Blog
Update on American Airlines-US Airways Merger: Judge Approves American’s Bankruptcy Plan
Today, Judge Sean Lane of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York approved American Airlines’s reorganization plan to exit bankruptcy protection,…
Blog
Internet Tax Not A Popular Proposition, According to R Street/NTU Poll
Human Events
No Bipartisanship, Please
We’ve heard it a million times: What Washington needs is more bipartisanship, more cooperation among the parties … like the old days. To which I…
Human Events
Slow-Growth Policies Fuel Income Gap
The Competitive Enterprise Institute pegs the annual cost of environmental and other federal regulation at $1.8 trillion. A study cited by the U.S. Chamber of…
Human Events
UAW says most Chattanooga workers want union while opponents fear the worst, call for secret ballot
But, Matt Patterson, senior fellow for the Center for Economic Freedom at the Washington, D.C.-based Competitive Enterprise Institute, said he’s skeptical the UAW even has…
Science Insider
U.S. Science Laureate Bill Hits Roadblock
But Hart says that he’d like the bill’s supporters to clarify several provisions, including the number of laureates, length of service, and type of duties…
Washington Examiner
Examiner Editorial: Lengthy Senate report details EPA FOIA abuses
Jackson resigned from EPA in December 2012 after it became known the agency's inspector general had opened an investigation. Jackson has…
News Release
D.C. Mayor Rightly Vetoes Union-Backed Wage Bill
WASHINGTON, DC, Sept. 12, 2013 – Today, District of Columbia Mayor Vincent Gray vetoed a union-backed bill that would have levied an especially high minimum…
News Release
Kenosha Teachers Vote Down Union, Empowered by Wisconsin Labor Reforms
WASHINGTON, D.C., Sept. 12, 2013 – Today, teachers in Kenosha, Wis., voted to decertify their union, the Kenosha Education Association, by a margin of nearly…
Blog
CEI Podcast for September 11, 2013: Ronald Coase, 1910-2013
Blog
Korean Air and Asiana Airlines coupon settlement
At first glance, the Korean Air Passenger Settlement looks pretty good: $50 million in cash for class members. You have to dive very deep…
Human Events
Stand with Rand on Credit Union Freedom
This week, the nation’s credit unions, member-owned financial services groups, are taking their case to Capitol Hill. On many issues they face, conservatives and libertarians…
Blog
Paul and Udall Push Bipartisan Credit Union Business Lending Regulatory Reform
Today, the Credit Union National Association (CUNA) is launching its "Don't Tax Tuesday" in which credit unions and their supporters tweet members of Congress…
Legal Brief
Affordable Care Act Lawsuit – September 10 Plaintiffs’ Suggestion of Reassignment
Full Document Available in PDF Plaintiffs respectfully suggest that the Court voluntarily reassign this matter to another district judge pursuant to Local…
Legal Brief
Affordable Care Act Lawsuit – September 10 Plaintiffs’ Motion for Preliminary Injunction
Full Document Available in PDF Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 65, Plaintiffs respectfully move this Court for entry of an…
Legal Brief
Affordable Care Act Lawsuit – September 3 Government Reply in Support of Motion to Dismiss
Full Document Available in PDF The Affordable Care Act provides for premium tax credits that will assist millions of Americans in the…
Legal Brief
Affordable Care Act Lawsuit – August 9 Plaintiffs’ Default Motion Re: Summary Judgment
Full Document Available in PDF Plaintiffs respectfully move this Court for entry of an Order granting default judgment in their favor, because…
Legal Brief
Affordable Care Act Lawsuit – August 9 Plaintiffs’ Opposition to Motion to Dismiss
Full Document Available in PDF The Government’s desperation is palpable. Throwing everything and the kitchen sink at this suit, the Government hopes…
Legal Brief
Affordable Care Act Lawsuit – July 29 Government Motion to Dismiss
Full Document Available in PDF The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“ACA” or “Act”) includes a series of measures that will…
Blog
D.C. Agrees to Costly Project Labor Agreement
It is well-documented that Project Labor Agreements drive up costs, by some estimates up to 12 to 18 percent. This is because PLA's subvert competitive…
Blog
August and September update
We’ve been very busy! In Fraley v. Facebook, the district court adopted our theory of attorneys’ fees (zero value for injunctive relief and…
Blog
Before Net Neutrality Eats the World (Part 15): Can We Please End This. Please.
Today, Monday, September 9, 2013, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear oral arguments in Verizon’s challenge…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
58 new regulations, from foreign tax credits to growing dates in Riverside County, California.
PC Mag
Verizon, FCC Face Off Over Net Neutrality: What You Need to Know
The Center for Democracy and Technology argued that Verizon's suit is "dangerous." "By trying to paint this case as raising a constitutional issue, Verizon hopes…
Daily Caller
Obama’s EPA Has a Culture of Secrecy and Evasion
Jackson’s alias account was discovered by Competitive Enterprise Institute Senior Fellow Chris Horner, who learned of the existence of the alias email while…
Washington Examiner
EPA stalling policy to prevent politicizing science
Whether or not EPA has a policy in place won't matter until the agency is transparent about the data behind its science and decisions, said…
Forbes
President Obama’s ‘Syrialoquy’: To Bomb, Or Not To Bomb
To bomb, or not to bomb, that is the suggestion; Whether ’tis nobler in the polls to suffer The Slings and Arrows of…
Forbes
Betting on the Apocalypse
ONE day in October 1990, the iconoclastic economist Julian L. Simon walked out to get the mail at his house in the Washington suburb of…
Blog
SEIU Celebrates Siphoning Millions from Home Care Providers
A SEIU Healthcare Illinois-Indiana press release announced an event to celebrate the 30th anniversary of its first organizing win over home care providers. According to…
Blog
Before Net Neutrality Eats the World (Part 14): What Should Congress Do?
(Note: On September 9, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear oral arguments in Verizon’s challenge of…
SNL
Free markets group bashes Dow’s anti-LNG export campaign through song
Using Woody Guthrie's folk song "This Land Is Your Land" as the tune, the CEI's Marlo Lewis Jr. created a political satire video titled "This…
National Review
Truly Global Free Trade
Co-written by research associate Alex McHugh As the U.S. and several Asian Pacific nations resume discussion this week over the the Trans-Pacific Partnership…
Blog
Longshore Union’s Exit from AFL-CIO Illustrates Bad Feature of U.S. Labor Law
The largest longshoremen’s union in the West Coast has decided to leave the AFL-CIO. While this may be an internecine organized labor fight, it…
Blog
CEI Podcast for September 5, 2013: A New Energy Drink Scare?
Fellow in Consumer Policy Studies Michelle Minton puts a scary new study about energy drinks and children into its proper, non-scary context.
Blog
Louisville Subsidizes Union Activity
A plague on taxpayer funds known as union release time infects nearly every state and municipal government coffers. This inappropriate government expenditure/practice excuses public employees…
Blog
Before Net Neutrality Eats the World (Part 13): What FCC Should Do Now
(Note: On September 9, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear oral arguments in Verizon’s challenge of…
News Release
‘Richard Windsor’ To Testify Before Congress
WASHINGTON, Sept. 5 – Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute commends the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., for calling…
Fox News
The suspicious science behind ‘happiness’ surveys
Columbia University Professor Jeffrey Sachs, perhaps the world’s leading “sustainability” guru, has a favorite country when talking about progress: the tiny mountain Kingdom of Bhutan. …
Breitbart
Study Discovers Problems With Parenting, Not Energy Drinks
More than half of all calls to Poison Control resulting from energy drinks involve accidental exposure by children under age six, according to a new…
Blog
New Estimate: Public Pensions Underfunded by $4.1 Trillion
One of the challenges in addressing the underfunding of public pensions is determining how big the funding gaps are. Estimates vary because of disagreement over…
Blog
Before Net Neutrality Eats the World (Part 12): Why Net Neutrality Threatens Homeland Security and Cybersecurity
(Note: On September 9, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear oral arguments in Verizon’s challenge of…
The Hill
Free-market group riffs on Woody Guthrie in gas export push
CEI, a think tank and advocacy group, says there’s a serious message behind the satirical video and song. “With what right does Dow seek to…
News Release
Free-Market Group Sings Out Against Dow Anti-Gas Export Campaign
WASHINGTON, D.C, Sept. 4, 2013 – Dow Chemical has launched an aggressive campaign to get federal regulators to interfere with natural gas exports. In response,…
Blog
Scholars React to President’s Call to Shrink Law School from Three Years to Two
We earlier discussed (and agreed with) President Obama’s suggestion that law schools cut their length of study to two years from the current three…
Newsletter
CEI Weekly: Measuring Happiness
Blog
Before Net Neutrality Eats the World (Part 11): The Inappropriateness of Compulsory Transparency
(Note: On September 9, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear oral arguments in Verizon’s challenge of…
Newsletter
CEI Today: Obamacare prompts Moveon.org confession, Big Labor payoff, plus happiness surveys, energy drinks and Net Neutrality in court
Blog
Ronald Coase, Nobel Prize-Winning Economist, Dies at 102; CEI Releases Interview Footage From 2004
Ronald Coase, the University of Chicago economist who won the 1991 Nobel “for his discovery and clarification of the significance of transaction costs and…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
81 new regulations, from “shared responsibility payments” to Segelflugzeugbau sailplanes.
News Release
Ronald Coase Dies at 102; CEI Releases Interview Footage of the Nobel-Winning Economist
WASHINGTON, D.C., September 3, 2013 – Ronald Coase, who won the 1991 Nobel prize in economics for his work on transaction costs and property rights,…
Human Events
Entrepreneurial Immigrants: America’s Lifeblood
It’s a story as American as apple pie: An immigrant comes to the United States, starts a business and becomes the proud owner of a…
Human Events
Volkswagen and UAW Are Getting Cozier, but Will They Ultimately Match Up?
The UAW also remains staunchly opposed over any aims in Chattanooga by politicians in Tennessee, a conservative redoubt where much of the opposition to the Detroit…
Human Events
Europe’s economy needs a real dose of pro-market reform
Recession has been eradicated in Europe. Hooray! Or at least, that’s what recent headlines and grandstanding from political leaders would have you believe. The…
Forbes
Ronald Coase Was The Greatest Of The Many Great University Of Chicago Economists
Ronald Coase (1910-2013), the greatest of the Chicago School economists in my view, died this week. Yet, his work lives on. If it gains the…
Politico
Also in Court News – Mann Defamation Continues
ALSO IN COURT NEWS — MANN DEFAMATION CASE CONTINUES: A D.C. Superior Court judge on Friday shot down a request by National Review Online to…
Politico
VW and UAW meet over U.S plant, report says
Critics argue that the union’s bargaining style is partly to blame for the recent struggles of Detroit’s automakers. One anti-union group, the Competitive Enterprise Institute,…
Citation
Observers say Binz nomination in doubt in light of unprecedented attention and attacks
William Yeatman of the conservative free-market Competitive Enterprise Institute said that Binz’s work with the Colorado PUC raised concerns, including his actions in support of…
Blog
MoveOn admits: “[I]f younger, healthier people don’t participate, then costs will skyrocket and Obamacare will fail.”
MoveOn.org yesterday sent me an appeal asking for $5 to help fund a $250,000 social media campaign supporting ObamaCare targeted to reach young adults. Here’s…
Blog
Big Labor Public Outrage Pays Dividends
In what should not be much of a surprise, the Obama administration is looking to quell labor leaders complaints over Obamacare by offering them taxpayer…
Blog
Before Net Neutrality Eats the World (Part 10): Who’s Discriminating Online?
(Note: On September 9, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear oral arguments in Verizon’s challenge of…
Heartlander
Lisa Jackson Hires Lawyer for Email Concealment Fiasco
The agency and its previous head have still breathed easy despite months of inquiries andFreedom of Information Act requests from Chris Horner of the Competitive…
Heartlander
Judge refuses to toss climate scientist Mann’s defamation lawsuit
Mann sued the National Review and the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), a conservative advocacy group, in 2012 over their blog posts that alleged his research…
Heartlander
Happiness is overrated, says Competitive Enterprise Institute
Using happiness surveys for political purposes is flawed, according to a study from the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), a libertarian thinktank CEI accuses happiness indices…
WorldMag
Signs and Wonders
Are you happy? One problem with surveys such as the one above is that they measure factors irrelevant to the outcome, and ignore factors vital…
Blog
CEI Podcast for August 29, 2013: Consequences of Net Neutrality
Have a listen here. In 2010, the FCC issued regulations to implement net neutrality. The resulting legal challenge is about to hit the D.C.
Blog
By Opposing Airline Merger, Obama Risks Wrath of Powerful Unions
When the Department of Justice unexpectedly filed suit to block the merger between US Airways and American Airlines, I noted that unions representing various workers…
Blog
Before Net Neutrality Eats the World (Part 9): How to Expand Consumer Choice and Access to Content
(Note: On September 9, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear oral arguments in Verizon’s challenge of…
Study
What Is the Happiness Lobby?
Blog
Honoring Entry-Level Positions
Today, as has been publicized for weeks now, fast-food workers across the country are expected to walk off the their jobs. The union organized movement…
The Hill
D.C. Abuzz About Energy Drinks
America’s politicians and media love a good public panic. And right now they’re having a field day touting the supposed dangers associated with energy drinks.
Huffington Post
Don’t Let Entrepreneurs Become a Casualty of the Immigration Impasse
Eberhard Anheuser came to America as a soap and candle maker in 1842. When he died, his company had pioneered the pasteurization of beer. Marcus…
Huffington Post
Activists and workers protest minimum wage and working conditions at fast food restaurants across Boston
Critics of the fast food protest movement say that the minimum wage was never meant to support a family and that the government should not…
Huffington Post
Inside the Beltway: Regulating the Gun Relics
We’re touchy-feely on a global level. Several large scale “happiness” indexes have emerged in recent years from the United Nations and other sources, measuring the…
News Release
Are “Happiness” Surveys a Farce?
Reuters
No circuit split on charity-only settlements: Facebook, Public Citizen
Reuters discusses CCAF's case which objects to a settlement from a class action lawsuit against Facebook. In a brief filed Thursday with the Supreme Court,…
Blog
Before Net Neutrality Eats the World (Part 8): The Essential Elements of Non-Destructive Rulemaking
(Note: On September 9, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear oral arguments in Verizon’s challenge of…
Study
America Still Needs a True Entrepreneurship Visa
Immigrant entrepreneurs have long helped drive America’s economy. However, bureaucratic restrictions make coming to America to start a new business extremely difficult, and the current…
Reuters
Unsettled Science
A superior court judge in the District of Columbia thinks she knows better, last month using the “settled science” principle to side with Penn State…
News Release
America Needs More Immigrant Entrepreneurs
WASHINGTON, D.C., August 28, 2013 – As Labor Day approaches, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) is spotlighting one of the hardest working groups of…
Blog
Playing Politics with Public Pensions
Many public pension plans around the nation are severely underfunded. The 2008 financial crisis, which wiped out many pension investments, has focused the public’s and…
Blog
Lobbyists at the State Public Trough
Who is a public employee? The answer to that should be simple: Someone who works directly for a government entity. But in 20 states, the…
Blog
Historians Should Learn the Economic Way of Thinking
Simon Schama is one of the world’s great historians. Indeed, I am currently having my children watch his magisterial “History of Britain,” and they are…
Blog
Before Net Neutrality Eats the World (Part 7): Mandatory Dumb Pipes? But Why Sacrifice Genius?
(Note: On September 9, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear oral arguments in Verizon’s challenge of…
Blog
Union Special Privilege Under Scrutiny
In response to a Miami Herald report, a Miami-Dade County Commissioner is sponsoring legislation to eliminate or reduce the practice of allowing government employees…
Credit Union Times
Flawed Durbin Ruling Boosts Fed’s Odds:
Since U.S. District Judge Richard Leon issued his shocking decision on July 31 that called for even more draconian price controls under…
Fox News
DOJ Suits Against Airline Merger Further Alienates Unions
“It’s going further than just a few unions that really don’t represent a lot of people,” Marc Scribner, a transportation policy expert with Washington-based Competitive…
Real Clear Policy
The Feds Should Stay Out of the CBS Blackout
From Los Angeles to New York, 3 million Americans in eight U.S. cities haven't been able to watch CBS on cable for weeks, because of…
Study
EPA Overreach: Higher Cost, Less Energy, Greater Risk
Full Document Available in PDF Since President Barack Obama took office in 2009, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a suite…
Newsletter
CEI Today: Court NLRB ruling, why China nixed Kyoto emissions limits, and Sept 9 net neutrality in court
Blog
Before Net Neutrality Eats the World (Part 6): Does “Market Failure” Demand Neutrality Regulation?
(Note: On September 9, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear oral arguments in Verizon’s challenge of…
Blog
President Obama: Cut Law School from Three Years to Two
President Obama, a lawyer who once was a lecturer at the University of Chicago, recently urged law schools to reduce the length of study from three years…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
80 new regulations, from hunting migratory birds to grading avocados.
Tulsa Today
EPA settlement on Regional Haze more costly
William Yeatman of the Competitive Enterprise Institute said the following: “PSO’s strategy to close two coal plants decades early is certainly the best deal for…
Human Events
The EPA Doesn’t Have to Tell Anyone Anything, Or Does It?
I am the new president of the Competitive Enterprise Institute – also known as the feistiest think tank in D.C. – and the newest contributor…
Newsletter
CEI Weekly: Climate Change Alarmists Say Warming Will Start Wars
Newsletter
CEI Weekly: Former EPA Administrator Hires Lawyer
Blog
New Mexico Court: Go Into Business, Lose Your First Amendment Rights
In Elane Photography v. Willock, the New Mexico Supreme Court ruled yesterday that a wedding photographer violated the New Mexico Human Rights Act by…
Blog
Big Labor versus the Obama Administration
In the 2012 federal election cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, 91 percent of labor unions campaign funds went to Democrats. One would…
Blog
Before Net Neutrality Eats the World (Part 5): The Fallacies Motivating Net Neutrality
(Note: On September 9, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear oral arguments in Verizon’s challenge of…
Edmond Sun
State leaders decry EPA haze regulations
The EPA has been hurting the coal industry since 2009 with senseless regulations, said William Yeatman, assistant director of the Center for Energy & Environment…