Blog
Obama State of the Union Flunks Fact Check; More Wasteful Spending and “A Million Points of Trite”
The Associated Press fact-checked Obama’s State of the Union address last night, and found it to be misleading in many ways: “The ledger…
Citation
Obama’s SOTU Speech: More Spending on Democrat Special Interests
Blog
Thoughts on the State of the Union and Education in America
In the Washington Examiner, I discuss some of the president’s anticipated proposals in his State of the Union address today. The president is…
Citation
Dems Prefer Academic Theories of Job Creation to Economic Reality
Blog
Obama Policies Fuel Global Food Crisis Through Ethanol Mandates, While Fostering Obesity in America
Food prices are soaring all over the world. The global food chain is reportedly stretched to the limit, fueled by the fact…
Citation
Life’s Tough for $144,000 Garbage Collectors
Blog
Andrew Sullivan Blames Tea Party for Budget-Busting Deal That He, Not It, Supported
The deficit is largely the result of “feel-good” bipartisan policies supported by the political establishment. But rather than taking credit for the deficit it…
Blog
Students Learn Less in College, Even As Education Spending Skyrockets
“Nearly half of the nation’s undergraduates show almost no gains in learning in their first two years of college, in large part because colleges don’t…
Blog
Yes, Obamacare is a Government Takeover of the Health Care System
In Tuesday’s Washington Post, Glenn Kessler looked at Republican claims about Obamacare, such as the claim that it “is a ‘government takeover’ of the health…
Citation
Are Biofuel Policies Fueling a Global Food Crisis?
Op-Eds
No Call to Arms in Fight Against Health Care Reform (Letter to the Editor)
When I first heard about the Tucson shootings, I expected people to rush out and blame talk radio, regardless of contrary evidence. But I never…
Blog
How the President Can Foster the “Civil and Honest” Debate He Called For
In his speech in Tucson, where federal Judge John Roll was murdered, President Obama said that “only a more civil and honest public discourse can…
Blog
Smears and Hypocritical Calls for “Civility” Follow Tucson Shooting
Even though the Tucson shooter was mentally unbalanced, did not listen to talk radio or Fox News, and liked The Communist Manifesto, several…
Blog
WikiLeaks Backs Censorship in Response to Tucson Shootings
In a press release, WikiLeaks has blamed Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, Sarah Palin, and other conservatives for the Tucson shootings, and called for them to…
Op-Eds
Ex-Congressman Gets Soapbox for Violent Remarks (Letter to the Editor)
Liberal columnists like Paul Krugman have sought to scapegoat conservatives for the recent shootings in Tucson. But the shooter was once described as a “liberal…
Blog
The Meaning of Civility in the Aftermath of the Tucson Shootings
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The Left’s Fetish With Its Own Paranoid Hatred
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The Political Climate is Too Dull and Conformist Already
There is a lot of cynical and dishonest blather right now about the need to dial down America’s political rhetoric because of the shootings…
Citation
The Authoritarian Media
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Inspector General Says ‘Jobs Saved’ Numbers Are Nonsense; Totals ‘Should Be Offset By Thousands Destroyed’
Blog
Thoughts on the Tucson Shootings
In the Washington Examiner, I have a commentary entitled “Shootings Obscure America’s Generally Bland and Timid Political Culture.” In The Wall Street Journal, law…
Blog
Dodd-Frank Financial “Reform” Violates Property Rights and Equal-Protection Guarantees
Last week, I described how the Dodd-Frank financial “reform” law passed last summer violates constitutional separation-of-powers safeguards by giving unaccountable bureaucrats the…
Blog
Four Radicals Renominated to Federal Judgeships
On Wednesday, President Obama renominated four radicals to federal judgeships, even though their nominations previously died in the Senate. A week earlier, he made six controversial recess…
Blog
Dodd-Frank Violates Separation of Powers and Constitutional Checks and Balances
In a recent edition of the Washington Post, former White House counsel C. Boyden Gray noted that the sweeping Dodd-Frank financial “reform” law passed…
Blog
More Signs of Incompetence in Washington, D.C. Transit System
In the latest sign of dysfunction at the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (“Metro”), the struggling subway system has appointed a supervisor of escalators…
Citation
If At First You Don’t Succeed. . .
Op-Eds
Financial Stability Council Violates the Constitution (Letter to the Editor)
C. Boyden Gray’s Dec. 31 Washington Forum commentary, “Wall Street reform that flouts the law,” rightly criticized the secrecy, unchecked bureaucratic power and constitutional…
Citation
How Far Does an Education Take You?
Citation
Time to Cut?
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Hope-Fulfilling or Effectively Chilling?
Blog
The College Diploma Fraud and Its Consequences
Retired professor Robert Weissberg has a fascinating article at The American Thinker called “The College Diploma Fraud.” It describes how worthless many college degrees have…
Citation
Premium Power Grab: Feds Take Control of Insurance Prices
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Time to Slash Federal Education Spending
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Obamacare Litigation: The Pennhurst Argument
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Surfeits of Certitude
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Potato Diet Improves Man’s Health; Obama Administration Bans Potatoes from WIC Program
Chris Voigt lost 21 pounds and improved his health by living on a potato-only diet for 60 days. Potatoes are more nutritious…
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Time for Big Cuts in Education Spending?
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When Spending More Doesn’t Help. . .Spend Even More?
Blog
Time for Big Cuts in Education Spending?
America spends far more on education than countries like Germany, Japan, Australia, Ireland, and Italy, both as a percentage of its economy, and in absolute…
Citation
December 23 roundup
Blog
The Obama Administration’s Misguided War on For-Profit Colleges
In Forbes, economist Richard Vedder of Ohio University documents the blunders behind the Obama administration’s war on for-profit colleges that wiped out $8 billion…
Blog
Obamacare Makes State Budget Problems Worse
Obamacare is making state budget problems much worse, as governors now lament. Earlier, CEI filed an amicus brief in Florida v. HHS on…
Blog
Food Safety Modernization Act Passes; Unconstitutional Provision Supposedly Removed
The Food Safety Modernization Act was passed again by Congress on Sunday, apparently without a provision that earlier drew criticism for violating the Constitution by having a…
Blog
Rip-Off: College Tuition Bubble and Debt Burdens Grow Worse
Forbes magazine recently blew the whistle on how skyrocketing college tuition is ripping off the public. Thanks to some colleges’ greed, and the federal and state financial…
Blog
Judicial Hellholes Kill Jobs and Redistribute Wealth
The most recent list of judicial hellholes has just been released by the American Tort Reform Association. It lists “courts in Philadelphia; California’s Los Angeles…
Blog
Nanny-Statist CSPI Sues to Ban Happy Meals at McDonald’s
An ill-informed left-wing group, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, is suing McDonald’s in California to ban toys from Happy…
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Undoing College
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Happy Meal Lawsuit, cont’d
Blog
Should Obamacare Be Struck Down In Its Entirety Rather Than Just Having Its Unconstitutional Parts Severed?
In his ruling striking down Obamacare’s individual mandate (requirement that people buy health insurance), Judge Hudson in Richmond declined to strike down the rest…
Op-Eds
Judge Should Have Struck Down Entire Law (Letter to the Editor)
This editorial about a federal judge striking down Obamacare’s individual insurance-purchase mandate rightly noted that the law lacks a severability clause. Because of…
Blog
Useless College Degrees Proliferate; Millions Waste Lives in Academic Bubble
“Do we need more college grads?,” asks John Leo in Minding the Campus. The answer is surely no: a study highlighted in the Chronicle…
Blog
Is Obamacare’s Government Healthcare Takeover a “Civil Right”?
Doug Powers takes aim at the silly argument by the Obama administration that opposing Obamacare is analogous to opposing basic civil rights. As he…
Blog
Unemployment Benefits Keep People from Working
Wintery Knight has an interesting discussion of how unemployment benefits keep people from working, drawing on coverage from The New York Times and academic…
Blog
Reactions to Court Ruling Striking Down Part of Obamacare in Virginia v. Sebelius
Yesterday, a federal judge in Richmond struck down Obamacare’s requirement that individuals buy health insurance. Cato Institute’s Ilya Shapiro reacts to the decision…
Blog
Ruling in Virginia’s Challenge to Obamacare Individual Mandate Expected Today
A ruling in Virginia’s constitutional challenge to Obamacare’s individual mandate is expected later today. The Competitive Enterprise Institute joined in an amicus brief filed…
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Judge to Obamacare architects: Ahem. Meet the Constitution, power-grabbers.
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Federal Judge Strikes Down Obamacare Mandate as Unconstitutional
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The Health Care Law Under the Judicial Knife: Some Early Reactions
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Wal-Mart Case Bigger Than Company
Blog
More Disincentives to Work, Thanks to the Federal Government and the Stimulus Package
Thanks to food stamps, Medicaid, and housing subsidies, and other welfare benefits, many “poor” people have far more disposable income than self-supporting households earning $40,000…
Blog
New Fast Food Restaurants Banned in South Los Angeles
New fast-food restaurants are now banned in South Los Angeles. Say goodbye to many entry-level jobs in that poor urban area. The cockamamie idea behind this ban is…
Citation
McDonald’s Obesity Class Action Dismissed
Blog
Court Rejects Obesity Class-Action Against McDonald’s
A New York court has refused to certify a class-action lawsuit against McDonald’s by people claiming it made them obese. As Ted Frank notes,…
Blog
Child-Snatching to Reap Federal Funds: The Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997
An article called “The 7 Most Horrifying Cost-Cutting Measures of All Time” decries the role of the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997…
Blog
Stimulus Impact: Zero, or Less Than Zero?
In The Wall Street Journal, economists John F. Cogan and John B. Taylor argue that the impact of the $800 billion “Obama stimulus” was…
Blog
17 Million Unnecessary College Degrees; Obama Administration Seeks to Increase the Number
In America today, 317,000 waiters and waitresses have college degrees. Over 18,000 parking lot attendants have college degrees. So do thousands of janitors.
Blog
Supreme Court to Hear Wal-Mart v. Dukes
The Supreme Court voted to hear Wal-Mart v. Dukes, granting Wal-Mart’s petition for certiorari. The Supreme Court will decide whether a class-action rule…
Blog
Deal to Explode Deficits by $900 Billion Will Burden States and Employers With More Unemployment Costs
President Obama and Republican leaders reached a deal to extend the Bush tax cuts for two years — and temporarily reduce social security payroll taxes…
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Well-Educated
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More Thoughts on the College Debt Bubble
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Unemployment Jumps to 9.8 Percent; Stimulus and New Regulations Wipe Out Jobs
Unemployment has jumped to 9.8 percent. The population has grown recently, but the number of jobs has remained virtually flat. The White House…
Blog
The College Debt Bubble: Is It Ready to Explode?
“Is the College Debt Bubble Ready to Explode?,” asks Laura Rowley at Yahoo! Finance. College tuition has skyrocketed much more than housing did during…
Citation
Food safety bill update (and welcome readers)
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Senate Leaders Violate Constitution in Pushing Through Costly Food Safety Modernization Act
The House and Senate passed different versions of the Food Safety Modernization Act, which would ratchet up costly regulations of farms and food processing. (Greg…
Blog
Homeland Security Violating Due Process and Free Speech In Internet Power Grab?
Law professor David Post notes that the Department of Homeland Security is seizing entire domain names, not to protect national security, but to enforce…
Blog
$7 Billion or More in New Taxes for Virginians Under EPA Mandate
The EPA told Virginia earlier that it would impose costly measures on Virginia Counties, measures so costly that they would result in record property…
Blog
An Intrusive, Ineffective, Unionized TSA?
Much has been written about the backlash against the TSA’s intrusive new screening methods. Law professor Jeff Rosen has argued that they violate…
Blog
America’s Wealthiest County Used Bailout Money to Give Teachers a Paid Vacation
The richest county in America, Loudoun County, Virginia, used money from the Obama administration’s $10 billion teacher-bailout program to give teachers a…
Blog
More Burdensome to Pay Rent Than to Be a Mortgage Deadbeat
Under government mortgage bailout/modification programs, the mortgage payments of many delinquent borrowers were cut to 31 percent of income, even for borrowers with high incomes and big…
Op-Eds
GM Shares Are Artificially Inflated (Letter to the Editor)
The Examiner was right to note that General Motors’ supposed “success story” is actually a money-loser for taxpayers. Not only did GM’s recent sale of…
Blog
Federal Government Subsidizes Obesity and Wealthy Urbanites
In the Washington Examiner, David Freddoso explains how the federal Department of Health and Human Services spent $766,000 of your tax dollars to help…
Blog
How Property Rights Saved the Pilgrims After the First Thanksgiving
In Reason Magazine, Nick Gillespie and Meredith Bragg write about how the establishment of property rights among the pilgrims made them more “industrious” and…
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Trimming the Fat
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“Model” Foreign Aid Recipient Uses Foreign Aid to Repress Its Citizens
Ethiopia is considered a model recipient of foreign aid by international aid agencies, since it uses much of the aid on its people, rather than…
Legal Brief
Amicus in Obamacare Litigation on Behalf of Minn., Rhode Island Governors
Full Document Avalible in PDF The Competitive Enterprise Institute is representing Governors Tim Pawlenty (R, Minn.) and Donald Carcieri (R, Rhode Island)…
Blog
GM IPO Raises Billions, But Company Faces Hidden Challenges; Bailout Still Not Repaid
General Motors raised more than $20 billion in an initial public offering (IPO) this week, selling millions of shares owned by the federal government,…
Citation
Brief of Governors Tim Pawlenty and Donald L. Carcieri As Amici Curiae In Support of Plaintiffs’ Motion for Summary Judgment
Legal Brief
Amicus Motion in Obamacare Litigation
The Competitive Enterprise Institute is representing Governors Tim Pawlenty (R, Minn.) and Donald Carcieri (R, Rhode Island) seeking permission to file an amicus brief in…
Philly.com
Pawlenty Joins in Overhaul Suit
Google News
Minn.’s Pawlenty Ups Challenge to Fed Health Law
Google News
Pawlenty Seeks to Add Voice to Health Care Suit
Politico
Tim Pawlenty Joins Health Bill Lawsuit
Politico
Pawlenty Ups Challenge to Health Care Law
Politico
Blumenthal Cash Cow Cartel Challenged
Legal Brief
S&M Brands v. Caldwell – Appendix to Cert. Petition
See: Petition for Writ of Certiorari, S&M Brands v. Caldwell…
Legal Brief
Petition for Writ of Certiorari: S&M Brands, Inc. v. Caldwell
Full Document Avalible in PDF Lawsuit Against Government-Tobacco Cartel Brought to Supreme Court Backroom Tobacco Deal Violates US…
Blog
Massive Property Tax Increases Coming for Homeowners in Northern Virginia
Homeowners in Northern Virginia may face massive, record-setting property tax increases of 20 percent or more in the upcoming year. One reason is the EPA’s…
Blog
Tea Party Express Hands Control of Senate to Democrats?
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Many Republican Campaign Signs Disappear or are Stolen
Enraged Democrats in Virginia’s Fifth Congressional District attacked GOP activists and yanked signs for candidate Rob Hurt (R) off of private property. Hurt is…
Blog
Touting Government Failures As Successes: Chris Zimmerman and Metro
Arlington County Board member Chris Zimmerman is touting “his experience on the Metro Board of Directors, of which he is the longest-serving member.” This…