Zaman
Stripped-Down
Investigation Leads Nowhere
“Scholars argue that there are structural problems in the Turkish Constitution
and legal system hindering parliamentary commissions from fully exercising
their investigative powers in the public’s name.… Investigative
power, one of the most important non-legislative functions of the parliament
in any democratic system, is somewhat curtailed in the Turkish Constitution.… Even
though there is no express provision in the US Constitution to its effect,
broad legislative authority to issue informational demands has been established
unequivocally in Supreme Court rulings since it was first borrowed from the
British Parliament. In many cases brought to the court, justices ruled that
such powers were essential to the legislature’s function and thus implied
in Congress’ legislative powers. Asked whether congressional committees
can look into state or trade secrets, Mark J. Rozell, professor
of public policy at George Mason University, responded, ‘Congress also
has the power to investigate matters of state secrets, although the so-called
state secrets privilege may and has been used to prevent the divulgence of
information to Congress and even to the courts.’”
 Christopher
T. Hill
Sunday, April 20, New York Times
How
Scientific Gains Abroad Pay Off in the U.S.
“Americans have long profited from low-cost manufactured goods, especially
from Asia. The cost of those material ‘inputs’ is now rising.
But because of growing numbers of scientists in China, India and other lower-wage
countries, ‘the cost of producing a new scientific discovery is dropping
around the world,’ says Christopher T. Hill, a professor
of public policy and technology at George Mason University. American innovators—with
their world-class strengths in product design, marketing and finance—may
have a historic opportunity to convert the scientific know-how from abroad
into market gains and profits. Mr. Hill views the transition to ‘the
post scientific society’ as an unrecognized bonus for American creators
of new products and services. Mr. Hill’s insight, which he first described
in a National Academy of Sciences journal article last fall, runs counter to
the notion that the United States fails to educate enough of its own scientists
and that ‘shortages’ of them hamper American competitiveness.”
Sunday, April 20, Publico (Portugal)
Professor Kenneth Button was
interviewed by the Portuguese media
about the air transportation industry.
Friday, April 18, Journal de Negocios and Meia
Hora (Portugal)
Professor
Kenneth Button discusses
the airline industry in these Portuguese
publications.
Wednesday, April 16, Wall Street Journal
Plane
Wreck
“Airlines live in a different regulatory
world today, but airline executives are straining
after similar solutions when they propose mergers
or ‘code-sharing’ agreements….
Intellectual revolution though it would require,
the real fix would be some kind of code-sharing ‘safe
harbor’ to which airlines could repair
in times of financial stress. Crudely, when
profits are scarce, carriers would be free
to collude over fares and routes in order to
maintain service levels without bleeding each
other to death. Delta’s then-President
Fred Reid dared to broach just such a proposal
at an industry conference several years ago.
The same crazy idea also appears in a growing
body of academic work by people like Kenneth
Button at George Mason University
and Embry-Riddle’s Jayathi Raghavan and
Vedapuri Raghavan.”
Wednesday, April 16, Cleveland Plain Dealer
What
a Continental-United merger would mean for
you
“The merger of Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines into the world's
largest carrier could push two other major carriers -- Continental and United
-- into consolidation, according to industry insiders…. Continental
brings more planes in and out of Cleveland Hopkins International Airport than
any other airline, with more than 240 daily departures…. Kenneth
Button, an aerospace policy teacher at George Mason University, has
said United's Denver hub could grow in a merger, as it plugs into the Continental
network. Hopkins loses business in that scenario.
 Stephen
Fuller
Monday, April 14, WTOP Radio
Unfilled
Jobs Slow Economy
“The region’s growing shortage of workers is compounded by the
area’s lack of affordable housing, a local economist says. ‘Workers
can’t move here if they can’t sell their house somewhere else,’ says Stephen
Fuller, director for the Center for Regional Analysis at George Mason
University in Fairfax, Va. Fuller says because the region is the fourth most
expensive housing market in the nation, some 300,000 people who can’t
afford to live here, and they commute in, clogging area roads.… ‘If
we can’t fill a job, it’s work that doesn’t get done. It
slows our economy. It makes us weaker. The availability of workers, the shortage
of workers is critical.’”
 John
McClain
Friday, April 11, Baltimore Sun
Housing
Market Is 'Pretty Bleak'
“March is usually the month when homebuyers get serious, when sales rocket
out of the winter doldrums—but not this year. Home sales in the Baltimore
area last month fell 34 percent from a year earlier, the seventh straight month
of declines roughly in that range, Metropolitan Regional Information Systems
reported yesterday. The average sales price slid almost 3 percent to about
$297,700, or $8,900 less than a year ago.…. ‘Pretty bleak,’ said John
McClain, a senior fellow at George Mason University’s Center
for Regional Analysis. ‘A lot of people are still on the sidelines. People
think the economy is in a recession, and it probably is.’”
 Ramkishen
Rajan
Tuesday, April 1, Business Times
Major
Issues Arising from the US Financial
Crisis
Professor Ramkishen Rajan examines
in an op-ed piece the recent U.S. financial
debacle and urges policymakers to pay
attention to risk issues that involve
financial sectors.
|
