Blog
Want higher air fares? Overregulate credit cards
This morning, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Department of Transportation are holding a joint hearing “investigating” airline and credit card reward programs.
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…
Blog
New UK report recommends ‘rules about rules’ for regulation
In a new report, the Center for Policy Studies in the UK surveys that nation’s regulatory landscape – and doesn’t like what it sees.
Blog
More credit card competition? Not really
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) is worried about a lack of competition in payment card networks, so he’s planning to force the issue. His Credit…
Blog
What ails the working class?
Late last month I was privileged to be asked to speak at a Heritage Foundation event on the subject of the continuing travails of…
Blog
I’ve got your ‘common good’ right here
As a classical liberal, I believe in the value of free markets and individual liberty, but as a Freedom Conservative, I also feel that…
Marketplace Public Radio
The Economic Issues Expected to Come Up at CPAC 2024
CEI’s Iain Murray was cited in Marketplace Public Radio concerning tariffs: “One of the things that I think we’ll see is actually an end to…
Forbes
Convincing Voters That Less Choice Means Stronger Democracy Isn’t Easy
CEI’s Iain Murray is cited on Forbes on the Department of Labor’s new rule: In a January 26 column on the Department of Labor’s…
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…
Letters
Coalition Letter on DCA Perimeter Rule
Dear Chairwoman Cantwell and Ranking Member Cruz: We write to inform you that we support expanding the number of flights permitted in and out of…
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…
Letters
NTU Coalition Letter on Important Needed Tax Reforms
Dear Majority Leader Schumer, Speaker Johnson, Minority Leader McConnell and Minority Leader Jeffries, On behalf of the undersigned organizations who represent the interests of taxpayers,…
The Center Square
New Mexico governor seeks to create ‘strategic’ brackish water reservoir
CEI’s Iain Murray is cited in The Center Square regarding strategic water resevoirs: “It is good to see Governor Lujan has realized the value of…
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…
Blog
What we’re not seeing here: Why policy debates need Bastiat
I was honored to give a presentation this week to the George Mason University Economics Society. The title of my presentation was “Unseen Consequences: Frederic…
Blog
The way the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is funded is unconstitutional
Today the Supreme Court hears oral arguments in the case CFPB v. Community Financial Services Association. The appellee correctly complains that…
Blog
Wall Street Journal agrees with CEI, opposes Railway Safety Act
In an editorial today, the Wall Street Journal joined with many other voices, including Bloomberg, National Review, and a coalition led…
News Release
Leftwing conspiracy theories about 1971 “Powell memo” debunked in new CEI report
A new Competitive Enterprise Institute report debunks a leftwing conspiracy theory that free market interests seek a “corporate domination of America” (as Greenpeace put…
Study
Threats Then and Threats Now
Executive summary In 1971 Lewis Powell, a prominent Republican lawyer who would go on to serve on the Supreme Court, wrote a memo warning about…
National Review
How to Help Discouraged Working-Age Men
More blue-collar American men aged 25–54 than ever are no longer employed and seeking work. That sad trend started in the late 1960s, coinciding…
Law and Liberty
The Moral Foundations of Freedom Conservatism
The Freedom Conservatism Statement of Principles, which several of us launched in July, is a simple restatement of the principles that have…
DC Journal
Railway Safety Act Will Drive Up Prices Without Adding Safety, Critics Say
DC Journal cites CEI’s Iain Murry on the Railway Safety Act: Competitive Enterprise Institute’s vice president for strategy and senior fellow, Iain Murray, agreed, arguing…
Blog
Congress should vote no on the Railway Safety Act, says coalition
The Competitive Enterprise Institute and the Rio Grande Foundation today sent a coalition letter to Congress expressing serious concerns with the Senate’s Railway Safety…
National Review
Protectionism without Sugarcoating
National Review cites CEI’s Iain Murray about protectionism: Iain Murray of the Competitive Enterprise Institute describes the U.S. sugar quotas as the “platonic form of…
Blog
Here comes state capitalism. There go our liberties.
CEI’s own Wayne Crews told the Washington Examiner recently, “Everything from local tap water to space commercialization is being turned into a government project.”…
Blog
Adam Smith’s ‘tolerable administration’ vs. America’s increasingly intolerable one
2023 is the 300th anniversary of Adam Smith’s birth. This post is part of a series highlighting aspects of Smith’s thought that continue to influence…
National Review
Global Britain Is Closed for Business
One of the supposed benefits of Brexit was that Britain would once again become “Global Britain,” able to adjust its regulatory approaches to one more…
American Institute for Economic Research
“The FTC Should Answer Its Call of Duty to Gamers”
Dr. Gary Galles, Professor of Economics at Pepperdine University, argues that the FTC is engaging in “antitrust protectionism” while challenging Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision.
The American Institue for Economic Research
The FTC should answer its Call of Duty to Gamers
The American Institute for Economic Research cites Vice President for Strategy Iain Murray on the Microsoft-Activision merger: The Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Iain Murray has also …
News Release
EU’s Massive Fine Against Meta Could End Up Harming European Consumers
The European Union announced a new enforcement actions today against Meta, the parent company of Facebook. The action penalizes Meta for data transfers that…
American Institute for Economic Research
The FTC should answer its Call of Duty to Gamers
The Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Iain Murray has also noted several other important problems with the assertion that the Microsoft-Activision merger would harm consumers. He has collected…
News Release
Supreme Court Declines to Rule on Section 230, Leaving Protections for Third Party Content in Place
The Supreme Court today in Google v. Gonzales and Twitter v. Taamneh declined to rule on the meaning of Section 230 of the…
Blog
Senate committee yells ‘all aboard!’ for controversial Railway Safety Act
The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee approved the Railway Safety Act this morning, with all Democrats and Republican Sens. J.D. Vance (OH) and Eric Schmitt…
News Release
Supreme Court to Hear Lawsuit Challenging Unfair ‘Chevron Doctrine’
The Supreme Court today agreed to hear a lawsuit challenging the Chevron doctrine, a policy requiring courts to defer to regulatory agencies in lawsuits…
National Review
U.K. Laws Are Harming American Companies — U.S. Authorities Pleased
America has made it almost 250 years independent of its colonial master, Great Britain. Now, in one area at least, you might as well tear…
News Release
UK Competition and Markets Authority Anti-Merger Ruling Undermines Consumer Interests
The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is blocking Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of video game developer Activision Blizzard out of fear the deal…
National Review
The Free-Market Case Needs More Than Just Morality
George Leef and Mike Munger are right (of course) that we need to make the moral case for capitalism. Yet I would…
News Release
House Republicans Helpfully Tie Government Reforms to Debit Limit Deal
House Republican leadership yesterday released the text of their debt limit deal which trades a suspension or increase in the debt limit for a number…
News Release
Jeremy Lott Returns to CEI as Managing Editor
Blog
Large Language Models are Great Tools but Lousy Researchers
Climate skeptic Newtuber Tony Heller asked ChatGPT some questions about the climate and found it lacking. It gave the sort of answers you would…
News Release
RESTRICT Act Threatens Americans’ First Amendment Rights
Debate in Congress over calls to ban Chinese social media platform TikTok has led to the introduction of the RESTRICT Act by Senator Mark Warner…
Blog
After Too Big To Fail, Too Big To Merge?
Did antitrust ideology play a role in the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and the slight contagion that destabilized the global banking system thereafter?…
Inside Sources
East Palestine Derailment Reveals a Lot of What Is Wrong With Our Politics
The derailment of a Norfolk Southern train carrying hazardous material in East Palestine, Ohio, is a social and environmental disaster that can potentially ruin lives…
News Release
Biden Budget Amounts to Top-Down Central Planning, Lacks Needed Reforms
President Biden today unveiled his latest budget submitted to Congress. CEI experts take a dim view of the agenda of excess spending and regulation…
Blog
Rep. Duncan Leads Letter Expressing Concern over Foreign Regulatory Overreach
I’ve written before about the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority, its main antitrust regulator. It has already blocked one US company from taking over another…
News Release
Supreme Court Rightly to Review CFPB Funding Constitutionality
The Supreme Court today announced it will review the constitutionality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) funding, an unusual arrangement of unchecked funding from…
Blog
CFPB Court Defeat a Welcome Reminder of who Makes the Rules
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau suffered a stinging reverse in court last week when its action against Chicago-area mortgage company Townstone Financial was dismissed.
Boston Herald
Murray: College credential snare should be bipartisan issue
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, did all Pennsylvanians a favor in January by making 92% of state government jobs open to anyone without a…
National Review
Southwest’s Debacle Should Cost It Dearly
It is by now clear that the airline chaos of the past week, which started during the punishing winter storm shortly before Christmas, is largely…
Blog
Microsoft’s Acquisition of Activision Faces Needless Challenges
Emboldened antitrust bureaucrats on both sides of the Atlantic are flexing their muscles with challenges to Microsoft’s planned acquisition of the game developer Activision, maker…
Blog
Does Artificial Intelligence Have a Statist Bias?
I recently asked the ChatGPT AI to “write an essay critiquing the Biden administration’s trade policy.” This is what I got: The…
National Review
Antitrust’s Cloudy Crystal Ball
Even in the wake of Meta’s biggest mass layoff ever and a $71 billion loss this year, antitrust regulators around the world are peering into crystal…
American Liberty
What the FTX Collapse Tells Us About Regulators and ESG
First, regulators often can’t stop investors from fraud. Second, companies that work closely with regulators often do so for their own benefit. Third, and perhaps…
Blog
We Need to Pay More Attention to AI
Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the most important emerging technologies today. It has the potential to revolutionize many industries and sectors, including health care,…
The Hayride
Prepare To Pay More For, And Get Less From, Your Credit Cards
Seven in 10 Americans have credit cards these days, and a third have three or more. Many of those cards are co-branded with an airline…
Blog
The Founding Fathers and Free Trade
There is an ongoing small cottage industry of historical revisionism aimed at showing that America since its founding was friendly to protectionism and that this…
Blog
CEI Leads Coalition Opposing Increased Government Interference in Rail Operations
CEI and 21 other organizations and individuals have signed a letter opposing the misleadingly named Freight Rail Shipping Fair Market Act, which would…
The Hill
Isolating China through decoupling would be a mistake
What should be the goal of America’s trade policy with China? The simple answer would be mutually beneficial exchange of goods, services and payments. However,…
National Review
U.K. Regulator Deservedly Loses Case against Meta
The recent announcement of the final verdict in the U.K.’s case to block Meta’s acquisition of GIF library Giphy is a partial victory for…
News Release
CEI Experts React to Supreme Court’s West Virginia v EPA Decision
WASHINGTON—In deciding West Virginia v. EPA today, the Supreme Court held that Congress never authorized the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate carbon emissions from…
Fox News
Supreme Court ruling limits EPA power, returns it to Congress where it belongs
For some time, the Environmental Protection Agency has wanted to destroy the American coal industry and has issued regulations with that end in mind. Today,…
Libertarianism.org
Socialism isn’t what it used to be
CEI Vice President for Strategy and Senior Fellow Iain Murray discusses the many faces of socialism, from the American experiments of the New Deal era…
City AM
Before giving the CMA more teeth, we should look at its Meta shaped bite marks
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has been flexing its muscles like a growing schoolboy recently. On Tuesday, it finally got a well-deserved admonishment from…
Issues & Insights
Militarizing The Baby Formula Crisis Is Infantile
A military cargo plane lands filled with vitally needed baby formula to be greeted by a top government official. A relief flight to…
National Review
Free Enterprise Is the Basis of Prosperity
Free enterprise is under attack from across the political spectrum. Socialists and their allies regard it a source of corruption and as antithetical to democracy. Some…
Action Institute
Do Libertarians Have a Political Home Anymore?
For many years, libertarians and economic conservatives lived in harmony. The philosophy of fusionism said that the conservative party, when it governed, would seek to…
Blog
Elon Musk’s Purchase of Twitter Stock Is an Important Reminder of How Capitalism Works
The tech world was shaken by the recent news that Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, had bought up nearly one of every 10…
Blog
Deregulation is Key to Building a Broad-Based Economy
Critics of free market economic policy often point to declines in manufacturing employment or, worse, to the “hollowing-out” of the American middle class as evidence…
National Review
If You Really Want Broad-Based Prosperity, Dismantle the Regulatory State
National Review cites Vice President for Strategy Iain Murray on dismantling the regulatory state: So argues Iain Murray of the Competitive Enterprise Institute in …
Law & Liberty
Dismantling the Regulatory State
Samuel Gregg’s lead article adroitly sketches the opportunities and obstacles to America building a broad-based economy, but I want to focus on one particular…
News Release
Mandating Reciprocal Switching Would Trample Property Rights and Raise Costs for Consumers
The Surface Transportation Board will hold a hearing on March 15 and 16 to consider a proposal to mandate reciprocal switching for freight railroads.
Comment
Comments on Application Of The National Railroad Passenger Corporation Under 49 U.S.C. § 24308(E)
On behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), I respectfully submit this comment letter for the Board’s consideration in the FD 36496 proceeding. Founded in…
National Review
Video Explains Why New Freight-Rail Regulation Is a Bad Idea
National Review cites CEI’s video on reciprocal switching, featuring Vice President for Strategy Iain Murray: A new video from the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s…
Blog
Reciprocal Switching Is a Bad Idea at a Bad Time
The Surface Transportation Board has resurrected a bad idea it considered in 2012 and 2016—mandated reciprocal switching for freight railroads. For background, you can’t do…
Inside Sources
The America COMPETES Act Seeks to Counter China by Imitating It
Public approval of Congress stands at 18 percent. If you wonder why, just look at the America COMPETES Act, which passed the House of Representatives…
News Release
House Democrats’ China Bill Would Make the U.S Less Competitive and Harm Consumers
The House of Representatives is considering the America COMPETES Act this week, a bill described by sponsors as a “China competition bill.” The wide-ranging legislation…
Real Clear Policy
This Biden Nominee Could Restrict Worker Freedom
Real Clear Policy cites Vice President for Strategy Iain Murray on Biden nominee David Weil: The AI broadened the scope of wage and hour…
Reason
Lawsuit from Former Students Alleges Financial Aid Price Fixing at Elite Universities
Reason cites Vice President for Strategy Iain Murray on how federal regulations affect student loans: Iain Murray, the vice president for strategy at the…
The Dispatch
Classical Liberals Aren’t Naive About Big Business
Big business has become a point of friction between conservatives and classical liberals, especially social media and other internet companies that fall under the heading…
Blog
Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority Is Becoming a Global Problem
When British supporters of Brexit talked of “global Britain,” they probably didn’t have in mind British bureaucrats dictating to the world how businesses should be…
Real Clear Policy
DOJ’s Antitrust Case Against Publishers is an Overreach
The U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) antitrust suit to stop the merger of publishers Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster has not gained as…
The Washington Times
Economic Pressures Boost Thanksgiving Turkey Prices by 20%
The Washington Times cites Vice President for Strategy Iain Murray on Thanksgiving prices: Iain Murray, a senior analyst at the libertarian Competitive Enterprise Institute,…
Letters
CEI Joins ATR Led Drug Price Control Coalition Letter
Dear Member of Congress: We write in opposition to the Democrat plan to impose price controls, a 95 percent excise tax, and inflation penalties on…
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Opposing the Wall Street Looting Act
Dear Senators Warren & Kennedy, We are writing to express our concern about the upcoming hearing in the Senate Banking Economic Policy Subcommittee titled “Protecting…
The Washington Times
Libertarian Analyst Warns of Socialist Drift in Dems’ Spending Plan
The Washington Times cites Vice President for Strategy Iain Murray on a recent $3.5 trillion social spending bill proposal: A prominent libertarian financial analyst…
Blog
Happy Constitution Day!
When I was a civil servant in the United Kingdom, I had a friend who worked at the Ministry of Defence. Part of his duties…
Letters
CEI and Other Organizations Urge Biden Administration to Prioritize Free Trade Agreements
Dear President Biden, On behalf of the undersigned groups, we urge you to pursue free-trade agreements that enhance America’s freedom, prosperity, and competitiveness. The administration…
Real Clear Policy
UK Antitrust Bureaucrats Could Kill American Startups
In case you thought the “techlash” threatening Big Tech companies with greater regulation was largely driven by former President Trump’s bluster, think again. An antitrust…
Blog
UK’s Attempt to Block a Merger Between American Firms Could Cripple Innovation
As I explain in both an op-ed and regulatory comments submitted yesterday, the United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the UK’s version…
Comment
Comments to the CMA in re: Facebook/GIPHY merger
Submitted to the Inquiry via [email protected], 1 September 2021 Thank you for the opportunity to submit comments in the matter of the Competition and…
National Review
Economic Tea Party, R.I.P.
National Review Online’s esteemed editor, Philip Klein, asked an important question last week. Referring to the lack of opposition to the president’s big-spending agenda, he …
News Release
Senate-Passed Infrastructure Bill Is a Gigantic, Counterproductive Spending Bill: CEI Analysis
The Senate today passed a complicated, controversial $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill. CEI policy experts criticized the mammoth bill as a plan that will do…
The Bluefield Daily Telegraph
The Infrastructure Bill Highlights What is Wrong with Congress
The Bluefield Daily Telegraph cites Vice President for Strategy Iain Murray on the Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act: Iain Murray of the Competitive Enterprise…
Blog
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill Shows Much of What’s Wrong with Congress
Although it now looks unlikely, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D_NY) wants the Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act, popularly known as the bipartisan infrastructure bill,…
The Southern Illinoisan
A Proposed Law Would Break the Internet
The U.S. House of Representatives is considering a law that would break the internet as we know it. Dressed up in legalese as a ban…
S&P Global
Targeting Amazon Brands, House Bill Could Spur Competition — or Raise Prices
S&P Global cites Vice President for Strategy Iain Murray on proposed regulations targeting Amazon brands: Iain Murray — a vice president with the Competitive…
National Review
Biden’s Executive Order Moves the U.S. One Step Closer to Rule by Decree
President Biden’s sweeping executive order on competition is a strange beast. It lurches from lofty claims about encouraging competition to niggling complaints about…
News Release
CEI Experts React to President Biden’s Wide-Ranging Executive Order on Competition
President Joe Biden signed an Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy today, which the White House claims is aimed at enhancing…
National Review
INVEST in America Act Is a Bad Investment
The House of Representatives will soon vote on the “Investing in a New Vision for the Environment and Surface Transportation in America (INVEST in America) Act”…
The Teller Report
American Elected Officials Attacking Tech Giants: Overhaul or Demolition?
The Teller Report cites Vice President for Strategy Iain Murray on antitrust laws and Apple: “In general, the experience of the average consumer would…