Blog
CEI warns House committee of dangers of deposit insurance hike
Starting with our late founder and president Fred Smith, CEI has long warned of the risks posed by government-provided deposit insurance to the nation’s banks.
Comment
The Future of Deposit Insurance: Assessing Coverage Levels, Systemic Costs, and Depositor Confidence
Hearing Entitled: The Future of Deposit Insurance: Exploring the Coverage, Costs, and Depositor Confidence Dear Chairman Hill and Ranking Member Waters, On behalf of the…
News Release
Visa and Mastercard settlement with US merchants will cause confusion for consumers and harm community banks
Visa and Mastercard have reached a settlement in their 20-year-long legal battle with US merchants. The settlement gives merchants the ability to reject reward-based credit…
News Release
CFPB budget woes underscore fundamental problems with bureau’s set up
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) may run out of money soon, according to news reports. The bureau has been controversial from the start due…
Comment
Comments urging withdrawal of Chopra CFPB open banking mandate
Dear Acting Director Vought: On behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, I appreciate the opportunity to submit comments on RIN 3170-AB39, CFPB’s reconsideration of issues…
Letters
CEI joins coalition Letter against caps on stablecoin rewards
RE: Coalition in Support of Preserving Consumer Rewards and Competition in Digital Asset Legislation Dear Chairmen Scott and Boozman, Ranking Members Warren and Klobuchar, and…
Blog
Katie Porter’s exchange with CFPB’s Kraninger revisited amid new revelations
A recently surfaced clip of former Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) has sparked a firestorm online. In a newly revealed 2021 video revealed published by…
The Daily Signal
Is a Leftist-Created Corner of the Bureaucracy Defying the Government Shutdown?
The Daily Signal cited CEI’s expert on the CFPB Despite limits, with Vought at the helm, the CFPB has been headed in a more positive…
Letters
CEI joins a coalition in Protecting Consumer Data: Why the CFPB Must Abandon Biden’s Flawed Open Banking Rule
Dear Acting Director Vought: We commend the bureau for acknowledging the flaws in the Personal Financial Data Rights rule promulgated under the Biden administration. We…
Blog
Trump 401(k) EO helps equalize access to alternative assets
For more than a decade at CEI, I have argued that holders of 401(k)s and other defined-contribution plans should have maximum choice in the investments…
News Release
Trump’s call to end corporate quarterly reporting mandates would boost competitiveness, end onerous regulation
President Trump today used a social media post to call on the SEC to end quarterly reporting mandates for publicly traded companies and instead move…
Blog
Trump’s Intel stake and the Peronist precedent of Obama’s auto bailouts
President Trump’s decision to take a 10-percent ownership stake in chipmaker Intel has been described by many commentators as “socialism.” Others have…
Letters
CEI joins coalition with TPA in Opposition to Increasing FDIC Deposit Insurance Limits
Dear Chairs Scott and Hill, and Ranking Members Warren and Waters, We, the undersigned organizations, representing millions of taxpayers and consumers nationwide, write to express…
Blog
Trump EO on debanking is a mixed bag for financial freedom
President Trump’s new Executive Order (EO) on debanking correctly decries the weaponization of the financial regulation, and contains many good provisions preventing government regulators…
Forbes
Trump Must End Dodd-Frank’s Backdoor Tariffs Blocking Critical Minerals & Impoverishing Congo
RealClear Markets
Michelle Bowman’s Reforms Will Help Reverse Dodd-Frank Damage
America’s community banks are disappearing and forming more infrequently. These local lenders once dotted every city and small town, offering small business loans, farm credit,…
Blog
Predicting a brighter regulatory future for prediction markets
CEI scholars have many skills, but predicting the future is not one of them. However, when it comes to prediction markets, based on recent events,…
Blog
House should follow Senate in slashing BBB’s remittance tax–or eliminate it entirely
President Trump has made it clear that he wants a budget reconciliation package on his desk by July 4. In its final version of the…
Blog
GENIUS Act needs free market fixes before it graduates to law
Yesterday, the US Senate voted to approve a regulatory regime for stablecoins. This vote represents one of the most significant milestones for cryptocurrency since the…
News Release
Courts should allow CFPB to vacate case against small mortgage firm
U.S. District Judge Franklin Valderrama on June 12 denied a request by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to vacate a Biden-era settlement against the Chicago-based mortgage…
Politico
The lose-lose housing market
Politico cited CEI’s coalition letter addressing prediction markets First in MM: Free market advocates want to free the betting markets — More than a dozen…
News Release
Coalition urges Commodity Futures Trading Commission cut red tape on prediction markets
The Competitive Enterprise Institute today sent a coalition letter to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) urging it to adopt a policy of permissionless innovation…
Letters
CEI leads a Coalition Letter to End CFTC Red Tape Prediction Markets
Dear Acting Chair Pham and Commissioner Johnson: As leaders of conservative and free-market groups, we believe that government should not stand in the way of…
Testimony
Testimony of John Berlau: Enhancing Competition: Shaping the Future of Bank Mergers and De Novo Formation
Chairman Barr, Ranking Member Foster, and honorable members of this Subcommittee, thank you for this opportunity to present testimony on behalf of my organization, the…
PYMNTS
Bankers Tell Congress Regulation Hinders M&A and ‘De Novo’ Formation
PYMNTS cited CEI’s expert on bank mergers and de novo banks “In every business sector, new entrants are essential to the functioning of a competitive,…
Blog
Under Biden or Trump, taxing carried interest is stupid and destructive policy
No matter who’s in charge of the presidency or Congress, flawed proposals to close the so-called carried interest loophole just keep coming back. News outlets…
Blog
Congress should overturn harmful anti-bank merger regulation
Yesterday, the Senate approved a resolution pursuant to the Congressional Review Act to overturn a regulation from the Biden administration that would sharply restrict…
Blog
Let prediction markets predict – elections, sports, and other topics
In the 2024 presidential election, one of the big winners was prediction markets. During the weeks leading up to election day, venues such as Kalshi,…
Blog
Regulators right to approve Capital One/Discover merger
On Friday, federal financial regulators made the right decision in approving the merger of Capital One and Discover. In their joint approvals of the merger,…
Blog
Paul Atkins is an excellent choice to lead the SEC
On Wednesday, the Senate confirmed Paul S. Atkins to serve as chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). As I have stated before,…
News Release
President Trump announces Executive Orders aimed at slashing overregulation within federal agencies: CEI analysis
On Wednesday, President Trump announced several Executive Orders aimed at slashing overregulation in federal agencies through sunsetting and repealing outdated or unnecessary rules. The Orders…
News Release
CFPB seeks to un-do lawsuit against small mortgage firm: CEI statement
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau this week took the unusual step of requesting to vacate a lawsuit and settlement penalizing a small Chicago-based mortgage…
Letters
CEI joins ATR Coalition Urging CRA on Medical Debt Rule
Dear Member of Congress, We are writing to express our concerns regarding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s finalized rule on eliminating medical debt records from…
Letters
CEI joins ATR to address the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s last-minute efforts to expand its own regulatory authority to govern digital wallets and overdraft fees.
Dear Member of Congress: We, the undersigned organizations and individuals, urge you to address the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) last-minute efforts to expand its…
Letters
CEI joins ATR coalition letter in opposition of Credit Card Competition Act
We, the undersigned organizations, oppose efforts to impose price controls on credit cards. Whether through the inaccurately named Credit Card Competition Act or price…
Letters
CEI Joins ATR in opposition to the Internal Revenue Service’s midnight rulemaking on digital asset brokers.
Dear Member of Congress, We, the undersigned organizations, write to express our opposition to the Internal Revenue Service’s midnight rulemaking on digital asset brokers.
Law and Liberty
A Revolution Against Regulation
One of the great threats to freedom in the United States today is what we at the Competitive Enterprise Institute call “…
Blog
Trump SEC makes tremendous progress against crypto-stifling regulation
Gary Gensler’s SEC worked at a frenetic pace to shut down innovation in the crypto sector. Without rhyme or reason, the Biden-Gensler SEC moved fast…
Blog
Trump EO on crypto reserves rightly eschews government purchases
After much anticipation, President Donald Trump’s newly issued executive order (EO) on a “Strategic Bitcoin Reserve” and “digital asset stockpile” does not call for…
News Release
Trump administration appoints free market champion Mark Calabria to OMB post: CEI statement
The Trump administration has appointed free market advocate Mark Calabria as Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Associate Director for Treasury, Housing, and Commerce. CEI’s…
Letters
CEI is in opposition to proposals that would raise taxes on carried interest investment income.
Dear Members of Congress, We the undersigned organizations write in opposition to proposals that would raise taxes on carried interest investment income. Carried interest is…
The Daily Signal
5 Big Controversies Facing the Fed’s ‘Consumer Watchdog’ Agency as DOGE Eyes Its End
The Daily Signal cited CEI’s expert on the governments legal authority It will likely take an act of Congress to completely shut it down,…
Letters
CEI is in support of CRA on Medical Debt Rule
Dear Member of Congress, We are writing to express our concerns regarding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s finalized rule on eliminating medical debt records from…
Blog
Senate debanking hearing should focus on government’s role in politicizing finance
Today the Senate Banking Committee is holding a hearing on debanking, which is the phenomenon of individuals and businesses in certain industries and with certain…
News Release
Bill capping credit card interest rates will curb consumer credit options: CEI analysis
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) today introduced legislation to cap credit card interest rates at ten percent, a plan that would have…
News Release
Trump’s pick for acting CFPB director is good news for consumers & financial innovation
CEI Director of Finance Policy John Berlau praised President Trump’s pick to act as head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, following the firing of…
Restoring America
Trump must cancel CFPB censorship
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and tech entrepreneur Marc Andreessen dropped bombshells on the popular Joe Rogan Experience about political persecution from financial…
Letters
CEI opposes efforts concerning price controls on credit cards
Dear Member of Congress: We, the undersigned organizations, oppose efforts to impose price controls on credit cards. Whether through the inaccurately named Credit Card…
News Release
Trump EO on digital currency welcomes innovation in cryptocurrency
President Trump today signed a pro-digital currency executive order establishing a President’s Working Group on Digital Asset Markets, within the National Economic Council, aimed…
Blog
Caution warranted on Strategic Bitcoin Reserve
Next week, as soon as President-elect Donald Trump takes office, there will be a sea change in government policy towards cryptocurrency. Through executive orders and…
Products
Free to Prosper: Banking and finance
Yahoo Finance
Consumer protection agency closes the Biden era taking big swings
Yahoo Finance cited CEI’s financial expert on bad regulations “I can’t speak to the merits of every lawsuit, they’re filing them so fast,” said…
Blog
Google case just the beginning of CFPB fintech power grab
There has been a bullseye on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ever since tech entrepreneur and venture capitalist Marc Andreessen called the agency out…
Yahoo News
John Berlau, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, says the “supposed purpose” of this crackdown is to “prevent banks from doing business with…
News Release
Trump nominee for SEC will refocus agency on core mission
President-elect Trump has nominated prior SEC commissioner Paul Atkins as chair of the agency, a move that CEI Director of Finance Policy John Berlau believes…
Forbes
Durban-Marshall & Reg II Benefit Big Retail at Customers’ Expense
Stop, thief! It’s common knowledge that looting and burglaries are often most successful when people are distracted by an attention-getting event – be it a…
Capitol Matters
Biting the Science That Feeds Us: The War against Fertilizers
Advocates of the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) movement urge shareholders and corporations to look beyond the bottom line toward a better…
Yahoo Finance
Biden led a consumer protection revival. Will the election cut it short?
Yahoo Finance cited CEI’s expert on consumer protection revival. As John Berlau, director of finance policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, put it: “If something…
Forbes
Next SEC Must Restore Capital Formation Mission
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has rightly garnered criticism from both political parties over the last few years for its…
Inman
Redlining settlement wouldn’t resolve 1st Amendment questions
Inman cited CEI’s experts on Consumer Financial Protection Bureau In an April 2023 Wall Street Journal op-ed, CEI fellows John Berlau and Stone…
News Release
Biden DOJ’s antitrust lawsuit against Visa unfounded
The Biden Justice Department today announced an antitrust lawsuit against Visa, alleging the company illegally monopolized the debit card market by enticing merchants away from…
News Release
Fed reduces interest rates by 50 basis points: CEI analysis
The Federal Reserve today cut interest rates by 50 basis points, the first rate reduction in over two years. CEI experts give their analysis…
Blog
DOJ’s flawed case against AI’s incredible rent machine
In Tom Smith and The Incredible Bread Machine, the famous political poem about an inventor at first hailed for his machine that slashes the…
Blog
Hey Fed! Don’t worsen devastating Durbin debit card price controls
Consumers using their debit and credit cards just can’t catch a break these days from politicians, bureaucrats, and big retailers pushing Big Government ripoffs. In…
News Release
Biden DOJ prosecution of RealPage will undermine multifamily housing supply and affordability
The Biden Justice Department along with 8 state attorneys general on August 23 announced a lawsuit against real estate software company RealPage, accusing the company…
Forbes
‘Strategic Bitcoin Reserve’ Plans Warrant Caution
At the recent Bitcoin Bitcoin -1.1% 2024 conference in Nashville, speakers proposed many good policies to tame the federal government’s regulatory hostility…
Home Equity Lending News
Presidential Election Could Determine Fate of Freddie CES
Home Equity Lending News cited CEI on FHFA’s home-equity program “Government agencies are always looking for a way to expand their role,” says John Berlau,…
Do candidates follow through on economic promises if elected?
The Marketplace cited CEI on economic promises. Listen to more at The Marketplace…
Comment
CEI Comments on CFTC Event Contracts Rule Banning Election Betting Markets
Dear Mr. Kirkpatrick: On behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), I appreciate the opportunity to submit comments on RIN 3038-AF14, which concerns the types…
National Review
Biden-Harris CFTC Bets It Can Ban Election Wagering
If you’re following the ever-changing news about the 2024 election, you’re probably hearing a lot about odds: Betting odds on who will be the president, who…
Review-Journal
EDITORIAL: Increasingly desperate Biden steps up the pandering
Review-Journal cited CEI on deregulation of rent control initiative “Getting rid of regulatory barriers … will increase supply and lower cost for homeownership and renting,”…
News Release
Biden Rent Control Idea is Bad Housing Policy
President Biden today issued a call to impose federal limits on rent increases nationwide. That idea would have many drawbacks, not just for landlords…
Decrypt
Republicans Likely to Follow Through With Pro-Crypto Agenda, Experts Say
Decrypt cited CEI on crypto currency While the details of the next era of crypto regulation remain to be seen, elected officials in both…
News Release
Supreme Court curtails SEC administrative law court powers
The U.S. Supreme Court today ruled that a hedge fund manager accused of securities fraud is entitled to a jury trial because the Securities and…
Blog
CEI comments opposing destructive anti-merger rules from troubled FDIC
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has been the subject of recent hearings and news reports regarding findings of a toxic workplace atmosphere of…
Comment
Request for Comment on Proposed Statement of Policy on Bank Merger
To Whom It May Concern: On behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), I respectfully submit the following comments in response to the Federal Deposit…
Blog
Freddie Mac second mortgage funding could foment financial crisis
The 2008 mortgage meltdown and financial crisis never fails to be invoked whenever there is any pushback to excessive financial regulation. Progressives regularly bring up…
Study
Adam Smith’s guide to life, loveliness, and the modern economy
Introduction: Going strong at 300 Ryan Young This essay collection celebrates Adam Smith’s 300th birthday. He is best known for being the first modern economist,…
News Release
Supreme Court Disappoints on Funding/Powers Question in Ruling in CFPB Case
The Supreme Court today issued a disappointing ruling in CFPB v. Community Financial Services Association of America, a lawsuit challenging the unchecked funding of…
Comment
CEI comments opposing the worsening of Durbin Amendment debit card price controls
Re: Debit Card Interchange Fees and Routing (Docket No. R–1818, RIN 7100-AG67) Dear Ms. Misback: On behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), I respectfully…
Blog
How SAFER Banking Act poses new dangers to marijuana and other legal industries
Marijuana has been in the news lately, and the news seems to be overwhelmingly favorable to the industry in terms of reducing uncertainty as to…
Blog
Small banks targeted as FDIC cracks down on technology partnerships
Earlier this week, Politico’s “Morning Money” column reported an astonishing finding that almost certainly points to politicization in enforcement by federal bank regulators. The…
News Release
CEI praises measure to overturn CFPB’s destructive price controls on credit card late fees
On Wednesday, the House Financial Services Committee is expected to approve a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution sponsored by Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY) to overturn…
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…
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…
National Review
Critics of Capital One–Discover Merger Are Missing the Elephants
Politico
Bank exec crackdown fades post-SVB
CEI’s John Berlau is cited in Politico regarding the exec crackdown’s subsiding: The free-market Competitive Enterprise Institute led a letter to Congress in February urging members…
News Release
CFPB Price Controls on Late Fees Mean Less Credit, Higher Costs for Cardholders
Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) finalized a rule on credit card late fees that would do far more harm than good, according…
DC Journal
Economists, Free Market Groups Urge Congress to Reject RECOUP Act
CEI’s John Berlau is cited in DC Journal on outside groups to reject the RECOUP Act: That’s the concern of John Berlau with the Competitive…
News Release
Coalition Warns Against RECOUP Act that Gives Vast Powers to Banking Regulators
The Competitive Enterprise Institute and Americans for Tax Reform today led a coalition letter to congressional leaders opposing the RECOUP Act. CEI’s John Berlau explains…
Letters
CEI Leads Letter Rejecting Recoup Act
Dear Speaker Johnson, Minority Leader Jeffries, Majority Leader Schumer, and Minority Leader McConnell: As leaders of policy groups concerned with constitutional liberties, government accountability, and…
Washington Examiner
Capital One merger could make Discover a rival to the largest credit cards in payments
CEI’s John Berlau is cited in the Washington Examiner on the credit-card merger: “Discover is currently in fourth place in card network size, far behind…
Fox Business
How Capital One’s acquisition of Discover could impact consumers
CEI’s John Berlau is cited in Fox Business on the acquisition: John Berlau, director of finance policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), said in…
News Release
Capital One/Discover Merger Not a Threat to Competition, Overregulation Is
The proposed merger between Capital One and Discover is not a threat to competition in the credit market, but there is one big looming threat…
Blog
George Washington’s marvelous list of liberties and grievances
On the federal holiday on Monday and on his real birthday on Thursday, February 22, we celebrate the 292nd birthday of our nation’s first president,…
Blog
CFPB Data Breach Shows Danger of its Attempted Power Grab Over Fintech
My friend Patrick Brenner, president of regional free-market think tank the Southwest Public Policy Institute, recently had a great op-ed at FoxNews.com on data…
North State Journal
NC attorney general wants cash apps regulated by CFPB
CEI’s John Berlau is cited on the North State Journal on CFPB regulations in North Carolina: John Berlau, senior fellow and Director of Finance…
News Release
CFPB Overdraft Proposal Would Harm Consumers
Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau – as part of the Biden administration’s whole-of-government crusade against “junk fees” – unveiled a proposed rule that…
Blog
Don’t make crypto the electricity scapegoat
A radical new tax proposed by the Biden administration would make cryptocurrency mining the scapegoat for electricity usage. The so-called Digital Asset Mining Energy (DAME)…
Study
Don’t Depower Crypto
Introduction In President Biden’s Fiscal Year 2024 budget blueprint,1 the president proposed a new tax aimed at the electricity use caused by cryptocurrency mining. Known…