Blog
Bailout Suggests It’s Time to Rethink Multiemployer Pensions
President Biden announced last Thursday that the government would give $36 billion to bail out the multiemployer Teamsters Central States Pension Fund. It is…
Blog
DOE’s Press Release on Federal Building Energy Standards Is Inaccurate, Misleading, and Unserious
The Department of Energy (DOE) last week released the pre-publication version of a proposed rule to “establish energy performance standards for the construction of…
Citation
CEI’s Kent Lassman Joins Ricochet’s Giving Ventures Podcast
CEI President Kent Lassman joins Ricochet’s Giving Ventures podcast to discuss regulatory reforms that make energy more affordable and accessible to everyone. Listen here: https://ricochet.com/podcast/giving-ventures/energy-policy-that-works/…
Blog
Agencies Are Limited in Which Congressional Power They Can Exercise
Can unelected federal bureaucrats force people to hire police to ensure that the law is complied with—even if Congress never said anything about hiring cops…
Giving Ventures
PODCAST: CEI’s Kent Lassman Joins Giving Ventures
CEI President Kent Lassman joins Giving Ventures to discuss areas for energy policy reform. Click here to read more.
Wall Street Journal
The Meaning of the Bankman-Fried Indictment
The Wall Street Journal cites Senior Fellow John Berlau on the Sarbanes-Oxley law: “Earlier this year John Berlau and Josh Rutzick wrote in the Journal on the…
Blog
The Federal Trade Commission Is in Dire Need of an Intervention
In recent years, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has become increasingly aggressive in its antitrust actions and policies. This expansion will be harmful to American…
Blog
New Unfunded Federal Mandates on State and Local Governments Could Spark Regulatory Reform
Substantial upticks in final and proposed regulation affecting small business beyond that seen already in the Biden administration appear likelier than not. A…
Blog
FTX Hearings Should Probe Fraud Charges and the SEC’s Misplaced Priorities
In the wake of the arrest of and charges of fraud against Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced founder and former CEO of the FTX…
News Release
November Inflation Less Bad Than Before, but the Fed Should Stay Focused on It
The latest consumer price index (CPI) released today by the Labor Department revealed that inflation, while still high, has been slowing as of November. That…
DJ Journal
NLRB Doesn’t Want Workers to Hear Both Sides on Unions
Amazon isn’t the only corporation to face such charges. Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz was hit in October for comments regarding unions, indicating that the…
Inside Sources
NLRB Doesn’t Want Workers to Hear Both Sides on Unions
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Letter Rejecting Building American Energy Security Act of 2022
Dear Majority Leader Schumer, Minority Leader McConnell, Speaker Pelosi, and Minority Leader McCarthy: The undersigned organizations write to express our strong opposition to Senator Joe…
Blog
Conversations from COP27: Kent Lassman Interview Series
CEI President Kent Lassman attended the annual COP27 conference in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt as a non-governmental observer, formally the 27th meeting of the Conference…
Blog
Living in Capitalism: The Fat of the Land
Some of capitalism’s critics like to depict a market economy as a ruthless system in which making a living and paying expenses is inherently (or…
Blog
Does Artificial Intelligence Have a Statist Bias?
I recently asked the ChatGPT AI to “write an essay critiquing the Biden administration’s trade policy.” This is what I got:…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
A former president called for terminating the U.S. Constitution. Socialism failed again, this time in Peru. Congress passed a bill to protect…
USA Today
America needs the nuclear option to keep our homes warm – and to fight climate change
In early November, the U.S. Department of Energy chose Westinghouse to build a new, much-needed nuclear-power plant, one that will employ “the most advanced light…
Barrons
Opinion: Two App Stores Don’t Make a Monopoly
Elon Musk and others’ complaints about the fees Apple and Google ‘s App Stores charge developers are putting pressure…
Blog
Gas Prices Are Lower than a Year Ago: What Does that Mean for Inflation?
Even with inflation near 40-year highs, gas prices are lower than a year ago, and not just in real, inflation-adjusted terms. They’re lower even…
Blog
COP27: CEI’s Kent Lassman Interviews Rep. Miller
CEI President Kent Lassman attended the annual COP27 conference in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt as a non-governmental observer, formally the 27th meeting of the Conference…
Blog
COP27: CEI’s Kent Lassman Interviews Rep. Palmer
CEI President Kent Lassman attended the annual COP27 conference in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt as a non-governmental observer, formally the 27th meeting of the Conference…
Blog
Regulatory Reform in Mississippi
Washington isn’t the only place that needs regulatory reform. States have their own excesses to deal with. To that end, our friends at the Mississippi…
Blog
COP27: CEI’s Kent Lassman Interviews Rep. Cloud
CEI President Kent Lassman attended the annual COP27 conference in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt as a non-governmental observer, formally the 27th meeting of the Conference…
National Review
ESG Isn’t Going Away Anytime Soon
While the “Red Wave” never emerged in this November’s midterm elections, the issues that have riled up conservative voters the most in the past two years…
Blog
Quick Observations on NDAA in Light of the Biden “Whole-of-Government” Agenda
Across the board, the Biden administration’s policies call for agencies to “prioritize action on climate change in their policy-making and budget processes, in their…
Blog
COP27: CEI’s Kent Lassman Interviews Rep. Weber
CEI President Kent Lassman attended the annual COP27 conference in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt as a non-governmental observer, formally the 27th meeting of the Conference…
Blog
Setting a Baseline for Proposed Rules Affecting Small Business
In what way are proposed rules affecting small business rising or falling, and should policy makers be on guard? The answer to the second part…
Blog
COP27: CEI’s Kent Lassman Interviews Rep. Curtis
CEI President Kent Lassman attended the annual COP27 conference in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt as a non-governmental observer, formally the 27th meeting of the Conference…
Blog
A Surge in Small Business Burdens May Propel Regulatory Reform
Given heavy post-COVID spending and regulation, sentiments against expanding government have not been as strong as those in favor of Washington’s growth. It remains…
National Review
Antitrust’s Cloudy Crystal Ball
Even in the wake of Meta’s biggest mass layoff ever and a $71 billion loss this year, antitrust regulators around the world are peering into crystal…
Blog
Will the Second Chapter of the Renewable Fuel Standard Be Worse than the First?
Enacted in 2005 and expanded in 2007, the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) requires that specified amounts of biofuels like ethanol and biodiesel be added to…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The World Cup is underway in Qatar and the labor market had another good month. Meanwhile, agencies issued new regulations ranging from canola oil jet…
Blog
Some Climate-Related Items that Recently Caught My Eye
Manhattan Contrarian Francis “Buddy” Menton hit two homers this week. In “Don’t Be So Sure the Climate Extremists Have Won,” Menton offers hopeful words…
Blog
More on Moore: A History of Direct Taxes and their Application to Moore v. United States
Many politicians, such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), advocate taxes on wealth. These taxes are easy to abuse, which is why the Founders placed…
Blog
Retro Review: George Selgin, Less Than Zero: The Case for a Falling Price Level in a Growing Economy (Institute of Economic Affairs, 1997)
This year, inflation reached levels not seen in 40 years. The Federal Reserve spent most of 2022 trying to undo its runaway money creation in…
News Release
Job Gains in November 2022 Amid Inflation, Economic Problems: CEI Analysis
The U.S. economy added 263,000 jobs in November while the unemployment rate held steady at 3.7 percent, according to the Labor Department. CEI experts break…
News Week
Climate Policies Not Based on Market Principles Will Fail
Financial flows and trading markets were high on the agenda at COP27, the United Nations‘ latest climate conference. Unfortunately, economic rationality was not, as the…
CEI Planet
CEI Planet Winter 2022
News Release
Fed Should Do More to Fight Inflation with Interest Rate Increases
The Federal Reserve Chairman today confirmed that further interest rate increases are likely, maybe as soon as December. CEI economy expert Ryan Young says…
News Release
House Premature on Rail Strike Intervention: CEI Analysis
The House today voted today on a resolution aimed at averting an impending strike by freight rail workers on December 9 – over a…
National Review
Senate, Forget about Rolling Back the Government Takeover of Health Care
Elections have consequences. Republicans’ failure to capture the U.S. Senate means that the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions — known as the HELP…
Wall Street Journal
House Approves Imposing Railroad Labor Deal, Paid Sick Leave Measure
The White House said Mr. Biden broadly supports providing more sick leave for rail workers, but he opposes measures that could slow down passage of…
Fox 26 News
Some states still delivering final round of stimulus payments as inflation lingers
Blog
Biden Hits the Brakes on Possible Railroad Strike
President Biden’s call on Monday for Congress to intervene in contract negotiations between railroad workers and the industry to prevent a strike is…
Blog
Why Choke Point Should Bar Gruenberg from Being FDIC Chair
Tomorrow morning, the Senate Banking Committee will hold a hearing on President Biden’s nomination of Marty Gruenberg to once again serve as Chair of the…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
We hope everyone enjoyed Thanksgiving and/or Black Friday. Meanwhile, agencies issued new regulations ranging from nuclear drug tests to food tracing. On to the data:…
City Journal
End the Vaccine Mandates
One year ago, the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued an interim final rule requiring 15 types of health-care facilities that…
DC Journal
How Civil Forfeiture Makes It Harder for Cops to Do Their Jobs
Every year, law enforcement officers seize billions of dollars in cash and property from the public. Mostly, these seizures take place without any proof of…
The New York Post
Biden Wastes Billions on COVID Boosters No One Wants
When it comes to wasting money, the Biden administration has few peers. Earlier in the year, Team Biden re-purposed billions of dollars to buy 170…
Net Zero Watch
Video: Mario Loyola Joins Net Zero Watch to Discuss COP27
Senior Fellow Mario Loyola joined Net Zero Watch to discuss COP27 and international climate policy.
Blog
Ninth Circuit Refuses to Reconsider Allowing Wealth Taxes
Moore v. United States—a case in which CEI represents the Moore family—is likely to be the most important tax case of the 21st century. Yesterday’s…
Fox News
5 Reasons to drill in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge instead of draining petroleum reserve
In response to continued high gasoline prices, President Joe Biden recently announced an extension of withdrawals of about 1 million barrels per day from the Strategic Petroleum…
Blog
New Angles on Finance and Faith
I recently had the pleasure of making my way down to Lynchburg, Virginia, to the campus of Liberty University to attend the Networking the…
Citation
Court showdown looming on Elizabeth Warren’s Wall Street-policing agency
Blog
Somebody Better Hit the Brakes Soon in Railway Dispute
Three railroad unions have now voted to reject a contract negotiated by the Presidential Emergency Board (PEB) that had been accepted by eight other…
Comment
CEI Comments on Proposed Rulemaking in the Matter of Trade Regulation Rule on Commercial Surveillance and Data Security
Introduction On behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), I respectfully submit the following comments in response to the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) advanced notice…
Blog
This Thanksgiving Biden Pardons Poultry, Plucks Public with Spending and Regulation
Another year is flying by, and each time as I await the ever-delayed fall edition of the Unified Agenda of federal regulations I enjoy taking…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The 2022 Federal Register surpassed 70,000 pages on Friday, and is on pace for 79,617 pages. The first Artemis moon mission rocket launched. The…
National Review
COP27 Cables: Cash, Promises, and Absurdity
As was the case for the COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland, I’m filing cables on the annual United Nations–led climate-change confab. This year, COP27,…
News Release
Biden CFPB Asks Supreme Court to Review Ruling on Its Unconstitutionality
The Biden administration has moved to appeal an October court ruling against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), a ruling that invalidated controversial restrictions on…
American Liberty
What the FTX Collapse Tells Us About Regulators and ESG
First, regulators often can’t stop investors from fraud. Second, companies that work closely with regulators often do so for their own benefit. Third, and perhaps…
National Review
Conversations about Forced Scarcity, COP27 Finds Its Hero
The processes internal to the COP27 negotiations are far behind schedule to produce any consensus on tough issues such as reparations, but attendees found a…
Blog
Could China’s Status as a Developing Nation in Climate Treaties Finally Be Coming to an End?
At the 27th Conference of the Parties (COP27) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) currently underway in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, representatives…
Blog
Climategate 2.0: EPA’s New Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases Report
When the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week proposed to adopt more aggressive methane emission standards for the oil and gas sector, it also…
National Review
COP27 Cables: China and Other Evasions
TL;DR Tuesday’s theme of the day was energy, which is a delicious irony considering how much of the COP27 discussion focuses on how to limit…
Blog
Gensler Fiddled with ESG and Power Grabs while FTX Burned
When asked on CNBC about the implosion of crypto exchange FTX, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler turned the focus away from the…
National Review
COP27 Cables: Reality Bites and the Gobbledygook of Nonbinding Goals
As was the case for the COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland, I’m filing cables on the annual United Nations–led climate-change confab. This year, COP27,…
Blog
Regulation Population Update: Checking in on Code of Federal Regulations Statistics
In a recent post we noted that, while the online Federal Register database depicts 3,257 final rules for 2021, the 73,000-page Federal Register’s count actually…
News Release
FTX Crypto Problems Reveal SEC Shortcomings, As Well: CEI Analysis
The current collapse of cryptocurrency company FTX has exposed another festering problem with how the industry is being regulated, says CEI Senior Fellow John Berlau:…
Reason
Permitting Hell vs. Climate Hell at COP27
Competitive Enterprise Institute Senior Fellow Mario Loyola proceeded during the questions and answers session to elegantly puncture the sunny “stated policies” predictions of rapid renewable energy…
YouTube
CEI’s Jessica Melugin Joins Fox Business to Discuss Elon Musk and FTX
Blog
The Unfairness of the FTC’s Policy Statement Regarding the Scope of Unfair Methods of Competition
The latest in a stream of regulatory dark matter is the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) November 10, 2022 “Policy Statement Regarding the Scope…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The midterm elections happened, and most of us (sorry, Georgia) are finally free of misleading, scaremongering political ads. Inflation slowed down slightly. Meanwhile,…
Lars Larson
Facebook Learns The Lesson: Go Woke, Go Broke!
Inside Sources
Why the CFPB Is at Death’s Door
President Reagan once said, “Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we’ll ever see on…
The New York Post
Team Biden’s Extending the COVID Emergency Again — to Expand the Welfare State
It’s official. Despite President Biden’s recent admission that the pandemic is over, his team will extend the COVID-19 public health emergency through at least April…
Newt's World
Audio: Jessica Melugin Discusses Twitter and Facebook layoffs with Newt Gingrich
Director for the Center for Technology and Innovation Jessica Melugin joined the Newt’s World podcast to discuss the recent Twitter and Facebook layoffs and what’s…
News Release
Biden Administration Proposes New Methane Rule that Will Harm Domestic Energy Production, Raise Prices
The Environmental Protection Agency announced a proposed rule today mandating reductions in methane from fossil fuel production. President Biden announced the proposed rule during a…
Blog
Not Your Grandfather’s Bank Branch
What should financial services do? And how should they look like going forward as they try to serve more people? Some presenters are the recent…
Blog
Who’s Not Buying Electric Vehicles? Single Vehicle Households, for One
Proponents of electric vehicles (EVs) have little to say about the one-third of American households that own only a single car or truck. That isn’t…
Blog
October Inflation Slightly Improves: Time for Less Politics and More Policy
Thank goodness the election is over. One of the frustrating parts of midterm season was that many people were more interested in how inflation would…
Blog
Why Cops Should Be Chasing the Bad Guys, Not the Big Bucks
A recent episode of Archer featured a dialogue between two FBI agents, both riding on jet skis, chasing a wrongdoer’s boat. Agent…
Study
Memoirs of a Prosecutor
Foreword Viewers who have seen the classic TV detective show Dragnet will recall the lines that introduced each episode: “The story you are about to…
Law & Liberty
Capitalism’s Cure for Economic Sins
Philosopher and business ethics expert James Otteson of the University of Notre Dame wants to save you from the error of your ways, and by…
Blog
We Need to Pay More Attention to AI
Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the most important emerging technologies today. It has the potential to revolutionize many industries and sectors, including health care,…
American Viewpoints
AUDIO: Senior Fellow Ryan Young Joins American Viewpoints
Senior Fellow Ryan Young reacts to President Biden’s announcement that his administration is going to address “junk fees” as part of his effort to lower…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The Federal Reserve raised the federal funds rate again, though it remains less than the rate of inflation. Employment increased by 261,000 in…
Review Journal
EDITORIAL: The unbelievably high cost of government regulations
News Release
CEI and Other Litigants File Brief Challenging Agency Authority to Regulate Emissions
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) and other litigants involved in Texas v. EPA recently filed an opening brief with the D.C. Circuit Court…
Letters
Climate Crisis Select Committee Coalition Letter
Dear Leader McCarthy, We, the undersigned organizations, write to urge you to disband the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis when Republicans take back control…
News Release
US Economy Added Jobs in October, but Unemployment Remains High – Signs of Cooling
The U.S. added 261,000 jobs in October, while unemployment ticked up to 3.7 percent, according to data released today by the Labor Department. That’s more…
National Review
The Supreme Court Gets Another Chance to Rein in the Administrative State
The Constitution vests its executive power in the president of the United States. But in the 1935 case of Humphrey’s Executor v. U.S., the Supreme Court ruled…
Legal Brief
CEI et al. Opening Brief in CEI v. EPA
CERTIFICATE AS TO PARTIES, RULINGS, AND RELATED CASES Pursuant to Circuit Rule 28, petitioners American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, Clean Fuels Development Coalition, Competitive Enterprise …
Blog
Federal Reserve Raises Interest Rate; Uncertainty Strengthens Case for a Policy Rule
As expected, the Federal Reserve raised the federal funds rate by 0.75 percentage points coming out of this week’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC)…
Blog
A Dose of Reality Over “Zero-Emissions” Electric Vehicles
Far too many journalists sound like cheerleaders when the topic is electric vehicles (EVs). That’s why RealClear Investigations’ Zero Emissions From Electric Vehicles? Here’s…
The Washington Times
Supreme Court Weighs Foreign Account Fines
The Washington Times cites General Counsel Dan Greenberg on IRS plans to add personnel and resources: Dan Greenberg, general counsel at Competitive…
The Washington Times
Supreme Court Weighs Foreign Account Fines
YouTube
CEI’s Jessica Melugin Joins Fox Business to Discuss Elon Musk and Twitter
Blog
Retro Review: Jared Diamond—Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies (Norton, 1997)
In 1972, Jared Diamond was researching bird evolution in New Guinea. While walking along a beach, he had an hour-long conversation with a local politician…