Blog
Trump Threatens New China Tariff with May 10th Deadline
On Sunday, President Trump announced via Twitter that if he does not approve of the results of this week’s U.S.-China trade talks, he will enact…
Blog
Extinction Rebellion Heats Up UK Climate Ambition (or Rhetoric)
Spurred by David Attenborough’s global warming documentary, Extinction Rebellion protests, and homilies by teen activist Greta Thunberg, the United Kingdom became the first nation on Earth to…
Blog
Congressional Democratic Leaders Meet with President on Infrastructure Bill
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and other congressional Democrats met with President Trump on April 30 to discuss an infrastructure package.
Blog
House Passes Bill to Keep U.S. in Paris Climate Treaty
The House of Representatives on May 2 passed a bill that would prevent President Donald Trump from withdrawing the United States from the Paris climate treaty. Eighteen…
Products
9,999 Commandments? Six Ways Rule Flows Have Been Reduced or Streamlined
Download Chapter 1 as a PDF This edition of Ten Thousand Commandments begins with a survey of approaches the Trump administration took in its…
Products
Ten Thousand Commandments 2019 – Executive Summary
Download the Executive Summary as a PDF Spending control and deficit restraint are indispensable to any nation’s long-term economic health. Alarm among conservatives over…
News Release
Facebook’s Calls for Government Regulation of Speech Provide Important Context for Recent Actions
Facebook announced yesterday it was banning several individuals under a policy it has against “dangerous individuals and organizations.” Individuals banned include: InfoWars founder Alex Jones,…
Blog
Ex-Im Bank Revival?
Next week the Senate is expected to vote on new board members for the Export-Import Bank, which gives favorable financing terms to foreign governments and…
Blog
House Democrats Introduce Union Gift Bag Bill
The Protecting Workers’ Right to Organize (PRO) Act puts the interests of labor unions over workers. Each provision of the bill either grants unions greater…
CNBC
VIDEO: Ryan Radia Discusses Facebook and FTC on CNBC Power Lunch
Adjunct Fellow Ryan Radia joined CNBC’s Power Lunch to discuss Facebook and the FTC.
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Letter Opposing Reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank
Dear Members of Congress: On behalf of our groups and organizations, which collectively represent millions of Americans across all 50 states, we urge you to…
News Release
Trump Administration to End Labor Union Medicaid Dues Skimming
Today, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services took action to end labor union Medicaid dues skimming, promulgating a rule to fix that problem. The…
Study
Ten Thousand Commandments 2019
Ten Thousand Commandments is the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s annual survey of the size, scope, and cost of federal regulations, and how they affect American consumers,…
Blog
The Economic Illiteracy of a 36 Percent Interest Rate Cap
Earlier this week, the House Financial Services Committee held a hearing on a draft bill that proposes to set a national 36 percent annual percentage…
Blog
Republican Study Committee Releases 2020 Budget Proposal
Congress is supposed to pass an annual spending budget, though it rarely gets around to it. Instead, the government is usually funded through a mashup…
Blog
Costs of Unequal Treatment of Citizens by Abandoning Negative Rights for a Positive Rights Framework
To many classical liberals (or libertarians), it is primarily the individual’s right of self-defense that is delegated to a government. We cannot unilaterally commence the…
Letters
CEI Leads Coalition Letter to Department of Labor on Intermediate Bodies Rule
Dear Secretary Acosta: As free-market and conservative organizations concerned with protecting worker free choice and ensuring labor union officials are accountable to members, we urge…
News Release
CEI Praises FDA for Approving Lower Risk Cigarette Alternative
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today gave the green light to the marketing of new tobacco products manufactured by Philip Morris. The IQOS “Tobacco…
News Release
Free-Market Groups Oppose House Attempt to Reinstate Harmful Paris Treaty
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), joined by 16 organizations—including Heritage Action, FreedomWorks, and Americans for Limited Government—sent a letter today to the House of Representatives…
Blog
CEI Leads Coalition Urging Surface Transportation Board to Withdraw Proposed Switching Rule
Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) led a coalition of 20 other free market organizations urging the Surface Transportation Board (STB) to withdraw a harmful…
Blog
Will Reforming Consumer Finance Regulation Cause a Recession?
Will reforming consumer finance regulation cause a recession? That is the claim of a recent article in The Hill. Yet, the article provides little evidence to…
Letters
CEI Leads Coalition Urging Members of Congress to Oppose H.R. 9, the Climate Action Now Act
The undersigned organizations strongly urge you to oppose H. R. 9, the Climate Action Now Act, which if enacted would reverse President Trump’s wise decision…
Letters
CEI Leads Coalition Letter to STB on Competitive Switching Rule
Dear Chairman Begeman, Vice Chairman Fuchs, and Member Oberman, We, the undersigned, wish to congratulate and welcome you to your appointments. The Surface Transportation Board…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
While Washington’s “This Town” types geared up for the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, the rest of the country flocked to movie theaters for a much…
The Hill
Federal Reserve defies White House and Congress on Banking Regulation
President Trump and the Federal Reserve continue to clash over interest rates, but another simmering dispute concerns the regulatory burden the Federal Reserve and other…
Blog
New York City Enacts Its Own Green New Deal
New York City’s council passed the Climate Mobilization Act, a set of six bills, by a 45 to 2 vote on 18th April. Mayor Bill de Blasio signed…
Blog
White House Moves to Strengthen Information Quality Act
The White House Office of Management and Budget on April 24th sent a memo to heads of departments and agencies updating guidelines for implementing the Information Quality…
Blog
On Climate, Lindsey Graham Says GOP Ready to ‘Cross Rubicon’
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told reporters yesterday at an Earth Day event in Dallas that congressional Republicans are “ready to cross the Rubicon” on climate…
Blog
VIDEO: Government Should Not Regulate Social Media Content
Trends in social media have rocketed to the top of the national political agenda recently, whether in the desire of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) to…
Blog
How Julian Simon Defeats Thanos
“The universe is finite, its resources finite. If life is left unchecked, life will cease to exist.” With those simple words, the Marvel supervillain Thanos…
The Washington Examiner
Consumer Doom: Both Parties are Pushing Antitrust Rules as a 2020 Issue
After a two-decade lull following the Microsoft case, big antitrust enforcement cases are back in vogue. Both political parties are making antitrust regulation a 2020…
Blog
New Civil Liberties Alliance Sounds Alarm on Unconstitutional Government
The New Civil Liberties Alliance hosted a very interesting event this week, as part of its “Lunch and Law” speaker series, featuring remarks by Hudson…
Blog
Antitrust Regulation Turning into Campaign Issue
Both parties are making antitrust regulation a 2020 campaign issue. Neither President Trump nor most of the Democratic candidates are proposing improvements. Over at the…
Washington Examiner
Consumer doom: Both parties are pushing antitrust rules as a 2020 issue
After a two-decade lull following the Microsoft case, big antitrust enforcement cases are back in vogue. Both political parties are making antitrust regulation a…
Blog
CEI Leads Coalition Supporting Reformed Payday Loan Rule
Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute led a coalition of eighteen free market organizations in support of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s decision to rescind portions of…
Forbes
Here are the Next Executive Orders President Trump Should Issue on Regulatory Reform
What's next for oversight and streamlining of federal regulations? On April 11, 2019, the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) Acting Director Russell Vought issued…
Comment
CEI Leads Coalition Letter to CFPB Regarding Proposed Rule on Payday, Vehicle Title, and Certain High-Cost Installment Loans
Dear Director Kraninger, The undersigned organizations write in strong support of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection’s decision to rescind portions of the Payday, Vehicle…
Blog
Two-Tier Wage System Highlights Need for Labor Reform
Over the weekend, the eleven-day strike by more than 30,000 Stop & Shop employees ended. The grocery chain announced that it “has reached fair new…
Blog
Insights from James Otteson’s ‘Honorable Business’
I’ve been reading a new book on business ethics, “Honorable Business: A Framework for Business in a Just and Humane Society,” and it has some…
Inside Sources
Ideology Undermines Earth Day Goals
April 22 is the 49th anniversary of Earth Day as well as the former communist dictator Vladimir Ilyich Lenin’s 149th birthday. Is it a coincidence…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The Notre Dame cathedral in Paris caught fire and sustained heavy damage. The rebuilding will likely take years, though people began politicizing it almost instantly.
Blog
EPA Mercury Rule an Inappropriate Exercise of Regulatory Power
On Wednesday, I submitted comments on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposal to rescind its justification for the 2012 Mercury Air Toxics Standards (MATS) rule.
Blog
VIDEO: Johan Norberg on Resource Scarcity vs. Abundance
It’s an old argument: as population increases and we use up more of the earth’s natural resources, everything is become more scarce. Soon the pressures…
Blog
Blocking the T-Mobile-Sprint Merger: Competition, Rent-Seeking, and Uncertainty
Nationwide 5G networks are coming. They will expand possibilities for everything from smartphone applications to GPS to streaming video, and will enable new technologies that…
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Letter Supporting DOT on California High-Speed Rail Funding
We, the undersigned organizations, representing millions of taxpayers nationwide, appreciate your leadership and support your efforts to de-obligate $929 million in federal grants not yet…
News Release
McConnell Plan to Raise Nicotine Access to Age 21 Could Backfire
Citing health concerns about youth vaping, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) announced legislation to raise the nationwide minimum age to buy tobacco products from…
Comment
CEI Comments on the Mercury Rule
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) reconsideration of its 2016 Supplemental Finding regarding the agency’s justification for its…
Medium
The FDA’s Runaway Trolley Problem
If you’ve ever participated in a thought experiment, you know how fun that can be. The most famous is the Trolley Problem, entertainingly portrayed by…
Blog
Reformed Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Can Be Free-Market Regulator
Earlier this week, The New York Times Magazine rolled out another edition of the tired old trope of how former acting Director Mick Mulvaney “destroyed”…
News Release
DOJ Wrong to Intervene in Merger Between Sprint and T-Mobile
Today, the Wall Street Journal reported that antitrust enforcement staff at the Department of Justice have told T-Mobile and Sprint the proposed merger between the…