DC Journal
Three Problems with Biden’s China EV Tariffs
The Biden administration announced it would raise tariffs on Chinese-made steel, aluminum, semiconductors, solar panels, and EVs. This proposal has three major problems. First, tariffs will make…
Forbes
CEQ’s Empty Promises On Permit Streamlining
The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) recently finalized its Phase II rule under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which it is touting as a “Bipartisan Permitting…
Reason
The Scandalous Science Behind Nuclear Regulation
Nuclear power could be a game-changer for energy affordability, grid reliability, and carbon reduction. However, it’s been stifled for decades based on one deeply flawed…
Reason
The Scandalous Science Behind Nuclear Regulation
Nuclear power could be a game-changer for energy affordability, grid reliability, and carbon reduction. However, it’s been stifled for decades based on one deeply flawed…
Forbes
Confronting A Surge In Costly Federal Rules
As of Monday, May 13, there have been 1,148 rules and regulations finalized among the 41,830 pages published to date in the 2024 Federal Register. Page…
Issues & Insights
Want Higher Air Fares? Overregulate Credit Cards
Yesterday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Department of Transportation held a joint hearing “investigating” airline and credit card reward programs. The Director and Secretary of…
National Review
Net Neutrality Trusts Regulation over Markets
Despite years of investment, innovation, increasing competition, and declining prices under a light-touch regulatory framework, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has reinstated Obama–era net-neutrality rules and…
The Wall Street Journal
Lina Khan’s Failed FTC Experiment
President Biden has embraced modern progressivism and ditched his liberal economic-policy inheritance. Nowhere is this more striking than in competition policy—the past 40 years of…
Wall Street Journal
Biden Is Coming for Your Air Conditioner
Your next new home air conditioner could set you back $12,000 or more, with federal regulators contributing to the rising cost of staying cool. Before…
Marketplace
Job satisfaction up, but may be near a plateau
CEI’s Sean Higgins is cited in Marketplace on employment satisfaction: These days, Sean Higgins at the Competitive Enterprise Institute think tank said people are…
National Review
CA’s $20 Fast Food Minimum Wage Is a Regressive Tax
California’s new $20 an hour minimum wage for fast food restaurants has turned into a regressive tax on the state’s low-income residents. People who wanted…
National Review
The Biden Administration Is Working Overtime to Make Work Less Flexible
The Biden administration has been putting in extra hours to quash the burgeoning trend of employment flexibility, and its latest effort is overhauling overtime rules. It may…
The Center Square
Op-Ed: To win the South, unions should embrace right to work
The United Auto Workers’ recent success organizing a Chattanooga, Tenn., Volkswagen factory and an upcoming vote at a Mercedes-Benz factory in Alabama raise the possibility…
National Review
Administrative State Hits Warp Speed
As my colleague Ryan Young noted on X, this week’s Federal Register is a bumper edition of new rules and regulations, almost triple the normal…
Wall Street Journal
‘Net Neutrality’ Faces a Stiff Judicial Test
The Federal Communications Commission voted Thursday along partisan lines to reclassify broadband internet access service as a common carrier telecommunications service under Title II of…
The Wall Street Journal
‘Net Neutrality’ Faces a Stiff Judicial Test
The Federal Communications Commission voted Thursday along partisan lines to reclassify broadband internet access service as a common carrier telecommunications service under Title II of…
New York Post
Layoffs at Tesla reveal the need for fresh ‘green’ thinking
Tens of billions of dollars in subsidies for electric vehicles. Billions more coming to subsidize charging stations. Non-stop jibberjabber about “sustainable” this and “Green New Deal” that.
Forbes
TikTok Is A Beacon Of Democracy In The Social Media Landscape
Recent developments in the U.S. House of Representatives have put TikTok, the immensely popular Chinese-owned social media app, in the crosshairs of lawmakers. The House…
American Institute for Economic Research
Biden Redoubles Effort to Crush Crypto With EIA’s Mining Survey
The Biden administration has launched yet another attack against the cryptocurrency industry–an environmental impact “survey” to bolster a politically motivated attack on the crypto mining…
Forbes
Truth Social Trading Frenzy Shouldn’t Concern The SEC
This past week, the stock price of Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), the parent company of Donald Trump’s social media start-up Truth Social, has…
National Review
The Return of the Cadillac Tax?
Like the phoenix, a key piece of the Affordable Care Act has risen from the ashes, resurrected, believe it or not, by the Republican Study Committee…
Forbes
Model Legislation On Artificial Intelligence To Regulate Government, Not Big Tech
While there’s considerable chatter, Congress seems unlikely to enact legislation regulating artificial intelligence (AI) this election year. The wait can be worth it, though. There…
The Center Square
Op-Ed: Minnesota’s burdensome clean transportation standards drive up costs
Minnesota legislators may try to phase out traditional motor fuels and the vehicles that run on them. The state is already imposing strict tailpipe standards…
Epoch Times
‘Green Innovation’ Study Shows California CO2 Policies Mainly Help China
CEI’s Daren Bakst is cited in the Epoch Times on a recent study on C02 policies in China: Daren Bakst, the director of CEI’s…
The Hill
The right way to neutralize China’s unfair economic advantage on climate
There’s a big push in Congress to eliminate any competitive edge handed to China as a result of domestic and international climate change policies. The…
Forbes
Libertarian Victory: You Mean We Can Shut Down Government Without Even Passing A Law?
It is happening again. Congress will enact another bloated, pork-laden and largely unread omnibus spending bill to complete formal appropriations for the 2024 fiscal year…
National Review
Critics of Capital One–Discover Merger Are Missing the Elephants
Op-Eds
Cutting Corners and Nickel-and-Diming Customers
In macroeconomics, the “circular flow of income” refers to the continuous flow of money between producers and consumers in the economy. Producers provide goods and…
Forbes
How The Biden Administration’s ‘Junk Fee’ Policies Will Hurt Consumers
In his State of the Union address last week, President Joe Biden touted his policies against “junk fees,” vowing to save Americans billions…
Delaware Valley Journal
PATNODE: Beyond Biden’s War on Cars: Analyzing New Jersey’s Electric Vehicles Mandate
States have been enacting extreme policies to limit the availability of gas-powered vehicles, surpassing even the Biden administration’s efforts at the national level. New Jersey recently…
Cato Institute
Is the Federal Trade Commission Serious about Premerger Notification?
The 1976 Hart–Scott–Rodino (HSR) Antitrust Improvements Act requires certain firms that are pursuing a merger to submit a Premerger Notification and Report Form, also called an HSR…
City Journal
A Solution in Search of a Problem
In his State of the Union address, President Biden touted the drug-price controls in his Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Though the price controls have yet…
National Review
SNAP Back to Reality: Why the FTC Needs a Broader View of the Kroger-Albertsons Case
The FTC’s court losses under Lina Khan’s leadership have a common theme: word games. In nearly every antitrust case it brings, the agency defines relevant markets…
National Review
SEC’s Climate Rule Is Finally Here, but for How Long?
The day many observers of financial regulation have long been awaiting (and dreading) has come. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted last week to approve its final rule on…
Forbes
How Tech Companies Are Powering Their Operations With Nuclear And Renewables
In a noteworthy move, Amazon Web Services (AWS) recently acquired Talen Energy’s 960MW data center campus in Pennsylvania, which draws power from the neighboring 2.5GW Susquehanna nuclear…
Forbes
The Quiet Threat To Science Posed By ‘Indigenous Knowledge’
“Indigenous knowledge” is in the spotlight thanks to President Biden, who issued an executive order within days of taking office, aimed at ushering…
National Review
The SEC’s Climate-Disclosure Rule Goes against 90 Years of Restraint
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is finalizing a mandatory climate-disclosure rule for public companies — perhaps the costliest regulatory mandate in its entire 90-year history.
National Review
Covid Vaccines: An Update on Balancing Risks and Benefits
A new large, multi-country study has confirmed what previous smaller studies found: Covid-19 vaccines have risks. In particular, the messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines from Pfizer and…
Forbes
The GAO Weighs In On Regulatory Reform Options For Congress
The Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) December 2023 Options for Enhancing Congressional Oversight of Rulemaking and Establishing an Office of Legal Counsel ought not be overlooked by Congress,…
Forbes
Spiraling Debt Demands Bipartisan Mobilization To Terminate Federal Departments And Agencies
In a federal government seemingly incapable of sticking to the necessary and proper, 2024 interest payments on debt topping $34 trillion are set to surpass defense spending as well as Medicare…
D.C. Journal
Biden’s Energy Strategy and Wishful Thinking
The Biden administration has repeatedly decided to restrict domestic oil and gas lease sales dramatically. As it develops policies to limit supply, the administration is draining our…
City Journal
Ignoring the Science
A new CDC study reports that the first updated Covid-19 vaccine—the bivalent vaccine approved in fall 2022—was about 50 percent effective in blocking infection over a two-month…
National Review
We Must Reject Our Elites’ Failed, Top-Down Environmentalism
Last month in Davos, the World Economic Forum (WEF) held its 54th annual meeting where world leaders suggested countries should make significant concessions to address climate…
Washington Examiner
Two energy rules threaten grid reliability
In its recent annual electricity report, the International Energy Agency found that U.S. electricity demand is likely to grow in the next three years. It projects…
Forbes
Reimagining Antitrust In A Post-Consumer Welfare Standard World
The consumer welfare standard that has guided antitrust enforcement for four decades is under attack. That standard, often associated with the ideas of legal scholar and failed…
Fox News
Why gas stove owners should still be worried
In response to a strong public backlash, the Biden administration Department of Energy (DOE) has decided to backtrack on its proposed new energy efficiency regulation of stoves…
The Hill
East Palestine anniversary calls for careful attention, not rushed legislation
One year ago today, there was a terrible rail accident in East Palestine, Ohio that shocked the nation. Thousands of gallons of hazardous materials were…
The Dispatch
Let Parents, Not Politicians, Keep Kids Safe Online
Many parents today are rightly concerned about what their kids see on social media and how much time they spend online. And politicians have noticed.
Forbes
Surge In Academic Retractions Should Put U.S. Scholars On Notice
A December article in Nature highlighted an alarming new record: more than 10,000 academic papers were retracted in 2023 alone, largely stemming from manipulation of the peer…
National Review
When Science Is Not Science
Just 22 percent of all adults and 41 percent of those 65 and older — the most vulnerable group — have received the updated 2023–24 Covid-19 vaccine.
The Center Square
Op-Ed: Labor Department stuck in 1930s with rule against independent contractors
The Department of Labor is stuck in the 1930s. That’s the most likely explanation for its new rule that could lead to thousands of freelancers…
The Washington Examiner
A dishwasher decision that is great news for consumers
A recent court ruling set new limits on the power of federal bureaucrats to impose unwanted mandates on consumer appliances. In a Jan.
Independent Women's Forum
Reliability is a Concern for Much of the U.S this Winter
The North American Electric Reliability Corporation’s (NERC) latest annual Winter Reliability Assessment sheds light on the vulnerabilities of the electrical grid across North America in the…
City Journal
A “Coordinated Campaign”
The Covid-19 pandemic revealed a split between those who believe that the government has broad authority to control every aspect of the economy and society…
Forbes
Artificial Intelligence Trends To Watch In 2024
Making predictions is always hard, especially in an industry moving as quickly as artificial intelligence. But as we stand on the cusp of a new…
National Review
How Does One-Third the CO2 Emissions Cause Three Times the Climate Damage?
This month, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published revised estimates of the social cost of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide — the three…
Fox News
Biden anti-consumer crusade targets 4 more types of appliances
2023 was an unusually bad year for appliance regulations, and future years won’t be much better unless Congress finds a way to stop…
The Hill
Don’t hand a blank check to a troubled FDIC
When shocking reports surfaced recently of discrimination, harassment and a toxic workplace culture at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, members of both parties…
New York Post
Eco-Warriors are now battling Christmas
In one of the season’s most predictable developments, climate activists have declared war on Christmas trees, vandalizing holiday displays in cities across Germany. Like any…
Forbes
Biden’s Counterproductive Crusade Against Junk Fees
In his latest effort to protect consumers, President Biden is promising to save Americans billions each year by eliminating so-called “junk fees.” Biden’s…
National Review
Adam Smith, a Roman Emperor, and Slavery
Adam Smith tells a story of the new Emperor Augustus and his reaction to the behavior of one of his allies, an equestrian (or “knight”) magnate…
The Dispatch
Why ‘Dollarize’?
The newly inaugurated president of Argentina, Javier Milei, is variously described as a radical libertarian, a right-wing populist, and an ultraconservative. Rather than try to…
National Review
Mass Transit: Preferred over Cars, Except When It Isn’t
For decades, environmentalists and urban planners have been on a mission to get Americans out of their cars and on to buses, light rail, commuter trains,…
National Review
Challenging the Excessive Powers of an Administrative Law Court
At least one form of government abuse might end soon. The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments this term for Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy, which …
National Review
Another FDA Power Grab
The comment period for the Food and Drug Administration’s latest power grab has just concluded. Roughly 20,000 comments were submitted addressing the FDA’s proposed rule which…
Fox News
Why creating an international body for AI is a bad idea
Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt recently re-upped his calls for a global body, akin to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), to advise member…
Forbes
OpenAI Is Now Unambiguously Profit-Driven, And That’s A Good Thing
The recent drama at OpenAI, where CEO Sam Altman was briefly dismissed by the board of directors only to be rapidly reinstated, has sparked discussion about…
Forbes
Biden Releases Fall 2023 Unified Agenda Of Federal Regulations
Since the early 1980s, federal departments and agencies have highlighted rulemaking priorities (not a complete inventory) in the (mostly) twice-yearly …
The Hill
Why are some Republicans pushing new taxes and higher prices?
Here’s a concoction whose toxicity conservatives instinctively recognize: new taxes, higher prices, punishing energy use, and giving foreign countries leverage over how the U.S. regulates.
Washington Times
Better late than never: New York Times finally admits school shutdowns hurt children
The New York Times has made a “startling” discovery. Its editorial board has recognized that “school closures that took 50 million children out of classrooms…
City Journal
Not-So-Affordable Care
In a 2022 book, Seemed Like a Good Idea, health economist Mark Pauly and his University of Pennsylvania coauthors describe how health-care policymakers “often rely on…
The American Spectator
The Forces Behind ESG’s Blacklisting Effect
Underneath the political back-and-forth over environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing, we are seeing a sinister shift in targets. What began as a campaign among…
Forbes
Effective Altruism Contributed To The Fiasco At OpenAI
In a surprising turn of events, OpenAI’s board abruptly fired co-founder and CEO Sam Altman on Friday. Following a backlash on social media, the board…
Duluth News Tribune
Point/Counterpoint: Technology once again is altering how, where we work
Technology is making the 40-hour workweek an outmoded tradition. Historically, the workweek concept was based on the cycle of working from sunup to sundown, stopping…
Discourse Magazine
What America’s Recent Bank Failures Tell Us About ESG Phasing
Financial institutions that radically phase out fossil fuel and other politically scorned investments pose a serious risk to their own business, to investors and ultimately…
Forbes
Schedule F And The Myth Of Apolitical Regulator Expertise
The Trump administration’s Schedule F executive order aimed at making it easier to hire and fire career civil servants in policy roles, but…
The Hill
New Biden ‘Joint Employer’ regulation is a boon for unions
What if you could get in legal trouble simply because you knew somebody else who got in trouble? You didn’t do anything wrong with them.
Op-Eds
Creating An IPCC For AI Would Be A Historic Mistake
The recent artificial intelligence safety summit convened by U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has revived a bad idea—creating an “…
National Review
Biden Order on Artificial Intelligence Puts Too Much Faith in Regulators
President Biden’s executive order (EO) on artificial intelligence (AI) directs more than a dozen federal agencies to, among other things, “establish guidelines…
DC Journal
Point: 40-Hour Workweek Is Under Scrutiny
Technology is making the 40-hour workweek an outmoded tradition. Historically, the workweek concept was based on the cycle of working from sunup to sundown, stopping…
Forbes
Congress Must Halt The Ascendance Of Regulation By Subsidy
Excessive regulation is one of those perennial Washington issues, which makes sense given that Washington pops out new rules like chocolate bunnies. A …
New York Post
New Yorkers can’t stop complaining about their blocked views
New York City has many fine museums — it isn’t one. Yet. But New York is the home of the nation’s second-dumbest urban political ecosystem…
The Center Square
Op-Ed: Illinois needs to undo its nuclear ban
Illinois has banned construction of new nuclear power plants for the past 36 years, since 1987. That’s a real predicament for a state that already…
DC Journal
Senate Credit Card Bills Will Cost Working Class Consumers
Senators from both sides of the aisle claim they are taking on big banks to help the working class by regulating credit cards. Sen. Josh…
Forbes
Biden’s New AI Executive Order Is Regulation Run Amok
Signed yesterday, President Biden’s new executive order on artificial intelligence safety is already making waves across the technology industry. While the intention of…
Forbes
Biden Gambles On Industrial Policy Tech Hubs
The Biden administration last week announced the designation of 31 regional “tech hubs” across the United States, as part of a new program…
Washington Times
Supreme Court ruled public sector workers cannot be forced to pay dues; unions take them anyway
In the five years since the Supreme Court’s ruling in Janus v. AFSCME that public sector workers cannot be forced to pay union dues, many…
Forbes
Net Neutrality Resurfaces To Join The Bidenomics Regulatory Costberg
“It was always about government control.” —Commissioner Brendan Carr, Federal Communications Commission Open Meeting, October 2023 Just in time for Halloween, “net neutrality”…
National Review
The FTC Is Now Trying to Stop Mergers Before They Start
Lina Khan’s antitrust crusade is not confined to the courts. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) chair has turned her attention to a nearly 50-year-old law about…
Washington Times
Industry reports see ‘Spookflation’ as Halloween demand meets rising prices
The Gazette
Grassley’s USDA spending reforms would protect farmers and taxpayers
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is spending billions of dollars each year for programs that Congress never specifically authorized. Fortunately, Sens. Chuck Grassley, (R-IA.)…
DC Journal
Counterpoint: Davis-Bacon Requires Pork Spending, Costs Taxpayers Billions
Forcing federally funded public works projects to pay the so-called prevailing wage is a classic case of robbing Peter to pay Paul. The intention behind…
Econlib
Seeking an Explanation for the Stagnation
This is the second of two posts I am writing in reaction to Adam Martin, who wrote two responses to my essay about ways in which …
Real Clear Energy
Climate Coup Alert: CEQ Proposes to Transform NEPA
In recent comments to the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), 24 state attorneys general led by Iowa AG Breanna Bird warn that CEQ’s July…
Forbes
A New Shot At Enlisting The Office Of Management And Budget In Regulatory Streamlining
Congressional leadership on regulatory streamlining is more urgent than ever in the wake of a post-Covid legislative flurry and attendant regulatory pressures soon to be…
Real Clear Markets
Barbie, Hot Wheels, and the Market for Lemons
The Barbie movie is more than a bit of good fun. It also teaches an economics lesson about lemons—the old slang term for defective goods, not the…
City Journal
Equity vs. Evidence
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force—a volunteer panel of national experts in prevention and evidence-based medicine that makes recommendations for clinical preventive services such as…
Washington Examiner
Biden blocking oil and gas leases will hurt families
High gas prices are slamming families. The Biden administration has taken two recent actions in Alaska that are the…
Forbes
Federal Paperwork Hours Consume The Equivalent Of 14,883 Human Lifetimes Annually
The White House Office of Management and Budget has this year issued catch-up editions of Information Collection Budget of the United States Government, a task in…
National Review
Restricting Pharmacy Benefit Managers Could Decrease Competition and Increase Drug Costs
Congress is considering multiple bills that aim to restrict the ability of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) to negotiate discounts and rebates and to require the PBMs…