Citation
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau – be careful what you wish for
Blog
As financial vote fails in Senate, Florida shows how to really protect consumers from deception
Yesterday, the Senate failed to achive the 60 votes necessary to move forward on the Restoring American Financial Stablity Act. All Republicans present and Sen.
Letters
Dodd Bill: Bailouts, Taxes, and Overregulation
As Congress prepares to vote on debating Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd’s Restoring American Financial Stability Act — and speculation is rampant as to…
Op-Eds
Dodd Financial Bill Attacks Main Street
As Congress prepares to vote on debating Sen. Chris Dodd’s “Restoring American Financial Stability Act,” a broad spectrum of conservative and free-market groups expressed…
Blog
Center-Right Coalition Letter Opposes Toxic Provisions in Dodd Bill
Below is a letter sent today to the Senate that was signed by several prominent groups in the Center-Right Coalition expressing “grave concerns about the…
Op-Eds
Wall Street Bill Targets Nevada Incorporations
Over the past year, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has made pointed efforts to show Nevadans his advocacy on their behalf. In defending new…
Citation
Financial Reform
Citation
Mark-to-Market Accounting Rules
Op-Eds
The Obama-Dodd-Frank-Everthing’s-A-Bank-Bill
Liberal pundit Michael Kinsley once defined a political gaffe as an instance of a politician accidentally telling the truth. House Financial Services Committee Chairman…
Blog
Obama-Dodd financial bill would further enrich Goldman Sachs
Today, the SEC charged giant investment bank Goldman Sachs with more than $1 billion worth of securities fraud for its dealings in the subprime mortgage…
Citation
Goldman Sachs Fraud Charges
Blog
Fannie and Freddie finally called to Crisis Commission
It is good that the commission, after several months, is finally visiting the role of Government-Sponsored Enterprises, but the setup of today’s hearing is still…
Op-Eds
Over the Counter Goes Under
"They won’t be so opposed to it once they see what’s in it." That’s the rationalization House leaders had given skittish Democrats to get…
Op-Eds
Fannie, Freddie Finally the Focus of Crisis Commission
The congressionally chartered Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, after several months, finally is visiting the role of the government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac…
Op-Eds
The Other Individual Mandate
In the continuing debate over the recently signed health care bill, the flash point is the individual mandate—the requirement that nearly all American adults…
Op-Eds
I Got People Too
Like John, I "got people" too. Here is a summary of points made in response to the question by my Competitive Enteprise Institute colleague,…
Op-Eds
Aussie Securities Case May Make U.S. Litigation Magnet
Headquartered in Melbourne, the second largest city of the land down under, National Australia Bank is firmly attached to its home country. The primary…
Blog
CEI files amicus in Aussie bank case threatening national sovereignty
Headquartered in Melbourne, the second largest city of the land down under, National Australia Bank is firmly attached to its home country. The primary trading…
Citation
Locksmith laws in Florida
Op-Eds
‘Seeing’ Red at Reconciliation over Medicine Cabinet Tax
The rallying cry for opponents of Obamacare has been “Hands off my health care.” In addition, they now could say, “Hands off my medicine cabinet."…
Citation
Health Care HSA Changes Result in Higher Taxes for all
Blog
Health Care- Fix middle-class “medicine cabinet tax” in reconciliation
“They won’t be so opposed to it once they see what’s in it.” That’s the rationalization House leaders have given skittish Democrats to get them…
Op-Eds
Obamacare Creates Windfall for Big Pharma
“They won’t be so opposed to it once they see what’s in it.” That’s the rationalization House leaders have given skittish Democrats to get…
Op-Eds
Dodd’s Main Street Punishment Bill
With the focus this week on health care’s “home stretch” and concerns about government limiting the ability of ordinary Americans to make choices about…
Blog
Dodd bill punishes Main Street entrepreneurs, rewards Fannie and other high rollers
With the focus this week on health care’s “home stretch” and concerns about government limiting the ability of ordinary Americans to make choices about medical…
News Release
Dodd Bill Punishes Main Street Entrepreneurs, Rewards Fannie and other High Rollers
With the focus this week on health care’s “home stretch” and concerns about government limiting the ability of ordinary Americans to make choices about medical…
Op-Eds
Real Competition Among Health Plans
The flash point of last year’s health care debate was the public option. The proposal, which calls for a government-created health insurer to compete…
Citation
Real Competition Among Health Plans
Op-Eds
The Corker-Dodd-Alinsky Bill? : Center-Right Coalition Letter Warns about “Proxy-Access”
Capitol Confidential and Jim Hoft have done an excellent job laying out concerns with the potential “compromise” bill that comes out of Sen. Bob…
Citation
Credit Card Bill of Rights
Op-Eds
Proxy Access: The Obama-Dodd-Alinsky Shareholder Jujitsu
What would Saul Alinksy do? In the wake of defeats for the Obama administration last month both with Scott Brown’s stunning Senate…
Blog
Credit CARD Act penalizes thrift and entrepreneurship; interchange fee controls would compound harm to consumers
Today, the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure (CARD) Act of 2009 goes into effect. While the law, passed last May, is being hailed as…
Op-Eds
Credit Card Act Hits Cardholders, Entrepreneurs
Today, the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure (CARD) Act of 2009 goes into effect and is being hailed as a boon for consumers.
News Release
Credit CARD Act Penalizes Thrift And Entrepreneurship
Today, the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure (CARD) Act of 2009 goes into effect. While the law, passed last May, is being hailed as…
Citation
Founding Father
Citation
Toyota’s Trials – and Government Conflict of Interest
Op-Eds
Why do Liberal Environmentalists put Their Agenda Above the Safety of America and it’s Citizens?
Environmentalists, with the help of politicians and other government officials, have an agenda that has cost thousands of American lives. In the…
Op-Eds
Obama can Aid Small Businesses by Providing Regulatory Reform
In news accounts about fights over new regulation, the story is almost always the same. The media portray the drama as that of well-intentioned…
Op-Eds
The Corporate Library: Servant of Special Interests
Full Document Available in PDF Labor unions, left-leaning foundations and activists declare their support…
Op-Eds
Did Ben Fold?
Looking back at the Federal Reserve Board’s attempts at self-justification after the Great Depression in Free to Choose, Milton and Rose Friedman concluded that…
Letters
Audit the Fed First
Dear Members of the U.S. Senate: In the last two years, the Federal Reserve Board has lent several trillion dollars to banks…
Citation
Bank Tax “Strictly Political”, but Popular
Op-Eds
Obama’s Bank-Busting Regulation Full of Bugs
President Obama’s proposal on Thursday to bring back 1930s-era separation of commercial and investment banking would do little to prevent the problem of financial…
Citation
Obama’s Glass-Steagal 2.0 Could Crash Financial System
Blog
Obama’s Glass-Steagall 2.0 could crash financial system
President Obama’s proposal today to bring back…
Op-Eds
Obama Plan to Split Banks Could Crash Economy
President Obama’s proposal today to bring back 1930s-like separation of commercial and investment banks, dubbed Glass-Steagall II or Glass-Steagall 2.0, would do…
Op-Eds
Crisis Management
One of the more confusing aspects of the great economic meltdown of 2008-09—even more confusing than collateralized debt obligations—has been the tortured…
News Release
Obama’s Glass-Steagall 2.0 Could Crash Financial System
President Obama’s proposal today to bring back 1930s-like separation of commercial and investment banks, dubbed Glass-Steagall II or Glass-Steagall 2.0, would do little to prevent…
Op-Eds
The Bank Tax and the Bay State
As the race for the late Ted Kennedy’s seat goes into the home stretch, financial-services policy has suddenly emerged as a top issue in…
Op-Eds
SarBox Might be Coming to an End
Prospects for substantial relief from or repeal of one of the most burdensome corporate regulations in recent memory have suddenly grown in Congress and…
Op-Eds
Obama’s Penalty Tax Could Hit Banks that Refused TARP Funds
President Obama’s so-called Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee is a tax in search of a target. Today, the president declared, “We want our…
Blog
Obama Bank “Responsibility Fee” Is Destructive, Hypocritical and Likely Unconstitutional
The so-called Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee is a tax in search of a target. Today, the President declared, “We want our money back.” Yet his…
Blog
Financial Crisis Hearing is Partisan Sham that Skips Over Fannie and Freddie’s Role
John Berlau, director of CEI’s Center for Investors and Entrepreneurs, offers the following thoughts on what’s missing from the first hearing of the Financial Crisis…
Citation
House Panel Approves Ban On Retail Price-Fixing Deals
Citation
Sarbanes-Oxley: Albatross to Growth
Op-Eds
Financial Crisis Hearing Is Partisan Sham
Today marks the first-ever meeting of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, which is charged with investigating the causes of the mortgage meltdown.
Op-Eds
Sarbanes-Oxley: Albatross to Growth
Many economists, policy makers, and members of Congress of both parties are questioning whether what is good for the Big Four accounting firms is…
Citation
Fed Should Let Interest Rates Rise
Citation
Tax Preparers Must Meet License Requirement
Citation
Reforms Bode Ill for Tax-Free Health Accounts
Credit Union Times
Payment Card Networks Under Assault
Blog
Health care bill’s hidden tax on pain relievers, Pedialyte, and prenatal vitamins
Blog
Obama Summit: President’s goals of more loans and more heavy-handed regulation in conflict
Statement of John Berlau, director, Center for Investors and Entrepreneurs, Competitive Enterprise Institute: President Obama’s twin goals of more bank loans and more heavy-handed regulation…
Credit Union Times
Big PhRMA Payoff: Hidden Tax on Pedialyte, Prenatal Vitamins, and Pain Relievers
Blog
Tarp the TARP and give small biz relief from Sarbanes-Oxley and other burdensome regs
Statement of John Berlau, Director of CEI’s Center for Investors and Entrepreneurs, on extending TARP for small business and on Rep. Barney Frank’s plans to…
The Wall Street Journal
Sarbanes-Oxley on Trial
Congress wants to wallop business with even more regulation in the wake of the financial panic, but perhaps the Members should pause on Monday and…
The Wall Street Journal
Al Gore Should Lose His ‘Oscar’ Due To ClimateGate
The Wall Street Journal
Supreme Court Set to Review Scope of Peek-a-boo Power
Study
Payment Card Networks Under Assault
How Capping Interchange Fees Will Hurt Consumers, Charities, Community Banks, and Credit Unions…
Southern Shift News
30 Million Small Businesses: The Army President Obama has yet to Deploy
Southern Shift News
Letter to the Editor: Retailers Want to Shift Their Costs onto Consumers
It’s a real pity that The Examiner’s Nov. 27 lead story – billed with the screaming front-page headline "Credit cards show no pity" –…
Letters
Federal Reserve Transparency Working Group Sends Letter to the Senate
Dear Members of the U.S. Senate: In the last two years, the Federal Reserve Board has lent several trillion dollars to banks…
Southern Shift News
Effort To Curb Financial Giants May Worry Markets Even More
Southern Shift News
Effort To Curb Financial Giants May Worry Markets Even More
Southern Shift News
DDT: The Silent Killer…Only When It Was Gone
Southern Shift News
DDT: The Silent Killer…Only When It Was Gone
News Release
Government Watchdog Finds Credit Card Price Controls Hurt Consumers
Today, the Government Accountability Office released its widely anticipated report on interchange fees—the fees that retailers pay to credit and debit card issuers for processing…
Blog
Reps. Maloney and Adler push true bipartisan stimulus — Sarbanes-Oxley relief
After months of talk about solutions that would rev up job growth and the economy, today the House Financial Service Committee may finally adopt a…
Southern Shift News
“Gifted Hands” Surgeon Rips into Obamacare
As the Senate Finance Committee completed its work on a bill that would greatly expand the government’s role in health care – requiring nearly…
News Release
Unemployment Report, Real Solutions
Today's unemployment report showed the U.S. jobless rate reaching 9.8 percent, the highest since 1983. And although unemployment is referred to as a "lagging indicator"…
Southern Shift News
Don’t Let 7-11 Give Card Users a “Big Gulp” of Big Govt
If Congress acts on 7-Eleven's misleading petition to put price controls on interchange fees, consumers will pay the price through the reduction of credit card…
Southern Shift News
Retailers Shortchange Customers in Credit-Card Fee Fight
Today, 7-Eleven Inc. and other big retail chains will hit Capitol Hill to offer Congress members and their staffs a supersize serving of hypocrisy.
Southern Shift News
Retailers Shortchange Customers in Credit-Card Fee Fight
7- Eleven and other retailers, who rightly complain about costly government mandates in health care and other areas, are hitting Capitol Hill…
Blog
7-Eleven serves up Big Gulp of Big Government to credit card consumers
Tomorrow, 7-Eleven Inc. and other big retail chains will hit Capitol Hill to offer Congress members and their staffs a supersize serving of hypocrisy. Retailers,…
News Release
Don’t Let 7-Eleven Give Card Holders a “Big Gulp” of Big Government
On Wednesday, 7-Eleven Inc. and other big retail chains will call on Congress to slap price controls on the interchange fees they pay to banks…
Washington Times
Solutions: How to Reduce Unemployment
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke recently said the recession is probably over, as third-quarter growth in gross domestic product will likely be positive. But…
Washington Times
Meryl’s Mad Green Meanderings about Julia
In the new movie "Julie & Julia," Meryl Streep does well portraying the late Julia Child, but one can say Streep also benefits from…
Blog
Obama scolds Wall Street, but targets Main Street with regs
One year after the Wall Street meltdown, President Obama…
News Release
Berlau in New York Times on Overdraft Fees from Debit Cards – with Misleading Headline
John Berlau, Director of the Center for Investors and Entrepreneurs at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, was a guest contributor this week to the New York…
Washington Times
Meryl Streep’s Attack on Julia Child Ironic, Ungrateful
In the new movie “Julie & Julia,” Meryl Streep does well portraying the late Julia Child, but one can say Streep also benefits from…
Blog
Meryl trash talks Julia on pesticides and fat
In the new movie “Julie & Julia,” Meryl Streep does well portraying the late Julia Child, but one can say Streep also benefits from her subject. …
Washington Times
The BofA Bonus Show
Salon.com
Ted Kennedy… the Deregulator?
Salon.com
Kennedy’s Lasting Gift to America: Airline Deregulation
Tributes are pouring in for Edward M. “Ted” Kennedy, who lost his battle with brain cancer late Tuesday evening at the age of 77.
Blog
Ted Kennedy’s Deregulatory Legacy on Airlines and Trucking
Tributes are pouring in for Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy, who lost his battle with brain cancer late Tuesday evening at the age of 77.
News Release
Kennedy Left Deregulation Legacy on Airlines and Trucking
Salon.com
Don’t Ban but Expand Them
In proposing his new financial regulations this summer, President Obama pledged to get tough on the big Wall Street banks whose risky practices are…
Blog
UBS Deal Only a Partial Victory for the Feds
Today, after a long and protracted battle between the U.S. and Swiss government, Swiss bank UBS AG agreed to turn over the names of at…
Salon.com
U.S. Swiss Bank Deal a Partial Victory for Financial Privacy
After a long and protracted battle between the United States and Swiss governments, Swiss bank UBS AG has agreed to turn over 4,000 names…
News Release
UBS Settlement Only a Partial Victory for the Feds
The following is the statement of John Berlau, Director of the Center for Investors and Entrepreneurs at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, in reaction to…