Blog
How the “Stupid” American Public Pays for Gruber’s Deception
The Washington Times points out that Jonathan Gruber, our nation’s most famous sufferer of foot-in-mouth-disease, has profited greatly from the “stupid” American public to whom he…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
The Federal Register took Tuesday off to observe Veterans’ Day. The short week was still a busy one, with Thursday’s edition alone totaling 783 pages. On to…
One News Now
Two Views on Danger of ‘Net Neutrality’
One News Now talks to Ryan Radia about free-market reasons to oppose Net Neutrality: If this is a free speech issue, says the Competitive…
Human Events
If it Walks Like a Lame Duck
I’ve always found the term “lame duck Congress” an affront to waterfowl everywhere. And it’s odd to boot. Why does it matter if they have…
Blog
Gruber’s “Speakola” Virus and Pelosi’s Selective Memory
Obamacare supporters say that when deciding King v. Burwell and the related Halbig v. Burwell, challenges to the law that the Competitive Enterprise Institute helped fund and coordinate,…
The Washington Examiner
Federal Judge Tells CFPB it Must Give Depositions Even if Doing So ‘Annoys’
The Washington Examiner asks CEI's John Berlau about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's reluctance to participate in depositions: "John Berlau, a senior fellow at the…
Breitbart
President Obama Goes Around Senate on Climate Change
Breitbart cited Christopher Horner's statement on President Obama's promise with China to cut emissions. Obama knows that two-thirds of the Senate under the U.S.
Washington Examiner
Federal judge tells CFPB it must give depositions even if doing so ‘annoys’
The Washington Examiner quotes CEI`s John Berlau on the CFPB`s claim of excempt from depositions: John Berlau, a senior fellow at the Competitive…
Blog
CFPBs Prepaid Debit Card Rules Will Harm Low-Income Consumers
Today’s action by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to issue unprecedented burdens on providers of prepaid debit cards shows why the bureau needs to be held…
Blog
USPS Data Breach Highlights Union Hypocrisy
Recently, a United States Postal Service computer system experienced a security breach. The result: around 800,000 current and former USPS employees' private information, including their…
Human Events
Obama’s Economic Surrender to China
Human Events quotes CEI's Cristopher Horner on President Obama's environmental treaty with China at APEC: "Of course, since we’ve long trespassed against the boundaries…
News Release
Prepaid Credit Cards Subject to New Regulation – Statement by CEI’s John Berlau
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is reportedly poised to impose new regulations on the prepaid card industry. John Berlau, senior fellow with the Competitive…
Blog
Obama’s Meaningless China Deal on Climate Change
It will be up to future Presidents and Congresses after he leaves office in January 2017 to decide whether to require the emissions reductions.
Study
From Overstock to Overtaxed
With Congress poised to consider similar taxes in the Marketplace Fairness Act…
Blog
Minneapolis Adopts Unconstitutional Racial Quotas in School Discipline
Given a choice between following the law, and doing what a bureaucrat with power over them wants, many people will do what the bureaucrat wants,…
News Release
New Report: The Economic and Legal Problems with Internet Sales Taxes
WASHINGTON – Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) released a new study analyzing the economic downsides and legal problems with…
News Release
Obama’s China Deal on Climate Change
President Obama in Beijing declared new targets for reducing U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, this time with China ostensibly agreeing to cut its own greenhouse gas…
Blog
Miami-Dade Contracts Keep Paying Government Employees to Perform Union Business
In the summer of 2013, Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser, and current Lieutenant Governor of Florida, Carlos Lopez-Cantera tried to fire an employee who wasn't showing…
Blog
Obamacare: Cert Granted on Friday, and Gruber III on Saturday
It was very good news, delivered in a very surprising way. Shortly after noon last Friday, the Supreme Court announced that it would review our…
Reason
Schools Implement Explicit Racial Bias in Suspensions
Blog
The Long National Nightmare of Dodd-Frank Is Almost Over
One of the prime reasons for the continuing economic uncertainty that bedevils so many ordinary Americans is the presence in law of the Dodd-Frank Act…
Legal Brief
FOIA Request for Agency Records: EPA Officials’ Text Messages
Read the FOIA Request here Read the Response Letter here CEI filed the following Freedom of Information Act request…
Blog
Right to Work Should Be on the Agenda in Ohio and Wisconsin
One takeaway from the midterm elections is politicians who support labor reform, which protects worker choice and reduce union coercive power, should not fear political…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
Election week was a busy one on the regulatory front, with new rules on everything from fuel taxes to wireless spectrum. With the Senate changing…
News Release
Obama’s Net Neutrality Plan is Bad for Consumers
CNS News
IPCC’s Latest Report: The End Is Nigh Unless Mankind Repents of Its Fuelish Ways
This article was originally published on CNS News on November 10, 2014. The end of the world is always big news, no matter how…
Human Events
In Memory of Gordon Tullock
The Wall Street Journal
Supreme Court to Hear Case on Health-Care Law Subsidies
The Wall Street Journal quotes Sam Kazman in their discussion of the Supreme Court's review of CEI's Obamacare Exchange case: The Supreme Court…
Blog
The Good, the Bad, and the Public Sector Unions
Writing in The Wall Street Journal, Steve Malanga has commented on the growing differences between private and public sector unions. Malanga describes the various instances…
Blog
The Fall of the Berlin Wall, 25 Years Later
This weekend marks the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. While much is going to be written about this quarter-century anniversary, my colleague…
Products
Supreme Court Will Review King v. Burwell – CERTIORARI GRANTED
Reuters
U.S. Supreme Court to Hear Obamacare Subsidies Case
Reuters News Service quotes Sam Kazman in this November 7 report on the SCOTUS decision to take up CEI's Obamacare challenge: The plaintiffs in…
Fox Business
SCOTUS to Hear ObamaCare Subsidies Case
Fox Business quotes Sam Kazman on the November 7th Supreme Court cert for CEI's Obamacare challenge. “Today’s grant of cert by the Supreme Court is…
Roll Call
Friday Q & A: Marc Scribner of the Competitive Enterprise Institute
Part 1, Part 2 Analyst Marc Scribner at the Competitive Enterprise Institute examines transportation policy from a staunchly pro-market standpoint. Here are excerpts…
News Release
SCOTUS Announces Review of CEI’s Healthcare Case: King v. Burwell
WASHINGTON, Nov. 7 – Today, the Supreme Court announced it will review the Fourth Circuit’s ruling on the Obamacare insurance exchange subsidies case.
Letters
Coalition Letter: Wind PTC Opposition with the American Energy Alliance
The American Energy Alliance, Competitive Enterprise Institute, and more than 60 other groups urged Speaker of the House John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch…
National Review
Obama’s Peanut-Brained Attack on MetLife
This article was originally published at the National Review on November 6, 2014. One day while sitting on the roof of his doghouse, Snoopy supposedly…
American Spectator
No Triple Mandate for the Federal Reserve
A recent speech by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen got considerable attention over her subtly implied suggestion that the Fed consider taking on a…
Vox
The GOP’s Senate Takeover Could Be a Big Deal for Net Neutrality and Patent Reform
CEI's Ryan Radia discusses net neutrality, patent reform and online privacy with Vox Media: Net Neutrality: "Still, Ryan Radia of the Competitive…
Blog
Labor and Employment Look at the 2014 Elections
The election tide of November 4, 2104, begs to be examined from a labor and employment perspective.
Blog
Voters Reject Three Rail Transit Boondoggles
Yesterday, voters across the country had the opportunity to vote on a number of transportation ballot measures. Three of these involved spending for new rail…
Blog
Voters Approve Minimum Wage Hikes
As pollsters predicted, voters approved increases in state-level minimum wages in four states (Alaska, Arkansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota), although to levels less than the increase…
Blog
In Memoriam: Gordon Tullock
I write this Tuesday night as TV pundits drone on in the background. The Republicans may win control of the Senate, though races are too…
Blog
Gordon Tullock, R.I.P.
Imagine making Nobel-worthy contributions to a discipline in which you had almost no formal training. It’s an amazing feat. Gordon Tullock is one of the…
Blog
Volunteering Violation Vignettes
Did you know it is against the law to volunteer for a for-profit business? The issue has surfaced in a trio of varied settings recently.
Legal Brief
Halbig v. Burwell: Government En Banc Brief
Blog
Joint Employer Action Anxiously Anticipated
On July 29, 2014, the National Labor Relations Board’s Office of the General Counsel set the labor and employment world on fire by authorized complaints…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
In the final week before the midterm election, agencies published new regulations ranging from dairy profits to Japanese oranges. Fittingly, the total number of new…
Blog
ObamaCare Failing to Make Insurance Affordable for Many Americans
The two most important Courts in the land are about to dive into the language and purpose of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the “Obamacare”…
Fox Business
What Small Business Owners Think About Income Tax
Fox Business cites Wayne Crews' work on regulatory compliance costs: With so much revenue potential when taxpayers and businesses thrive, one would…
News Release
Update on CEI’s Healthcare Cases, Halbig and King
WASHINGTON, Nov. 3 – Although the Supreme Court did not announce any decision today on whether to take up King v. Burwell, the…
CEI Planet
CEI Planet – Fall 2014
Blog
What Will the SpaceShipTwo Crash Mean for Commercial Space Flight Regulation?
The crash of a test flight of billionaire Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo, which cost the life of one, riveted many around the globe on Friday afternoon.
Blog
Scott Walker Calls Union-Backed Lawsuit a Political Stunt
Big Labor just can’t get its way in Wisconsin.
Blog
NLRB Considers Union Request to Make Removing Unwanted Union More Difficult
It is already an arduous process for employees to remove an unwanted union from their workplace. And now the International Association of Machinists is requesting…
Blog
Soda Makes You Old and Other “Data Mined” Myths
“‘If you torture your data long enough, they will tell you whatever you want to hear.’ Dr. James Mills noted in a 1993 New England Journal…
Forbes
A Truly Frightening Halloween in our Future?
This article was originally published at Forbes on October 31, 2014 For many of us, Halloween brings back many fond memories. We recall the…
Blog
How Federal Paperwork and Red Tape Has Grown since President Clinton
In recent five-part series called The 2014 Federal Paperwork and Red Tape Roundup, I took a look at hours of paperwork for various departments and…
Legal Brief
CEI v. OSTP
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) filed a lawsuit against the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), seeking documents related to that agency’s…
News Release
CEI Lawsuit Targets White House Polar Vortex Documents
WASHINGTON – Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) filed a lawsuit against the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), seeking documents…
Blog
New Jersey’s Driverless Car Bill: One Step Forward, Three Steps Back
Yesterday, the New Jersey Senate Transportation Committee in a unanimous vote reported S734, a bill that would recognize the legality of autonomous vehicle testing…
Blog
Minimum Wages Have Tradeoffs
Minimum wages help some workers, which is why they are so popular. But they aren’t a free lunch. There are tradeoffs. They aren’t always easy…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
It was business as usual, with new rules hitting the books on everything from political speech restrictions to butterflies to football broadcasts. On to the…
Human Events
Where in the World is Jonathan Gruber?
Washington Examiner
Minimum Wage, Maximum Damage
This article was originally published at the Washington Examiner on October 27, 2014. There are few policies more popular than increasing the federal minimum…
Forbes
Hillary Clinton: Businesses Don’t Create Jobs (Just Speaking Fees)
This article was originally published at Forbes on October 26, 2014 Hillary Clinton’s October 24 speech supporting Martha Coakley, the Massachusetts Democratic…
Blog
Sen. Coburn’s Wastebook Highlights Mismanagement of Federal Employees
Senator Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) released on October 22, 2014, his annual Wastebook that exposes how the federal government fritters away your tax dollars.
Blog
The 2014 Federal Paperwork and Red Tape Roundup, Part 5: Executive Agency Regulatory Costs
In Parts 1 through 4 of The 2014 Federal Paperwork and Red Tape Roundup we compiled a basic picture of federal paperwork costs with respect to…
Forbes
Regulatory Barriers Are Holding Back Investing And Lending Opportunities For Crowdfunding
This article was originally published at Forbes on October 24, 2014 In a recent Forbes column on the costs of regulation, my Competitive…
The Blaze
Has Operation Choke Point Ended?
Has your bank account been canceled for no good reason? If you’re in a business the government doesn’t like, soon it could be. Firearm sellers,…
News Release
EPA Tries to Duck Investigation of Destroyed Federal Records
October 24, 2014 WASHINGTON – This week, the Environmental Protection Agency filed its latest effort to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the Competitive Enterprise Institute…
Blog
The 2014 Federal Paperwork and Red Tape Roundup, Part 4: Independent Agency Paperwork Costs
A recent post here at OpenMarket noted the Annual Costs of Independent Agency Rulemakings and presented an annual cost placeholder of $6.14 billion annually stemming from compliance with…
Forbes
The Least Important Election of Your Lifetime
The November midterm elections are around the corner and as usual, the airwaves are filled with frenzied appeals to vote for one candidate or another…
The New Republic
Let Chris Christie Legalize Sports Gambling. It Won’t Ruin the Game.
Last Friday, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie signed into law a bill legalizing sports gambling in his state. Casinos and racetracks began preparing to…
Forbes
The Troubling Prospect of Janet Yellen as Liberal Political Crusader
Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen’s unprecedented speech on income inequality harbingers worrisome policy prescriptions by a central bank created to serve limited functions. Her…
Blog
Education Department Harassment Rules Metastasize through Administrative Fiat
The Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR), where I used to work, today declared that schools can be liable for bullying (or anything else)…
Blog
The Great Unknown – Federal Independent Agencies’ Regulatory Costs
Let’s be independent together! —Herbie the Dentist Elf to Rudolph in Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Independent agencies are not subject to Office of Management and Budget…
News Release
Mandates for Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communications Technology Called Into Question
WASHINGTON, Oct. 21 – Federal regulators are poised to impose a big mandate on new cars and trucks, requiring vehicle-to-vehicle communications technology aimed at averting…
Forbes
CFPB’s Loan Report Attacks Lenders Rather Than Empowering Students
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) recent annual student loan ombudsman report aims to help those falling behind with private lenders. However, its reactive…
Comment
Comments to NHTSA Regarding Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communications
Full Document Available in PDF On behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (“CEI”), I respectfully submit these comments in response to the…
Blog
Union Lobbyists Collecting Illinois Public Pensions Is Illegal Gift
Recent reports uncover that Illinois taxpayers are funding union agents' pensions.
Products
Spanish Firm Under Federal Investigation Wins $230 Million in DOE Subsidies
A Spanish renewable energy company under investigation by at least two federal agencies unveiled a new biofuel production facility on Friday that will receive hundreds…
Blog
Green Exploitation of the Monarch Butterfly
Butterflies offer powerful imagery for environmental groups looking to advance their agendas. After all, who doesn’t want to save these beautiful creatures? Surely green activists…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
The federal government took Monday off for Columbus Day, but still managed to pack more than 50 new regulations into a short week. On to…
Human Events
In Memoriam: Leonard Liggio
Pittsburgh Courier
Online Gambling Ban Does Nothing to Protect Consumers
Wellington Webb says gambling ensnares “naïve and foolish” people who think they can strike it rich. But how is legal online gambling any more of…
Blog
Misguided Regulations Threaten Automated Vehicle Innovation
Earlier this week, I appeared on a Cato Institute panel titled, "The End of Transit and the Beginning of the New Mobility: Policy Implications…
Blog
The Tesla File: Government Favors Cut Both Ways
Electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla Motors has become a fascinating case study in economic freedom in recent years, although the narrative is a complicated one. The…
Roll Call
With Autonomous Cars, A World Without Red Lights?
Marc Scribner of the Competitive Enterprise Institute said misguided government regulation may delay development of autonomous vehicles. Regulators may be well-intentioned, but they’re slow, he…
News Release
The Supreme Court Should Review CEI’s Obamacare Subsidy Case
WASHINGTON, Oct. 15 — The plaintiffs in King v. Burwell filed their final brief this week at the Supreme Court level, responding to the government’s opposition…
Blog
Update: Where in the World is Jonathan Gruber?
Today the plaintiffs in King v. Burwell filed the last brief regarding the cert petition now before the Supreme Court. It effectively rebuts each of…
Legal Brief
King v. Burwell: Reply to Government Opposition to Cert Petition
View the Full Brief Here This brief responds to the arguments raised King v. Burwell by the government against the Supreme Court taking…
Blog
Farewell to Our Friend, Leonard Liggio
We are saddened to hear our friend Leonard Liggio passed away this morning. Today, the liberty movement has lost an intellectual champion. The Competitive Enterprise…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
Even with a mid-term election coming up next month, agencies are cranking out a dozen or so new regulations every workday. The federal government also…
CNBC
Obamacare and Affordability—Not as Connected as You Think
Tom Haynes is a board member at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. The two most important courts in the nation are about to resolve a dispute…
Human Events
Calling on Congress May Not Be Such a Bad Thing
CNS News
Most Democrats Back ‘Hate Speech’ Ban in Poll; Conservatism Equated with Hate
51 percent of Democrats support banning “hate speech,” while only 21 percent oppose such a ban, in a recent You.Gov poll. This is disturbing…
Legal Brief
EPA letter to National Archivist on Document Destruction
Products
What Is Plouffe’s Battle Plan?
Uber CEO Travis Kalanick’s decision to hire former Obama campaign manager David Plouffe raises some interesting questions. Uber, a social network offering consumers an attractive…
CEI Planet