Forbes
Anatomy of an NPR Hatchet Job, Target: Oil & Gas
“On-The-Job Deaths Spiking As Oil Drilling Quickly Expands” screams a supposed National Public Radio exposé on the “terrible price” we’re paying for the fracking…
Blog
Why Workers Deserve the Employee Rights Act, Part 3: Paycheck Protection
In the first installment of “Why Workers Deserve the Employee Rights Act,” the topic was secret-ballot elections and how a private vote in a union…
Blog
CEI’s 2014 Unconstitutionality Index: 56 Regulations for Every Law
Every now and then one sees a cute article like this Los Angeles Times piece lamenting that Congress is "ineffective" because…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
66 new regulations, from school lunches to furnace fans.
Human Events
A top 10 list for Congress in 2014
I am no David Letterman, but I appreciate a good Top Ten list. As we enter 2014, it occurred to me that Congress could do…
News Release
CEI Will Score Senate Labor Vote Today
Washington, DC, Jan. 6, 2014 – The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) will score today’s vote in the U.S. Senate on the motion to proceed to…
Blog
Extending benefits would do more harm
Unemployment insurance extensions in the past five years have kept at least 600,000 people out of the labor force, because people tend to ride a…
USA Today
Extending Benefits Would Do More Harm.
Unemployment insurance extensions in the past five years have kept at least 600,000 people out of the labor force, because people tend to ride a…
Legal Brief
Michael Mann v. National Review, CEI, et al. – DC Superior Court Order staying proceedings pending Interlocutory Appeal
The Competitive Enterprise Institute received a letter on August 21, 2012, from an attorney representing Penn State University Professor Michael E. Mann that demands that…
Legal Brief
Michael Mann v. National Review, CEI, et al. – DC Superior Court Order denying Defendants’ Joint Motion to Certify Interlocutory Appeal
The Competitive Enterprise Institute received a letter on August 21, 2012, from an attorney representing Penn State University Professor Michael E. Mann that demands that…
Blog
Bogus Rationale for Obamacare Still Being Peddled Even after Study Debunked It
"More bad news for Obamacare and its proponents. A new study from Oregon shows that" expanded Medicaid coverage “increased–rather than decreased–both the number of folks…
Investor's Business Daily
Taxpayers Losers In Fiat-Chrysler Deal
And for what? Yes, they kept a U.S. company in business. But now it's an Italian company. This prompted John Berlau, a senior fellow at…
Blog
CEI Podcast for January 2, 2014: Rethinking Unemployment Insurance
With unemployment still painfully high more than five years after the financial crisis, Senior Fellow in Labor Policy Aloysius Hogan thinks that re-extending unemployment insurance…
Blog
Cataloging Washington’s Hidden Costs, Part 5: When Regulation Tramples Health and Safety
Act surprised...Show concern...Deny...Deny...Deny. —Anonymous What if anybody in power ever actually paid attention to the body count of federal regulation? We just finished another year…
Blog
Two Cheers for Tapered Quantitative Easing
Over at the Washington Times, I encourage the Fed to taper back the rest of the QE program, and point out that the Fed may…
Washington Times
Stop the money presses!
Leading up to Janet Yellen’s Jan. 6 confirmation vote, the Federal Reserve recently announced that it will taper back its bond-buying program, known as quantitative…
Blog
The Great Italian Auto Bailout — Courtesy of U.S. Taxpayers
At the beginning of 2014, Detroit may be bankrupt, but they're cheering the five-year-old U.S. auto bailout in Italy. That's because after being the beneficiary…
The Hill
Court weighs fate of net neutrality
Opponents of the net neutrality rules argue the FCC is stifling innovation by meddling in the marketplace. The agency “needs to…
Blog
2013 Ends with an 80,330-Page Federal Register and 3,659 Final Rules and Regulations
The Federal Register wrapped up 2013 with a third-highest count ever, of 80,330 pages. (The published version contains 80,462 pages but I net out blank…
Human Events
Big Government Is Over, If You Want it to Be Over
Forbes
2013: The Year The Progressive Narrative Collided With Reality
When it comes to crafting winning political narratives, progressives have a natural advantage over conservatives. That’s because progressives have a free hand to project rosy…
Blog
No, Legislative Fixes to Obamacare Weren’t Blocked by the GOP
As Obamacare's implementation went badly enough that it was mocked by comedians on late-night TV, a search for excuses began. The result was the now…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
74 new regulations, from non-toxic ammunition to shrimp electronic logbooks.
Forbes
We all need a fresh start in 2014
Another change? We need to stop the avalanche of regulations that are slowing our recovery. The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) reports that government agencies issued…
National Review
Maryland’s Low-Energy Chill
The increased cost of energy isn’t just a side effect of Maryland’s environmental agenda; for radical green policymakers, it’s the point, explains Myron Ebell, the…
Blog
A New Year of Regulation: Obama’s Record-Setting Federal Register
[caption id="attachment_72593" align="alignleft" width="168"] Duly Enacted Laws vs. Unaccountable Regulation. The Federal Register runs wild. The federal government spends heavily; it also regulates heavily.[/caption] The Federal…
Washington Times
Why anti-pesticide campaigns do unintended harm
Black spots on roses and flea bites on kittens; blight fallen petals and overwrought Britons. These are just a few unfavorable things associated with “green”…
Legal Brief
Michael Mann v. National Review, CEI, et al. – DC Court of Appeals order remanding the case
Blog
CEI Podcast for December 26, 2013: The Year in Review
Newsletter
CEI Today: Target data breach, greenhouse gas regulation, regulation roundup
Blog
Target Breach — Are Dodd-Frank “Swipe Fee” Price Controls to Blame?
Target wants you to know it is oh-so-sorry for any inconvenience its data SNAFU (as OpenMarket is a family blog, please look up the…
Newsletter
CEI Today: Santa capitalism, Volcker rule, nuclear power safety
Forbes
Obama to Health Insurance Companies: Merry Christmas. Now, Drop Dead.
Insurance is a complicated product. Even President Obama figured that out. Hundreds of highly trained actuaries spend thousands of hours assembling risk pools to determine premium levels,…
Blog
Union Spending against Right-to-Work Efforts
According to an Associated Press report, several states are eyeing labor law reforms to end the practice of forcing employees to pay union dues as…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
71 new regulations, from charitable donations to video programming for the blind.
Newsletter
CEI Today: Volcker rule, naughty regulations, Employee Rights Act
Daily Caller
The Volcker Rule is Obamacare for main street banks and their customers
You might think after the disastrous debut of HealthCare.gov and thousands of insurance cancellations, those who call themselves progressives might just have a little humility…
The American Spectator
Santa Capitalism
We should call it the “Great Fact,” argues University of Illinois at Chicago economist Deirdre McCloskey. “It” is the Industrial Revolution that, starting in Great…
Blog
Why Workers Deserve the Employee Rights Act, Part 2: Union Recertification
In Part 1 of "Why Workers Deserve the Employee Rights Act," the focus was on the ERA provision that mandates secret-ballot elections and how a…
Newsletter
CEI Today: Cell phones on planes, greenhouse gas regulations, Washington’s hidden costs
Blog
Volcker Rule Overshoots Wall Street to Hit Utah
You might think after the disastrous debut of HealthCare.gov and thousands of insurance cancellations, those who call themselves progressives might just have a little humility…
The Blaze
How the IRS Could Chill Political Speech by Redefining the Word ‘Candidate’
f adopted, such a rules change would be open to broad legal interpretation, said Hans Bader, senior attorney for the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a free…
Master Resource
Supreme Court Global Warming Case: What Legislative History Reveals about Congressional Intent
“The EPA acknowledges that the Timing Rule produces ‘absurd results’ that contravene congressional intent…. The Timing Rule clearly exceeds any discernible congressional intent…
CEI Planet
CEI Planet: September – October 2013
CEI Planet
CEI Planet: July – August 2013
CEI Planet
CEI Planet: May – June 2013
CEI Planet
CEI Planet: March – April 2013
Comment
Utility Air Regulatory Group v. EPA Senators’ Amicus Brief
Full Document Available in PDF…
Blog
BLS Data: Government Workers Miss Work 50 Percent More than Private Sector Workers
A blog post at buyhappiness.net cites recent Bureau of Labor Statistics data and reports that in 2012…
Blog
Cataloging Washington’s Hidden Costs, Part 4: The Costs of Poor Regulatory Sausage Making
In the first installment of “Cataloging Washington’s Hidden Costs,” the focus was the loss of liberty in…
Blog
CEI Podcast for December 18, 2013: The FDA Goes after 23andMe
The Food and Drug Administration recently banned 23andMe, a genetic testing service, from marketing its product to consumers. CEI Executive Director and Senior Fellow Gregory…
Newsletter
CEI Today: Non-browning apples, Employee Rights Act, IRS rule change
News Release
Senators Cite CEI Research in Supreme Court Amicus Brief
Washington, D.C., Dec. 18, 2013 – An amicus brief filed to the U.S. Supreme Court, on behalf of five U.S. Senators, argues that Congress…
USA Today
GOP fighting cellphone freedom
Should the federal government outlaw rudeness? Some senior Republican lawmakers seem to think so. Since 1991, the Federal Communications Commission has barred cellphone use on…
USA Today
Electronic surveillance capacity of state, local government creates strange bedfellows
There is growing bipartisan support in Congress for the USA Freedom Act, which would limit the bulk, suspicionless surveillance of Americans. While Congress considers the…
Forbes
Fed Readies Reverse Repo Hoping To Soak Up QE Cash
Everyone, it seems, loves asset inflation. What could be more satisfying than watching the value of your home, your stocks, and your 401(k) soar, especially…
CEI Planet
CEI Planet: January – February 2013
Blog
Why Workers Deserve the Employee Rights Act, Part 1: Secret Ballot Elections
In November, Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Representative Tom Price (R-Ga.) introduced the Employee Rights Act, a bill that strengthens federal labor law to protect…
Blog
IRS Threatens to Curb Criticism of IRS and Bureaucratic Wrongdoing by 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) Groups
The IRS recently proposed rules “limiting political speech" by nonprofit 501(c)(4) groups. In Orwellian fashion, the proposed rules seek to redefine non-partisan, non-election-related criticism of government abuses as…
Newsletter
CEI Today: Micro-unions, cross-state air pollution, and weekly regulation update
Comment
Comments to the Department of Agriculture on the Arctic Apple
Full Document Available in PDF We are a group of legal scholars and practicing attorneys who…
Daily Caller
Podesta’s White House return means a more aggressive green agenda
“Since the Republicans won control of the House in the 2010 elections, he has criticized the Obama White House for wasting time on legislation that…
Daily Caller
Children of the corn subsidies
The Competitive Enterprise Institute and Taxpayers for Common Sense support the Feinstein-Coburn Corn Ethanol Mandate Elimination Act of 2013.
USA Today
Rising sea levels torment Norfolk, Va., and coastal U.S.
Climate skeptics don't buy the global projections. "We don't know how much sea levels will rise or fall," says Myron Ebell, director of the Center…
Blog
NLRB General Counsel: Guidance on Micro-Unions is Coming
Last Friday, at the Cornell School of Industrial and Labor Relations in Manhattan, the National Labor Relations Board general counsel Richard Griffin said the Board…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
56 new regulations, from toddler beds to eagle permits.
Wall Street Journal
The Latest IRS Power Grab (Letter)
Mr. Smith rightly criticizes proposed IRS rules "limiting political speech" by nonprofit 501(c)(4) groups. Those rules restrict even truthful, nonpartisan criticism of IRS and bureaucratic…
Human Events
23 and Me for You and Me
My son’s birth is among my most treasured memories. I knew immediately his arrival had transformed my life. But, the joy of that memory comes…
Blog
BPA Junk Science Headaches
Could your affection for bottled water be responsible for your bout with migraines? Apparently so, if you believe the latest headlines about the chemical…
Human Events
Drowning In A Costly, Intrusive Federal Regulatory Flood
Earlier this week, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, which has a long history of highlighting Washington’s regulatory excess, said that during the first week of December,…
The American Spectator
The Legislature’s First Job Is Not to Legislate
Defenders of Sen. Harry Reid’s triggering of the “nuclear option,” ending the filibuster for all Executive Branch nominees save those to the Supreme Court, call…
The American Spectator
Experts: DOT probably has legal legs to ban calls
The libertarian Competitive Enterprise Institute offered a dissenting voice Thursday, calling it “clearly arbitrary and capricious” for DOT to ban cellphone calls under consumer protection…
Newsmax
Volcker Rule Is Just More Red Tape
Blog
Minimum Wage Increases Harm the Young, Unskilled, and Less Educated
Minimum wage increases eliminate some jobs. Real world examples abound. As a business owner explains: The minimum wage kills jobs. End of story. I am…
Blog
CEI Podcast for December 12, 2013: The Affordable Care Act’s Marriage Penalties
The Affordable Care Act's subsides and tax credits are structured in such a way as to cause thousands of dollars worth of penalties for many…
Letters
Economists’ Letter to FCC Chairman Wheeler on Competition
Full Document Available in PDF Introduction Congratulations on your confirmation…
Washington Examiner
Not-so-friendly skies: Deregulation didn’t fail, it was never really tried
Anderson said that, although the 1978 Airline Deregulation Act eliminated the Civilian Aeronautics Board, the DOJ attorneys to this day use the old CAB antitrust…
Washington Examiner
Fixing the nation’s leaky waterworks
Here’s a novel idea: Why not unleash the creative talents of America’s best scientists and engineers, and allow the products and technologies they develop to…
Politico
Anthony Foxx: DOT will consider banning cell phone calls on planes
The Competitive Enterprise Institute, a libertarian group, questioned the grounds for DOT’s move. CEI fellow Marc Scribner said the move “runs counter to legislative intent…
News Release
CEI Applauds FCC Efforts on Ending In-Flight Cell Phone Ban
Washington, DC, Dec. 12, 2013 – This afternoon, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) held an Open Meeting. Among other issues, the FCC indicated it would…
Blog
GOVERNMENT UNIONS BROKE – AND NOW MUST FIX – DETROIT
Government unions broke Detroit. And unions – over their most stringent objections – are going to play a significant part in fixing it.
Blog
The Volcker Winter Storm — Bad Rule, Worse Implementation
On a snowy day in Washington, several federal agencies packed some mean regulatory snowballs that will most likely overshoot their supposed destination of Wall Street…
Blog
Volcker Rule Curbs Useful, Profitable Proprietary Trading, Not Risky Lending
The government just approved a regulation called the Volcker Rule to curb proprietary trading by banks -- even though such trading did not cause the financial crisis,…
News Release
Volcker Rule Could Cause Financial Storm, Warn CEI Scholars
Washington, DC, Dec. 11, 2013 – Amid the snow that seemed to paralyze DC yesterday, bureaucrats issued a final regulation on Dodd-Frank’s Volcker Rule that…
Politico
Path to a successful spectrum auction requires focus
The Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Fred Campbell recently concluded that restrictions on the participation of large firms in previous FCC spectrum auctions have delayed the provision…
The Atlantic
How Pope Francis Misunderstands the World
Just how free the free market really is today is debatable. The United States is perceived as the paragon of free-market capitalism. And yet over…
McClatchy DC
Regulatory bullying? You bet your life
If companies failed in insurance pursuits, many people would suffer, but the financial system would not be affected in a major way. It is additionally…
Blog
Driving the Market out of the Marketplace of Ideas
Forbes
App Fatigue Sets In As The Digital Revolution Ages
The technology pendulum never stops swinging. Its rhythms create, then disrupt, then transform, delighting users while enriching innovators. When tech revolutions reach middle age innovators…
Blog
NLRB Ambush Elections Coming Soon
Yesterday, the National Labor Relations Board's savvy legal maneuver takes the labor agency one step closer to finalizing its ambush election regulation.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Refresh Pa. beer laws
For beer lovers in Pennsylvania, good news may be on the horizon. Laws on the books since the end of Prohibition that make it more…
The Hill
Sheldon Adelson’s futile war on online gambling
Billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson is not known for modesty. So it was fitting the recent announcement of his plans to push for a federal…
Washington Post
How Australia’s minimum wage differs from America’s (Letter)
Eugene Robinson [“An issue Democrats can win on,” op-ed, Dec. 7] argued that America’s minimum wage should be increased in part because it is lower…
The Diane Rehm Show
William Yeatman on the Diane Rehm Show
Blog
Busybodies in Congress Prepared to Re-Prohibit Voice Communications During Flight
After two decades with a ban on the books, the Federal Communications Commission is set to consider allowing transmitting mobile devices on aircraft. On…
Blog
Sugar — Congress’ Favorite Sweetener
The sugar lobby’s sweet contributions and their day-in-day-out lobbying means broad bipartisan support for continuing the U.S. sugar program in the 2013 farm bill, as…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
95 new regulations, from mad cow disease to falconry federalism.
Human Events
Don’t let the Nanny State ruin holiday feasts
In the musical “Oliver!” the opening scene features the protagonist and his band of merry miscreants crying, “Food, glorious food!” The orphans then proceed…
Blog
Fast-Track Trade Authority Is in the Works
It sounds like fast-track authority for trade deals is getting some traction, according to an article today in the Financial Times. The FT says that…
Fox News
Regulation Nation: Gov’t regs estimated to pound private sector with $1.8T in costs
A new report on the government's regulatory actions was released just before Thanksgiving, and it contains more than 3,300 rules -- which the Competitive Enterprise…