Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The number of new final regulations for the year passed the 2,000 mark, with new rules ranging from cell walls to harpoon fishing.
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The big regulatory news is a proposed loosening of fuel economy standards for cars. This will likely improve safety; lighter cars don’t hold up…
News Release
CEI: Congress Should Reclaim Delegated Trade Authority and End President Trump’s Harmful Trade War
On Friday, China announced it would impose new tariffs on $60 billion worth of U.S. goods, further escalating trade tensions between the two countries.
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The economy grew by 4.1 percent last quarter, which is wonderful news. The president also announced $12 billion of subsides for farmers hurt…
News Release
CEI: Second Quarter Growth Shows Free Market Policies Work, but Restrictive Trade Policies Could Harm Future Growth
The Department of Commerce announced Friday morning the U.S. economy grew by 4.1 percent in the second quarter of 2018.
Blog
Trump’s Trade Meeting with European Commissioner Juncker: Better than Nothing
Many trade-watchers are breathing a sigh of relief about President Trump’s meeting yesterday with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. The result was essentially a…
Blog
Trump Proposes $12 Billion in Aid to Farmers Hurt by His Tariffs
As we’ve been saying ever since this issue heated up, tariffs hurt the economy. There’s no way around it. Seeing this harm, President Trump…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The European Union fined Google a record $5 billion for antitrust violations, and the president raised foreign policy kerfuffles with Britain and Russia on…
News Release
CEI Criticizes European Union’s Antitrust Decision Against Google
The European Union announced its decision today to fine Google $5 billion in an antitrust case involving the tech giant’s Android operating system. Competitive Enterprise…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
It was an uneventful week at regulatory agencies, with a lower-than-usual 51 new final regulations, ranging from skin disability ratings to garage door openers. For more data,…
News Release
CEI Warns Newly Announced Tariffs on Chinese Goods Will Harm Consumers, Workers
The Trump Administration announced new proposed tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods yesterday, escalating a trade conflict with China.
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
America celebrated its 242nd birthday on Wednesday, and new tariffs on $34 billion worth of Chinese goods came into effect on Friday. Meanwhile, during a…
Blog
A Quick Lesson in Antitrust: Netflix and Comcast
Every time a major corporate merger is announced, pundits predictably warn of impending doom if regulators allow it to happen. Yet, pundits and regulators don’t know any…
Blog
CEI Book Club: Peter Navarro and Greg Autry, Death by China
Trump economic adviser Peter Navarro has a longstanding animus against China. It is important to know Navarro’s thoughts on China. He played a major role…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
It was a newsy week, with Justice Kennedy’s retirement announcement, along with some big Supreme Court decisions, including the Janus decision regarding public sector unions;…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Summer officially began last week, and federal regulators celebrated with new regulations ranging from almond kernel computing to rough diamonds.
Blog
Last Chance for the 115th: Options for Regulatory Reform
With a possible party change in play this November in one or both chambers of Congress, the time might be now or never to pass…
Blog
Minimum Wage Proposal Divides D.C. Workers, Voters
Washington, D.C. has a $12.50 per hour minimum wage. But for tip-earning workers, such as servers and bartenders, the minimum is $3.33 per hour—tips are…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Angry allies, North Korea, and Chinese tariffs dominated the news last week. Under the radar, regulatory agencies closed in on their 1,500th new regulation of…
News Release
CEI Warns Trump China Tariffs Will Backfire
President Donald Trump announced today he will slap 25 percent tariffs on Chinese technology imports. CEI Fellow Ryan Young warned the move will backfire.
Blog
Last Chance for the 115th: Stop the President from Unilaterally Raising Tariffs
Article I, section 8 of the U.S. Constitution gives Congress the exclusive power of the purse. Under no circumstances may the president unilaterally raise taxes.
Blog
Good News for Young Lemonade Stand Entrepreneurs
Every summer there are news stories about local authorities shutting down children’s lemonade stands over lack of licenses, permits, a lack of restaurant-grade kitchen or…
Blog
Will Trump’s Tariffs Spell the End of Free Markets?
The president’s threats must be fought, but the good news is America’s fundamental institutions will withstand Trumpian bluster. For one thing, our economy remains a…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The week’s big headlines were about the G7 meeting and our allies’ efforts to avoid a trade war, and the meeting with north Korea…
Inside Sources
Will Trump’s Tariffs Kill Free Markets?
President Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminum against allies like Canada, Mexico and the European Union are only the latest skirmish in a long-term attack…
Blog
Here We Go Again: Steel and Aluminum Tariffs and Peter Navarro
A new 25 percent steel tariff and a 10 percent aluminum tariff have come into effect. The levies are aimed at our allies, such as Canada,…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Despite a four-day workweek, federal agencies still exceeded the previous week’s Federal Register page count by nearly a hundred pages, pushing the yearly total past…
News Release
CEI Condemns Trump Decision on Steel and Aluminum Tariffs
Today, the Trump administration announced additional steel and aluminum tariffs on America’s allies, including the European Union, Canada, and Mexico.
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Agencies took it comparatively easy in the leadup to the long Memorial Day weekend, though the FAA and Coats Guard were busy with rules for…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
It was a relatively slow week, with 44 proposed regulations and 62 final regulations, though the Supreme Court did rule the federal ban on…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The big news from the last week was the release of the spring edition of the twice-yearly Unified Agenda, which lists all planned agency regulations…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
It is now May, and still only one economically significant regulation (costing $100 million or more per year) has been issued this year. With the…
Blog
Regulatory Reform in Congress
While the president’s initial flurry of executive orders enacting some regulatory reforms was a pleasant surprise, the next president can undo them with the stroke…
Blog
Steel and Aluminum Tariffs a Massive Net Loss for U.S. Economy
Following in George W. Bush’s footsteps, President Trump increased tariffs on foreign-made steel and aluminum by 25 percent in March. But he exempted U.S. allies…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The number of new final regulations passed the 1,000 mark last week, with new rules ranging from sending mail to human reliability programs.
Blog
Some Context for the Astronomical Cost of Government Regulation
Since any number with that many zeroes and commas in it is difficult for the human mind to process, let’s put it in a more…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The big news this week was the release of the 2018 edition of Ten Thousand Commandments. Agencies continued to provide fodder for next years edition…
Blog
Lessons for Congress from ‘10,000 Commandments’: Regulatory Budgets
One of the lessons learned from this year’s “10,000 Commandments” study is that Congress needs to be more involved in the regulatory process. It needs…
USA Today
Trump is Cutting Through Regulations, but Only Congress Can Make it Last
Eventually, politicians will be forced to get spending and deficits under control, but regulatory reforms are just as important to keep the economy growing and…
Blog
‘10,000 Commandments’ at 25: What Have We Learned, What’s to Come?
Wayne Crews has ably documented the regulatory state for twenty-five years and running. But what will the next twenty-five years of “10,000 Commandments” look like?…
Blog
Peter Navarro’s Economic Ignorance on Trade
Trump economic advisor and Death by China author Peter Navarro’s recent column in The Wall Street Journal, “China’s Faux Comparative Advantage,” is a…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The highlights from this week’s round of 36 proposed regulations and 72 final regulations range from licensing government inventions to the Department of Redundancy Department’s…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
It may not feel like Spring yet, but regulatory agencies have turned their fancies to rulemaking, with 45 proposed and 70 final regulations ranging from…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
With a full quarter of 2018 in the books, agencies have issued just one economically significant rule—an increase in State Department fees amounting to $115…
Blog
What’s Driving the New Economy: Reviewing ‘Tomorrow 3.0’
We truly do live in amazing times. And according to Michael Munger, who directs Duke University’s multidisciplinary PPE program (it stands for Philosophy, Politics, and…
RealClear Policy
Regulatory Reform: A Beacon of Light for Bipartisanship
Common ground is nearly impossible to find in Washington these days. But with the Senate’s recent confirmation of Neomi Rao as the White House’s…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
As the reality television drama in Washington continues to unfold, regulatory agencies pushed the 2017 Federal Register past the 35,000-page mark and issued 75 new…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
As summer marches on, regulatory agencies issued more than 60 new regulations in the last week.
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Regulatory agencies were plenty busy last week, with new rules in the last week ranging from Maine’s gas stations to hammerhead shark herd size.
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
81 new rules from the last week still range from work surfaces to spirulina extract.
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
A recent EPA rule for dental effluence caused some controversy for violating President Trump’s one-in, two-out policy for new rules.
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
New rules from the last week are as wide-ranging as ever, from dental effluence to reciprocating engines.
Blog
A Birthday Wish List for the President
Here are four gifts Congress should give the president before its annual July 4th recess.
Reason
Trump Can Gut Obama-Era Labor Regs Because They Were Never Meant to Last
Reason covers the Secretary of Labor Acosta’s decision to eliminate independent contractor rules. Eliminating a set of Obama administration rules for independent contractors…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
After a lengthy delay, several Obama-era rules are starting to come into effect, especially energy-use rules ranging from refrigerators to ceiling fans.
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The number of new final regulations this year passed the one-thousand mark. While many of the new rules are delays or repeals of older rules,…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Another droll week on the regulatory front, with new rules ranging from UHF television to restaurant menus.
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
While most of the week’s new final regulations are either routine or procedural, they still range from rural phone calls to airplane batteries.
News Release
CEI Calls USA Act an “Important Step” to Restoring Separation of Powers
The Competitive Enterprise Institute supports the Unauthorized Spending Accountability (USA) Act of 2017, aimed at reducing and bringing transparency to executive branch spending. Ryan Young,…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The Federal Register continues its slow march to the 20,000-page mark, but is still on pace for lowest page total since 1993.
Blog
Archbridge Institute Releases Optimistic New Research on Economic Mobility
The best way to encourage more economic mobility is to foster a cultural and regulatory environment where innovation, openness, and change are encouraged.
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The 2017 Federal Register had another sub-thousand page week, though it is still already more than 18,000 pages long.
Blog
In Wake of United Debacle, Give Airlines – and Travelers – More Flexibility
Most of the time it’s actually government policies that end up ruining a traveler’s day.
Blog
White House Should Drop Support for Cronyism of Export-Import Bank
With the Trump administration’s early emphasis on deregulation, there was hope that cronyist agencies such as the Export-Import Bank, Overseas Private Investment Corporation, and Economic…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Things remain slow on the regulatory front, with a large chunk of new rules being routine safety-zone and drawbridge scheduling regulations from the Coast Guard.
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
There were 63 final regulations and 28 proposed regulations last week, but again, few of them amounted to much. We’ll have more to say on…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The Trump administration’s 60-day regulatory freeze is now over, but many of this week’s new regulations are simply extensions of previous delays. So despite a…
Blog
Human Achievement of the Day: The Written Word
Writing is a classic example of what the economist F.A. Hayek called spontaneous order.
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Starting this week, many late-Obama administration regulations delayed by the Trump administration’s 60-day freeze will come into effect.
Fortune
Regulations Cost U.S. Business More Than Canada’s GDP
President Donald Trump’s administration has been busy issuing a flurry of executive orders intended to reduce regulatory burdens on businesses that keep them from adding…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
It was another slow week for new regulations, but busy times are on their way. A slew of delayed regulations will come into effect on…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
As the regulatory freeze marches on, most new regulations coming out are garden-variety FAA airworthiness directives and Coast Guard drawbridge and safety zone rules.
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
43 new regulations last week, from toddler beds to potato proteins.
News Release
CEI Supports Regulatory Integrity Act and the SCRUB Act
This week, the U.S. House of Representatives is slated to vote on H.R. 1004, the Regulatory Integrity Act, introduced by Congressman Tim Walberg (R-MI), and…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
As with the previous few weeks, many of this week’s regulations were simply delays of previous rules.
Blog
Deregulate to Grow the Economy Faster
Congress and the new administration have a real chance to make the economy grow faster, and to raise the labor force participation rate above its…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The White House regulatory freeze continues, and a wide range of recent rules, big and small, have been delayed until late March.
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
With the new administration’s regulatory freeze now in full effect, there were just 8 proposed new regulations published last week. This was the lowest figure…
Blog
‘One In, Two Out’: Trump’s Executive Order on New Regulations
President Trump's latest executive order on regulatory reform could be an important step in the right direction for reining in government red tape.
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
For the next few weeks, the Federal Register will likely have fewer pages and regulations than usual.
One News Now
Trump’s pen erases trade agreement
One News Now discusses regulatory reform under the Trump administration with Ryan Young. President Trump also made headlines late Friday for a presidential…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The final pre-inauguration Federal Register was 1,464 pages long. A normal day’s edition is roughly 300 pages. Since there is a lag time of a…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
In a mere nine working days, the 2017 Federal Register has nearly reached 5,000 pages; the midnight hour approaches.
Blog
New York Times Highlights Minimum Wage Tradeoffs
Minimum wage increases have obvious winners, which is why they are so popular. Their tradeoffs are less obvious.
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The midnight regulatory rush continues, with more than 2,100 Federal Register pages, despite a four-day work week, along with 51 proposed regulations and 52 final…
Blog
Regulatory Reform in 2017: How Much Do Existing Regulations Cost?
The Regulatory Responsibility for our Economy Act (RREA), sponsored by Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS), would help fix basic transparency problems with federal regulations.
Blog
Regulatory Reform in 2017: REINS and the Regulatory Accountability Act
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations: 2016 Wrap-Up
The 2016 Federal Register’s record-setting page count ends at 97,110 pages—more than 15,000 pages above the previous record, set in 2010. The difference is more…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
As the Obama administration heads into its home stretch, agencies passed new rules ranging from gloves to canned vegetables.
The Hill
New President, New (Anti-)Red Tape Agenda
Federal regulators issue thousands of regulations every year. Decrees range from the Environmental Protection Agency’s gargantuan Clean Power Plan and “Waters of the United States”…
National Review
Time to Get Rid of the EPA? Scott Pruitt May Be Just the Guy to Do It
National Review highlights Ryan Young’s estimate of the annual cost of compliance with the EPA’s regulations The EPA’s expansive and ever-expanding regulations impose…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
On Tuesday the 2016 Federal Register topped 90,000 pages for the first time ever, and continues to extend its page-count record every day.
Blog
Three Regulatory Reforms Congress Can Pass in the First Hundred Days
Here are three they should pursue in the new administration’s first hundred days.
Blog
Ratios, Not People: The Wrong Approach to Inequality
Thomas Piketty, the best-selling author of Capital in the 21st Century, has a new paper on economic inequality with coauthors Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman.
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The 2016 Federal Register will likely top 90,000 pages next week for the first time ever.
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
As the Federal Register climbed above 87,000 pages for the first time in its 81-year history, agencies issued new rules ranging from landfills to movie…
Daily Signal
Obama Administration Not Finished Yet With Executive Actions, Regulations
The Daily Signal discusses the Obama administration's federal regulatory pace with Ryan Young. The fact that Trump could overturn much executive or administrative…
Blog
O’Hare Airport Strikes: Will Anybody Notice?
If 500 workers are absent for several hours and it hardly affects a thing at the airport, then how essential are they?…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Thanksgiving week was a busy one, with new regulations ranging from potatoes to royalties.
Washington Examiner
Race to finish: 1 new Obama reg every 147 minutes
Washington Examiner highlights CEI's work to track the federal goverment's current regulatory pace. According to the Competitive Enterprise Institute, Obama's regulatory machine is on…