Archives

• By: John Berlau
• 05/07/2012

From Chris Woodward’s article on OneNewsNow: John Berlau, senior fellow for finance and access to capital for the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s (CEI) Center…

Banking and Finance

• By: John Berlau
• 05/04/2012

The recent viral video sensation “If I Wanted America to Fail” confirms that the regulatory state is a major focal point for the center-right…

Banking and Finance

• By: John Berlau
• 05/03/2012

The recent viral video sensation "If I Wanted America to Fail" confirms that the regulatory state is a major focal point for the center-right…

Regulatory Reform

• By: John Berlau
• 04/30/2012

Full Document Available in PDF As conservative, libertarian, and free-market organizations concerned about government regulatory overreach, we’re writing to you to urge…

Banking and Finance

• By: John Berlau
• 04/27/2012

Last weekend, there was a public memorial service at Cooper Union in New York to commemorate the voice of the late Christopher Hitchens. I…

Consumer Freedom

• By: John Berlau
• 04/11/2012

I have had a range of reactions when reading Matt Taibbi's pieces in Rolling Stone. Most of the time, I vehemently shake my head, but quite a few times…

Regulatory Reform

• By: John Berlau
• 04/05/2012

From The Washington Post‘s ThinkTanked: Competitive Enterprise Institute’s John Berlau: A breather from regulations. (National Review)…

Banking and Finance

• By: John Berlau
• 04/05/2012

‘It’s so meager,” proclaimed House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on March 9, the day after the House passage of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS)…

Banking and Finance

• By: John Berlau
• 04/01/2012

From Tim Carney’s column in The Washington Examiner: Crowdfunding is a way of financing a business venture without a financial intermediary or a…

Banking and Finance

• By: John Berlau
• 03/28/2012

Attention Senators! Test results are in. Time to announce who passed and failed “the Maxine Waters test of political moderation.” As I reported last week,…

Banking and Finance

• By: John Berlau
• 03/27/2012

From Michelle Hirsch’s article in The Fiscal Times: The bill has members of the business community cheering, calling it a first step in…

Banking and Finance

• 03/26/2012

John Berlau on Goldman Sachs and the Free Market…

Banking and Finance

• By: John Berlau
• 03/23/2012

From Investor’s Business Daily and Yahoo! Finance: Business observers say there is growing and widespread enthusiasm in the U.S. to provide greater support…

Banking and Finance

• By: John Berlau
• 03/21/2012

Tomorrow, the Senate is expected to pass the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act. The bill achieved cloture today by 76 votes, all but assuring…

Regulatory Reform

• By: John Berlau
• 03/21/2012

ThinkProgress, the blogging arm of the liberal Center for American Progress, is usually pretty good on enforcing the political left’s party line. But two of…

Regulatory Reform

• By: John Berlau
• 03/19/2012

Call it the Maxine Waters test of political moderation. Late last week, this test was failed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Senate Majority…

Banking and Finance

• By: John Berlau
• 03/08/2012

At long last, some truth in advertising in Congress! Today, the U.S. House of Representative is poised to pass a bipartisan "jobs bill" that will…

Regulatory Reform

• By: John Berlau
• 03/07/2012

Coauthored by Kelly McCutchen, President and CEO of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation The news that Bank of America is again testing new…

Banking and Finance

• By: Hans Bader, John Berlau
• 03/05/2012

Full Document Available in PDF Under the regulation at issue here, journalists, academics, students and others who are not wealthy or financially…

Banking and Finance

• By: John Berlau
• 02/22/2012

February is an important month in the history of American commerce. In this month is the birthday of one of the country’s earliest business innovators…

Banking and Finance

• By: John Berlau
• 02/22/2012

Needless to say, it is a minority opinion that current insider-trading laws reach government information, or else there wouldn’t have been this much of a…

Banking and Finance

• By: John Berlau
• 02/14/2012

Full Document Available in PDF Chairwoman Bono Mack, Ranking Member Butterfield, and members of thissubcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to present…

Banking and Finance

• By: John Berlau
• 02/10/2012

My colleagues David Bier and Ryan Radia contributed to this post. Per the scenario in a previous post, it’s April 2012. You are a…

Regulatory Reform

• By: John Berlau
• 02/06/2012

It’s April 2012. You are a conscientious congressional staffer who still takes seriously the need to be a steward of taxpayers’ money. (Yes, I know…

Consumer Freedom

• Christine Hall, John Berlau
• 02/06/2012

Washington, D.C., February 6, 2012—So-called “payday loans” and other forms of non-bank , short-term credit are roundly vilified by many politicians and activists, including the…

Banking and Finance

• By: John Berlau
• 02/05/2012

Is a $16 surcharge on a $100 product unfair, unjust, and “predatory”? Hardly anyone flinches, for instance, at a $16 “resort fee” on a $100…

Banking and Finance

• By: John Berlau
• 02/02/2012

In his letter to prospective shareholders in the middle of the 201-page "Form S-1" that Facebook  filed yesterday afternoon to launch its much-anticipated initial…

Regulatory Reform

• By: John Berlau
• 01/27/2012

There has been much waxing in the last few days about how unfair it supposedly is that Mitt Romney was taxed at around 15 percent.

Consumer Freedom

• By: John Berlau, Trey Kovacs
• 01/26/2012

Banking and Finance

• By: John Berlau, Trey Kovacs
• 01/24/2012

When Mitt Romney releases his tax returns, as he is expected to do on Tuesday, thousands of green eyeshades will pore over every line. One…

Banking and Finance

• By: John Berlau
• 01/17/2012

“Big Brother.” When commentators use that phrase to describe a government agency, it is most often not meant as a compliment. Rather, it is wielded…

Banking and Finance

• By: John Berlau
• 01/17/2012

Banking and Finance

• By: John Berlau
• 01/15/2012

"Big Brother." When commentators use that phrase to describe a government agency, it is most often not meant as a compliment. Rather, it is wielded…

Consumer Freedom

• By: John Berlau
• 01/04/2012

News is just breaking that President Obama will today make a "recess" appointment of Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a powerful and…

Regulatory Reform

• By: John Berlau
• 01/04/2012

Banking and Finance

• By: John Berlau
• 12/20/2011

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) wants banks and credit unions to know that he's all about transparency and "honesty" in consumer fees. In his…

Regulatory Reform

• By: John Berlau
• 12/16/2011

Let me begin this post with a disclaimer, of which many of our readers are already aware. The Competitive Enterprise Institute and OpenMarket.org do not…

Regulatory Reform

• By: John Berlau
• 12/02/2011

Ten years ago today, Enron Corp. filed for bankruptcy. Today, with all of its dealings with banks, it would probably have been deemed "too big…

Consumer Freedom

• By: John Berlau
• 12/01/2011

Banking and Finance

• By: John Berlau
• 11/30/2011

There are other factors at play, but has anyone noticed how much the stock market has surged since Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) announced he…

Regulatory Reform

• By: John Berlau
• 11/28/2011

Congress will certainly be different and, for the country, better with the absence of Rep. Barney Frank, who announced today he will not seek reelection.

Regulatory Reform

• By: John Berlau
• 11/23/2011

Attention Joe and Jane Citizen! Concerned about the fiscal future of your country and your family? Then please step away for five minutes from the…

Banking and Finance

• By: John Berlau
• 11/22/2011

Banking and Finance