Satellite to be junked because lunar flyby is patented

A satellite is being abandoned in orbit because its position can't be corrected without violating a Boeing patent on lunar flyby:

The AMC-14 commercial geostationary satellite was launched in March by a Proton launch vehicle into space just short of its minimum geostationary transfer orbit (GTO)...

However, SpaceDaily has now learned that a plan to salvage AMC-14 was abandoned a week ago when SES gave up in the face of patent issues relating to the lunar flyby process used to bring wayward GEO birds back to GEO Earth orbit.

Sources have told SpaceDaily that it was possible to bring AMC-14 back via the moon to a stable GEO orbit where the high powered satellite would have been able to operate for at four years and probably longer.

Industry sources have told SpaceDaily that the patent is regarded as legally "trite", as basic physics has been rebranded as a "process", and that the patent wouldn't stand up to any significant level of court scrutiny and was only registered at the time because "the patent office was incompetent when it came to space matters".

Link (via /.)

(Image: Patents are only for the old machine, a Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike licensed image from Adulau's Flickr stream)

Economists React: Payrolls at ‘Recessionary Levels’

Economists and others weigh in on the the weaker-than-expected employment report.

Private payroll growth has now been negative for three months in a row (including a very sharp 101,000 drop in February). These payroll changes are at recessionary levels. –Drew Matus, Lehman Brothers

Back-to-back nonfarm payroll declines and three consecutive private payroll contractions are a strong indication that the economy has fallen into recession. The decline in the unemployment rate does not conflict with this message because it is a result of reduced labor force participation (less willingness to look for a job), which likely reflects a deteriorating assessment of the labor market (as supported by the Conference Board’s consumer confidence survey). –Bear Stearns

As for the decline in the unemployment rate, don't get too excited about that either. There was a huge drop in the labor force. With all the news about a recession, people may be giving up looking for work. As far as the government is concerned, if you are not an active participant in the labor market, you are not counted as unemployed. –Naroff Economic Advisors

The February employment report was dismal. We have been saying that the labor market data has been weakening but had not yet gotten to a recessionary tenor. Well, this was a recessionary type number… Ironically, most of the data this week were mildly encouraging, in that, while they were weak in an absolute sense, they did not show a downward spiral in activity from January to February (whereas much of the December and January data were disastrous). Today’s report is obviously a very important departure from that pattern, but we are still not sure that GDP will contract meaningfully in the first half of the year. –Stephen Stanley, RBS Greenwich Capital

The debate should no longer be about whether there is or is not a recession, only about how deep it will be. –Nigel Gault, Global Insight

Making a bad situation worse is the downward revisions in the January data to -22,000 and the December data to +41,000, down from -17,000 and +82,000 respectively, make it clear that the since November 2007 the economy is but a rounding error away from negative growth and we think that is exactly what the market will observe in the first quarter… Turn out the lights the parties over. We are in a recession –Joseph Brusuelas, IDEAglobal

A terrible report. No support at all now for consumer spending growth. –Joshua Shapiro, MFR, Inc.

Weekly jobless claims do not suggest heavy layoffs and indeed other collaborating data (JOLTS and Challenger surveys) do not suggest heavy layoffs. The more pronounced trend in this cycle is the lack of hiring in many industries. Weak hiring implies that those who are laid off will have greater difficulty finding jobs. The unemployment rate rose earlier in this economic slump than in previous cycles because hiring did not keep pace with labor market growth. –Societe Generale

The most pressing sign of recession spreading into noncyclical areas was the decline in private service jobs, which fell for the first time in five years. Some were expected for example in retail and wholesale trade jobs a reflection of decreasing sales and in finance. But the number of temporary jobs lost in business services was the real signal of cyclical spread. –Brian Fabbri, BNP Paribas

Education and leisure together rose 51,000, so core private jobs fell by a huge 152,000. In mitigation, weather effects seem to have accounted for perhaps more than 100,000 of this, but the underlying trends are horrible, with worse to come. The Fed has to ease much more. –Ian Shepherdson, High Frequency Economics

Weather conditions did not really appear to be an important factor in the February employment report. The "not at work due to bad weather" measure — our favorite proxy for weather-related influences on the employment data — came at 316,000, which was virtually unchanged from January and relatively close to expectations. –David Greenlaw, Morgan Stanley

Compiled by Phil Izzo

Offer your reactions in the comments section.

Dig into an interactive summary of economists’ forecasts for the coming year from the latest WSJ.com survey.

Lehman Joins Ranks of Recession Forecasters

Lehman Brothers has joined the chorus of economists who say the economy is sliding into a recession.

“We now believe the tax rebate checks will arrive too late to prevent an outright recession. We look for modestly negative GDP growth in both” the first and second quarters of 2008, chief economist Ethan Harris wrote in a research note.

Lehman Brothers joins economists from Global Insight, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, UBS, The Northern Trust and Merrill Lynch in forecasting a recession. Recession is often defined as at least two consecutive quarters of GDP contraction. The National Bureau of Economic Research, the private outfit that dates recessions, doesn't use the two-quarter definition. It says "a recession is a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in real GDP, real income, employment, industrial production, and wholesale-retail sales."

“The economy is likely to experience an extended period of very weak growth, a rising unemployment rate and significant further Fed rate cuts,” Mr. Harris wrote. “This is a bigger, but more gradual, shock to the economy than either the 1990 or 2001 recession.”

Lehman’s announcement came on the heels of today’s unexpected drop in nonfarm payrolls, but Mr. Harris said cited many factors for the change in outlook. “The construction recession appears to have moved into the non-residential sector. Soft data like the purchasing manager's indices and consumer confidence have fallen into recession territory. Energy prices continue to surprise on the upside and with wage growth flat, consumption is being squeezed. Talk of stagflation is another blow to confidence. Most important, asset markets continue to weaken,” he wrote. –Phil Izzo

Secondary Sources: Mortgage Solutions, Climate Change, Stagflation

A roundup of economic news from around the Web.

Stemming Mortgage Crisis: In today’s Journal, Martin Fedlstein proposes a way to stop the mortgage crisis. “If the government is to reduce significantly the number of future defaults, something fundamentally different is needed. Although there is no perfect plan, a program of federal mortgage-paydown loans to individuals, secured by future income rather than by a formal mortgage, could reduce the number of mortgages with high LTV ratios and cut future defaults.Here’s one way that such a program might work: The federal government would lend each participant 20% of that individual’s current mortgage, with a 15-year payback period and an adjustable interest rate based on what the government pays on two-year Treasury debt (now just 1.6%). The loan proceeds would immediately reduce the borrower’s primary mortgage, cutting interest and principal payments by 20%. Participation in the program would be voluntary and participants could prepay the government loan at any time.”

Climate Change: On the Congressional Budget Office director’s blog, Peter Orszag aims to clarify the CBO’s recent research on carbon taxes vs. a cap-and-trade system to combat climate change. “”The Choice is Not Between Taxes and Inflexible Caps: Cap-and-Trade Programs Can Offer Varying Degrees of Flexibility. Policymakers can provide firms leeway in annual emission reductions in a variety of ways while ensuring that total emissions follow a desired long-term trajectory. Rising taxes are one method. Tax rates would need to be adjusted over time if they failed to induce the desired cumulative reduction in emissions over multiple years. Alternatively, a cap-and-trade program that included both a price floor and a price ceiling could achieve much of the efficiency advantages of a tax. The rate at which the cap declines — and that the price floor and ceiling increase — could be set to aim for a cumulative long-term emission reduction target. The policy could include provisions that would trigger a more rapid rise in the price floor and ceiling if it was failing to provide the desired cumulative emission reductions over a multiyear period. Finally, allowing firms to bank and borrow allowances can help reduce the cost of achieving a long-term emission reduction target relative to a system of inflexible annual caps. Those provisions, however, are unlikely to provide cost savings as substantial as those that might result from the alternative approaches.”

Stagflation: Writing for Slate, Daniel Gross fears a looming stagflation. “There’s a final reason why even a mild case of stagflation can prove fatal: leverage. Stagflation implies a rise in fixed costs and inputs (food, energy, the price of money itself) coupled with slowing growth in sales and revenues. This dynamic of a rising bottom line and a stagnant top line shrinks profit margins. If you have a lot of debt, and if much of that debt is floating-rate or short-term debt, a horrible combination results. If your entire business model consists of borrowing huge sums of floating-rate or short-term debt and using it to buy other assets or debt instruments that tend to decline in value when inflation rises and growth stalls, then it’s a killer. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what the financial-services sector and the American homeowner have been doing for the last several years.”

Compiled by Phil Izzo

Bill O'Reilly and Bernard Goldberg Give SNL Too Much Credit

Last night, 3/6/08, Bernie Goldberg claimed the Saturday Night Live skit about the media's coverage of Obama was a wake up call to the press giving them "permission" to treat Obama with less reverence. In addition, BOR claims in his weekly column that SNL is responsible for Hillary's win on Tuesday.

Here's Goldberg's theory about the media reaction to the SNL show with Hillary Clinton as a guest.

"The media were in love with Barack Obama," Goldberg declared. "They live in a comfy liberal elite bubble, and they can go for a lifetime and never run into anybody who disagrees with them. But then here comes Saturday Night Live to puncture that bubble. That comedy show gave the mainstream media permission to throw away their Obama pom-poms and begin to act like real journalists."

O'Reilly agreed adding that he thought a lot of women felt sorry for Clinton because she was getting battered by the press and decided to vote for her out of sympathy.

Bill opened his weekly column with this thought.

"Hillary Clinton should send the Saturday Night Live writers fruit baskets and expensive bottles of wine. That's because without them, she might be out of the running for the presidency right now."

He claims the timing shows the big influence Saturday Night Live had on the undecided voters.

"Exit polls from Ohio and Texas show that Senator Clinton routed Senator Obama among Democrats who made their choice within three days of the vote—exactly the time frame of the SNL skit. In Ohio, Hillary won those voters 58% to 40%. Could be a coincidence, but I don't think so."

comment: It's not surprising that O'Reilly gives the media complete power over the voting public. Since he has complete confidence in his own ability to sway public opinion through constant manipulation, he assumes that the voters are powerless to make their own decisions.

Since Hillary has a large base of mature, working women, one wonders how a skit on SNL will be the deciding factor for them .Also does O'Reilly really believe the so called undecided voters were really so undecided and too out of it to see what the press has been doing. After all, he and FOX have been mutilating the Clinton's for years. People just don't take it seriously anymore.

Media Matters has an interesting analysis of the subject by Matthews and Olbermann

Your World w/Neil Cavuto Essentially Blows Off a Very Bad Day on Wall Street -- Continues to Shield Republicans

The headlines in the business and financial world were grim today (March 7, 2008):

-- Employers slashed payrolls by 63,000 in February, the most in five years, after a revised decline of 22,000 in January. The jobless rate dropped to 4.8 percent, showing that some people have simply given up looking for work.

-- This morning the Federal Reserve moved bailout the banks to the tune of $200 billion over the next month to offset the deepening credit crisis.

-- Thornburg Mortgage Inc., the home lender, may go out of business because it can't meet $610 million of margin calls.

-- U.S. consumer borrowing almost doubled in January to $2.52 trillion as Americans spent twice as much on their credit cards as they did in December. Debt increased by $6.9 billion. In December, credit gained $3.7 billion. The figures don't include borrowing secured by real estate, such as home-equity loans. Americans are increasingly living off their credit cards.

-- Stocks tumbled following the jobs report. The Dow was down 146.70, closing at 11,893.69.

So, given all that, I was interested to see how "the business people" (as Shep Smith said when he signed off) on Fox's "premiere business news" show would cover this.

Sure enough, they opened with a Fox News Alert, a shot of the "big board," and this from substitute host Terry Keenan:

And, to Wall Street. A rough end to a really rough week. The Dow dropping triple digits yet again. We're now back below 12,000. You're looking at the lowest Dow that we have seen since October, 2006. Believe it or not, it could have been worse. at one point, the Dow was down more than 200 points. Worries on the job front and the home front slamming stocks. The Dow down about 3 points, 3% that is, on the week. More on the markets -- full coverage coming up.

22 minutes later -- yes, that would be 22 minutes later at 4:22 p.m. ET -- what was evidently the "full coverage" rolled around. Keenan introduced it this way:

Alright. Stocks selling off as the economy loses jobs for the month of February. Hillary Clinton using that news to make a case for ending the Bush tax cuts. John McCain, as you might expect, feels differently. Well, now with the Dow below 12,000, which candidate has the best solutions for the economy and your money? Let's ask our market pros.

With that, two trader-types talked about how catastrophic it would be to raise taxes right now and one Democratic strategist argued that we've got to do something.

As they spoke, the following chyrons appeared on screen, supposedly adding to the "full coverage," but not conveying much at all in the way of actual information:

-- Employers slash 63,000 jobs in Feb.; the most jobs in 5 years.
-- Dow fell 3% this week.
-- Nasdaq fell 3% this week.
-- S&P 500 fell 3% this week.
-- Dow is down 16% from all-time high.
-- Nasdaq is down 23% from its Oct. high.
-- S&P 500 is down 17% from all-time high.

Then, at 4:59 p.m. ET, with seconds to go before signing off, Keenan added more of the same over another shot of the "big board:"

Well, we want to take another look at the big board. the closing bell sounding just a little less than an hour ago. There's the Dow. That is the lowest close since October of '06. The Dow down 146 points today. A weak job report putting the pressure on stocks. The Dow down 3 points on the week [sic]. The Nasdaq and the S&P lower as well, down 3% for the week for the Dow.

Comment: No context. Do depth. Repeat the same three or four bits of information over and over again. This is what constitutes "business news" on Fox's "premiere business news" show, Your World w/Neil Cavuto. Bottom line: The bastards are deliberately keeping business and financial news -- almost all of which is bad -- from the public so as to protect those currently in power.

Hannity Offers Advice To Obama

What a difference a couple of primaries make! No sooner did Hillary Clinton win Texas and Ohio than Sean Hannity was no longer consumed with concern and indignation about Barack Obama's pastor's connection to Louis Farrakhan nor Obama's casual relationship with a former 60's radical. Nope, now Hannity is filled with concern and indignation that Obama may not get his due from the super delegates. Hannity even offered advice to Obama on how to defeat Clinton. With video.

As the first part of the video below shows, Hannity fretted that Obama might get screwed out of the nomination either via the super delegates who might "transcend the will of the people" and appoint Hillary Clinton the nominee and/or a last-minute recognition of Florida and Michigan delegates. Jabbing his finger in the air the same way he had when he demanded of an Obama supporter, "If my pastor gave a lifetime achievement award to David Duke, what would you think of me?" Hannity was suddenly an Obama advocate. As Juan Williams argued that the Florida and Michigan delegates would almost certainly get a seat at the table, Hannity, his voice full of sympathy for Obama, asked, "But wait, are you saying seat them without another election, meaning, even the Michigan delegates when Barack wasn't on – he wasn't even on the ballot!"

Hannity slammed his hand on the desk. "But, but, wait a minute!" Hannity sputtered. "Why can't Barack Obama make the case, why is little old Sean Hannity making the case for the Obama campaign here? Why don't they quote Hillary Clinton? Hillary was willing to disenfranchise Florida and Michigan back in September. You know, why doesn't he come out with ads pointing out, well, 'Hillary was able and willing to do this to you then?'" Williams answered that that would be politically untenable for Obama to do.

Later, at the end of the show, during the segment in which Hannity and Colmes ordinarily debate each other, Hannity offered more advice for Obama. This time, he suggested that Obama take a page from Hillary Clinton's playbook that she used when she was running for the Senate in 2000. In an effort to embarrass her then-opponent, Rick Lazio, into releasing his tax returns, she had someone dress up as Uncle Sam and appear at all of Lazio's events.

Hannity was brimming over with enthusiasm as he looked into the camera with a message for the Obama campaign. "Just do what Hillary did to Rick Lazio!" Banging his hands together, Hannity added, "And why do you need my advice? Why aren't you guys on top of this?"

If Obama should capture the nomination, I'm sure Hannity will be trotting out the pastor all over again.

NOTE: Comments have been turned off on this thread.

Fox Fave: Obama has Been "Weakened" -- He "Got His Butt Kicked by a Girl"

Fox hearts Hillary, undoubtedly because at this point McCain does better against her than Obama. And judging from some of the things I saw on Fox today (March 6, 2008), it looks like the campaign money Clinton took from Rupert Murdoch is being supplemented with in-kind support, like the segment I'll talk about below, and the side-by-side shots of Barack Obama and Ken Starr Fox aired during the 5:00 p.m. ET hour.

As for the segment, presented on Fox's "business news" show, it followed a short blurb implying that Clinton is doing fantastically well because she raised "$4M Online since Super Tuesday 2." (There was nothing about the $55M Obama raised in February compared to Clinton's $35M (both of which are mind blowing). There was also nothing about the meager $12M that McCain raised in January, which, I believe, is the most recent figure we have for him.)

Terry Keenan was the substitute host and her guests were frequent guest Cheryl Tantaros, a Republican "strategist," and Stephanie Miller, a Democrat and radio talk show host. The topic of the segment was (per the chyron), "Obama Lays Low as Clinton Campaigns: Is it a Mistake?" Keenan set it up with:

Well, four million bucks. that's how much Hillary Clinton raked in in contributions since Super Tuesday 2. She and Bill Clinton are both on the campaign trail today. Barack Obama? Well, he's not. Is that a mistake?

(FYI - John McCain took a few days off last weekend but I didn't see a segment on Fox about that.)

Turning to Tantaros, Keenan said she thought she read that Michelle Obama said, "Barack Obama's only been home ten days in the last year. They have two young children. Why can't he take the day off?"

Ignorning the fact that Obama is in the lead in more ways that fundraising, Tantaros said, "You take time off in a position of strength, not in a position of weakness." He "should come out swinging against the Clintons...pierce a hole in her electability argument that it's her experience."

Miller spoke next, and I loved this: "I know this is probably startling to the Republican family values crowd but this is actually what family values look like. It is actually spending time with your family -- and guess what? He's on his first family. That's something new." Not only that, but he's not in a weakened position, "he's ahead" so there's nothing wrong with taking a day off.

Keenan, sounding like a scorned, bitter woman: "Okay, well, he's a young man. I'm glad he's on his first wife." Then she pointed out that McCain has been "laying off a little," to which Tantaros responded: "That's fine. Do it next week. Don't do it after you get your butt kicked by a girl!"

After a short pause during which nobody said anything, Miller said, "Wow! That was a little sexist, or somethin'!!" and reiterated that taking one day off is no big deal.

Tantaros went on to say that she doesn't think Obama "knows what to do now." He's "confused." He's "boxed into a corner." He should "come out swinging. It's a message to the super delegates. It's perceived as weak." Take a day off next week, when you have some "wind under your belt."

A new chyron appeared at the bottom of the screen: "Clinton Raises $4M Online Since Super Tuesday 2," while Miller reminded viewers that Obama was out talking about the Clintons releasing their tax returns and again, he doesn't need to be "everywhere, all day long, every single day."

Tantaros closed by saying that Miller needed a better "excuse" than to say he's leading in delegates because that's "not the only thing that's going to convince these super delegates to go in his direction."

Comment: Obama sounds like quite a loser doesn't he? I'm sure that was the point but Fox had to stoop to using Obama taking one day off -- ONE DAY -- as smear-material? I can't fathom what it must be like to live in the mind of the people who sit around thinking this stuff up.

O'Reilly Proclaims Huffington Post Continues To Traffic In Hate

Looks like Bill will just keep doing those segments about Huffington Post until someone either agrees with him or turns off his compulsive switch. Last night, 3/05/08, he did it again armed with some rude but tame comments from HuffPo that his interns had probably gathered for him. Unfortunately Mary Katherine Ham still didn't give him the response needed to erase the compulsion so he'll probably keep harping on Arianna Huffington until a better enemy comes along.

O'Reilly again defended his claim that Huffington Post utilizes Nazi tactics. Ham didn't agree with him saying," This is partly the cost of having very open and free speech on the Internet. On the other hand, people have to take responsibility for their own sites and the comments"

O'Reilly insisted again that the comments could be easily moderated. "There is hate from top to bottom on that site. There is defamation, it's irresponsible, and she traffics in that."

Then he proceeded to show his viewers an example of defamation by discussing accusations that the Clinton campaign purposely darkened Barack Obama's skin in a recent ad. Although he concluded that Hillary wouldn't do such a risky thing, the seed was planted.

More agenda-driven "analysis" from the Spin-Zone

Crotchety old Bill O'Reilly declared in his Talking Points Memo last night 3/5/08 that the reason Hillary Clinton won Texas, Ohio, and Rhode Island Tuesday night was because (Zzzzz) the corrupt media.

For the third time in as many days O'Reilly cited a study by an allegedly non-partisan group:

"According to the Center for Media and Public Affairs, a non-partisan watchdog group, from mid-December to mid-February, 83 percent of network news coverage directed at Barack Obama was positive. Eighty-three percent. For Hillary Clinton, 53 percent was positive. Still a very high number, but nothing like the unprecedented Obama media kiss-up. NBC News led the way, openly fawning over Senator Obama and hitting Senator Clinton much harder during last week's debate. "

According to SourceWatch, the CMPA is almost entirely funded by right-wing conservative organizations, mainly the John M. Olin, Scaife, and Smith Richardson foundations. (The CMPA is the same org that found, last month, that FOX News has had the most "fair and balanced" election coverage. Founder and President Robert Lichter is on the FOX News roster as a media analyst and according to SourceWatch is a paid contributor.) FAIR, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, analyzed Lichter's methodology and found that

"Despite the Lichters' objective posture, the methodology used in most of their research is not scientific. They have used it in the past to "prove" entirely dubious claims, such as the idea that Jesse Jackson was the candidate with the most positive news coverage in 1988, or that George Bush got as much negative coverage as Saddam Hussein during the Gulf War.

In analyzing media coverage, the Lichters single out what they judge to be "thematic messages"—explicit statements of opinion or evaluation. Usually the Lichters determine that such statements make up a very small proportion of the statements found in news reporting—yet proceed to generalize about coverage as a whole based on this tiny percentage.

The Lichters' tendency to generalize from a narrow sliver of data is the main way that their studies end up supporting their preconceived conclusions of left bias. [...] Under the guise of revealing patterns of bias, what the Lichters really uncover are patterns of rhetoric."

So their study, and O'Reilly's trumpeting of it, is more propaganda to further the liberal media myth. Another O'Reilly rant against the same industry he brags about dominating.

As he did Tuesday night with Brit Hume, O'Reilly segued from

"A biased media was trying to engineer the election. Americans don't like that. They never have, they never will. It doesn't matter what party you subscribe to. The folks do not want the media manipulating elections."

to

"In Texas, the Limbaugh factor was in play as well, as the radio commentator encouraged Republicans to vote for Hillary in order to create chaos within the Democratic Party."

without even a hint of irony. Helloooo! Again, he did not condemn Limbaugh's meddling, as right-wing talk radio is not considered part of "the media" either. O'Reilly likes to complain about liberal's selective outrage but he clearly dominates in that arena too.

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 Aging and HDL metabolism in elderly people more than 100 years old.Yasumichi Arai and Nobuyoshi HiroseJournal of atherosclerosis and thrombosis 11 (5), 246-52 (2004)info:pmid/15557706Posted by ommen to NUGO on Thu Mar 20 2008 at 14:10 UTC | info | related

比较法视野中的政府信息公开制度（一）

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比较法视野中的政府信息公开制度

摘 要] 在世界范围内，各国政府由于政治、经济等方面的因素，成为最大的信息所有者和控制者。而作为整体的国家的发展其离不开各种经济实体的单个发展，而这就离不开政府将其所垄断的信息公开，这就是政府信息公开制度。政府信息公开，又可称为政务公开，其目的在于增强政府行为的透明度．从而保障公民的知情权。对处于经济转型期的中国，加快政府信息公开法律制度的建设更是具有极其重要的意义。

 

[关键词] 政府信息   知情权   主动公开   宏观调控

   

一，政府信息公开制度之权源分析

在政府信息公开制度的实施上，我国目前主要采用的是主动公开制度。对于何为主动公开，我国学者从不同的角度进行了论述，有的从主动公开的具体途径和方法上论述。"政府信息的主动公开是指政府主动地在有关的公开出版物上公布政府信息，或者以通告、告示、布告、公告等方式公开政府信息。"[1]有的从行政主体法定义务的角度论述主动公开，即认为"主动公开是指国家行政主体及其 工作 人员按照法律规定的义务主动将国家行政主体及其工作人员的有关情况登载在有关报纸上、公报上或者国家行政主体及其工作人员主动公开有关情况的一种公开方式。"[2]在政府信息公开法律制度下，政府是否应当向公众提供政府信息，不是由政府的权力决定的，而是由民众的权利决定的。人民主权理论和知情权理论构成了公众获得政府信息的权利的合理性，成为政府信息公开制度的理论基础。从世界各国政府信息公开法律制度的发展概况和趋势来看，政府信息公开的立法趋势是加强政府运作的透明度、扩大信息公开的范围、导入司法审查机制等。政府信息公开制度所保护的是公民的政治权利。政治权利包括反对权，如保护居少数地位群体的权利，举行抗议、游行示威以及让公民了解政府信息和进行政治查询。[3]

同时，实行政府信息公开制度也是保护公民知情权的有效措施。目前学界一般把公民的知情权作为政府信息公开的理论基础。知情权概念有两层含义：一为报道活动前提的知情枞，与 "采访自由"几乎同义：一为信息接受者的自由，即收集、选择信息的白由。就广义而言，知情权是指寻求、接受和传递信息情报的自由，包括从官方或非官方获知有关情况的权利；而狭义知情权则仅指知悉官方有关情况的权利。[4]公民的知情权表达了现代社会的成员对公共信息资源的一种普遍利益需求和权利意识，是公民权利体系中的一个重要组成部分。知情权是人民行使一切民主权利的重要前提。没有知情权，公民的选举权和参政权无法实现；知情权是监督政府，防止政府滥用权力的重要手段，能够有效地监督政府不滥用权力的最好办法就是建立以知情权为基础的政府信息公开制度。确认知情权为一项普遍的民主和社会权利，为政府信息公开奠定了基础。

二、各国政府信息公开法律制度的考察与比较

    (一)瑞典

    瑞典是世界上第一个建立政府信息公开法律制度的国家。瑞典于1766年制定了 《出版自由法》，规定市民有接近公文书的权利，以此作为防止公务员违反法律、滥用职权的手段。该法是世界上第一部从宪法层面确认公民出版自由和政府信息公开的法律。后该法经过修订一直沿用至今，并与另外两部宪法性法律《表达自由法》，《政府宪章》及《保密法》共同构成了瑞典信息公开法律制度的完整体系。《政府宪章》对瑞典政府信息公开作了原则性的规定，明确指出信息自由是指国民和组织"获取或接受或者以其他方式了解他人观点的自由。"《出版自山法》不仅对瑞典公民以及在瑞典定居的外国人享有的广泛的出版自由作了详尽规定。而且对政府信息公开的方式、程序等作了具体规定。依据该法，任何人经申请都有权获得依法应当公开的官方文件，且该官方文件的查阅是免费的。公共机关在审查和批准查阅官方文件的申请时不得对申请人的身份及动机进行调查，除非这种调查是必须的。查阅人可以采取多种方式了解文件内容，并有权获得官方文件的副本或者复制件。瑞典的 《保密法》则列举了l1种不予公开的信息，对公民信息自由的限制作了具体、明确的规定。1991年通过的 《表达自由法》是对《出版自由法》的补充，对前法未尽事项 (如广播、电视、互联网等新兴媒体的表达自由)作了补充规定。

    (二)美国

    除瑞典以外，较早制定信息公开法，并且在世界上影响较为深远的国家是美国，其《信息自由法》规定完备，业已成为世界各国效仿的典范。1946年美国的联邦行政程序法对政府文件的公开有若干规定，但由于该法的规定非常笼统，特别是对保密事项规定地十分模糊，在实践中政府机关往往拒绝公开信息。加上法律并未对拒绝公开信息规定任何救济手段，使得政府机关有恃无恐。然而，由于美国是一个三权分立、权力制衡的国家，社会普遍反对行政保密。各界人士强烈要求修改1946年联邦行政程序。到了1954年，有议员提出了以信息公开控制政府的主张。其后，美国开始了对信息公开法律制度的研究和制定，最终于1966年制定了≤信息自由法》。美国《信息自由法》经过1974年、1976年、1986年等几次大的修改，历经四十年的适用和完善，已经形成了一套较为完备，可行的政府信息公开法律制度。

    (三)韩国

    韩国是亚洲最早制定并实施政府信息公开法的国家。韩国政府信息公开制度的形成最早源于学术界的讨沦，学者的讨论进而影响到了法院的判决。韩国宪法法院在1990年前的几个判决中，认定宪法第二十一条隐含着公民的知情权。在此背景下，很多地方政府制定了信息公开条例，各地相继导入政府信息公开的制度。1992年，当选总统金泳三履行了其竞选诺言，积极推进信息公开法的制定，并于1994年发布了《行政信息公开指南 》，提出制定信息公开法的方针并着手进行准备。最终，《公共机关信息公开法》于1996年通过。韩国的信息公开法中，不仅将行政机关而且将法院、国会以及特殊法人、地方自治团体等均列为信息公开的对象。而且该法还对部分公开和异议申请、行政裁决、行政诉讼、第三人的异议等信息公开争议的上诉程序作了，明确规定。

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Economia Italiana:

Un Confronto per le Elezioni

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 Siamo un gruppo di studenti di master in economia. Con questa presentazione vogliamo fare informazione su alcuni temi economici della campagna elettorale che spesso vengono trattati in modo difficile da comprendere.

Ci teniamo a sottolineare che non siamo iscritti a nessuno partito e che abbiamo deciso di fare questa presentazione soprattutto per senso di cittadinanza.

Tutti i dati citati provengono da fonti ufficiali come ISTAT, EUROSTAT e OCSE. Alla fine della presentazione potete trovare il riferimento alle pubblicazioni ed ai database presi in considerazione.

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