Blog
Free the Economy podcast: Threats to economic freedom, then and now with Iain Murray
On this week’s podcast we talk about recycled Legos, socially responsible pension funds, pessimistic views about politics, and a special…
Washington Examiner
Biden blocking oil and gas leases will hurt families
High gas prices are slamming families. The Biden administration has taken two recent actions in Alaska that are the…
Washington Examiner
Europe strikes back with chip subsidies to counter US and China
CEI’s Ryan Young is cited on Washington Examiner about chip subsidies: “I don’t think the U.S. has much to worry about involving [the European Chips…
Blog
Net neutrality is political predation
It’s fitting that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chose to dig up the net neutrality corpse just before Halloween. Now, our elected representatives need to…
Blog
Here we go again: FCC tries to bring back failed ‘net neutrality’ regulation
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Jessica Rosenworcel announced a proposed rulemaking to apply Title II of the Communications Act and common carrier regulation once again…
New York Post
“FTC Chair Lina Khan’s Mission to Destroy Amazon Will Harm Millions of Consumers”
Geoffrey Manne and Dirk Auer from the International Center for Law & Economics explain that the FTC’s antitrust case against Amazon is wasteful and could…
News Release
FCC move to reinstate heavy-handed Net Neutrality regulations risks health of telecommunications infrastructure
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Jessica Rosenworcel announced her intention to re-instate so-called Net Neutrality rules that were repealed in 2018. The FCC issued the…
Blog
Biden taps Strategic Petroleum Reserve more than any other president
Instead of actually addressing the root causes of high gas prices, President Joe Biden is depleting the …
Blog
Now the Biden administration is targeting your next water heater
As discussed in recent CEI testimony before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the Biden administration Department of Energy (DOE) has proposed an avalanche…
Reason Magazine
FTC Files Antitrust Lawsuit Against Amazon
CEI’s Ryan Young is cited on Reason Magazine following the FTC’s lawsuit against Amazon: Ryan Young, senior economist for the Competitive Enterprise Institute, said in…
Blog
Federal agency closes! British embassy celebrates!
Nobody knows how many federal agencies there are, but the number just went down by one. The Board of Tea Experts is shutting down…
Comment
Comments on the Department of Energy’s Proposed Energy Conservation Standards for Residential Water Heaters
I. INTRODUCTION The undersigned free market and consumer organizations have a longstanding interest in bringing to light the deleterious consequences of federal regulations, which are…
News Release
FTC antitrust lawsuit against Amazon risks harming American consumers
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and 17 states filed a lawsuit today in federal court alleging antitrust violations by Amazon. The lawsuit seeks the…
Washington Examiner
FTC hits Amazon with antitrust lawsuit accusing it of manipulating the online marketplace
Jessica Melugin is quoted in the Washington Examiner on Amazon’s Antitrust lawsuit: “Free markets require functioning markets,” Mr. Davis said. “This requires enforcement of our…
Blog
Former NHTSA administrator nominee still serving as acting administrator, raising serious issues
On May 30, President Joe Biden withdrew the nomination of Ann Carlson to be the Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
Blog
‘On a crash course with energy reality’: Study finds EPA’s Blackout Rule will hurt the US grid
Center of the American Experiment recently published a study modeling the impact of the Biden administration’s new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule regulating…
Truth on the Market
“More FTC Overreach in Labor Markets”
Alden Abbott, senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center and former FTC General Counsel, discusses the recent memorandum of understanding between the FTC and the…
Comment
Comments of the Competitive Enterprise Institute
September 26, 2023 RE: Premerger Notification; Reporting and Waiting Period Requirements Docket ID No.: FTC-2023-0040-0001 On behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), we respectfully…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations: Tea Experts and Coin Batteries
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited America. The federal government is a week away from a potential partial shutdown. Sen. Bob Menendez was…
Blog
CEI Special Briefing Series: Defending the Personal Energy Choices of Americans
To push its energy and climate agenda, the Biden administration thinks it should limit or even prohibit what kinds of goods Americans can buy, from…
Blog
The Regulatory Assault on Gas Stoves – And Consumer Freedom
This is the debut article in CEI’s Special Briefing Series: Defending the Personal Energy Choices of Americans. Gas stoves provide tens of…
Forbes
Federal Paperwork Hours Consume The Equivalent Of 14,883 Human Lifetimes Annually
The White House Office of Management and Budget has this year issued catch-up editions of Information Collection Budget of the United States Government, a task in…
Blog
Wall Street Journal agrees with CEI, opposes Railway Safety Act
In an editorial today, the Wall Street Journal joined with many other voices, including Bloomberg, National Review, and a coalition led…
Truth on the Market
“Regulatory Humility of Regulatory Hubris at the Federal Trade Commission?”
Lawrence J. Spiwak, president of the Phoenix Center, explains how the FTC, under Chair Lina Khan’s leadership, has departed from longstanding antitrust norms.
American Consumer Institute
“An FTC Challenge to Kroger-Albertsons Merger Seems Likely to Fail”
Nate Scherer from the American Consumer Institute argues that the FTC would find little success in challenging the Kroger/Albertsons merger.
Blog
In today’s age of musical abundance, we all live like ‘kings’
We are in the midst of an art renaissance, and very few people are talking about it. One person who is talking about it is…
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: unemployment that works with Matt Darling
In this week’s episode we talk about banning plastic gift cards in California, the solution to Germany’s energy crisis, the political…
News Release
Fed keeps interest rates the same but Washington politicians remain a threat: CEI analysis
As expected, the Federal Reserve today left interest rates unchanged at its Open Market Committee meeting today. CEI Senior Economist Ryan Young warns the…
Blog
What’s wrong with Bidenomics?
Yesterday, I pointed out that in the looming threat of a government shutdown, President Joe Biden is aiming to cement as his legacy something that…
National Review
Restricting Pharmacy Benefit Managers Could Decrease Competition and Increase Drug Costs
Congress is considering multiple bills that aim to restrict the ability of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) to negotiate discounts and rebates and to require the PBMs…
Blog
Flawed guidance for monetizing nature should be withdrawn
The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) has proposed new guidance aimed at improving how federal agencies account for environment-related costs and…
Comment
CEI’s James Broughel Comments on Proposed Guidance for Assessing Changes in Environmental and Ecosystem Services in Benefit-Cost Analysis
September 18, 2023 Docket ID: OMB–2022–0016 Request for Comments on Proposed Guidance for Assessing Changes in Environmental and Ecosystem Services in Benefit-Cost Analysis Comments Prepared…
Econlib
Reevaluating the Influence of James Buchanan on Libertarian Thought
James M. Buchanan was an economist known for his affiliation with the “Virginia School of Political Economy,” otherwise known as Public Choice theory. Trained at…
Blog
Bill banning Fed-controlled crypto a good first step, but Congress must do more for monetary freedom
On Wednesday, the US House Financial Services Committee is expected to vote on House Majority Whip Tom Emmer’s ‘‘CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act,” aiming to prevent…
Blog
Congress can say no to Bidenomics in shutdown showdown
The contentious fiscal year 2024 budget battle, which might result in a partial federal government shutdown, is unfurling precisely as the national debt is…
Blog
Shareholder support for ESG proposals is falling
With the 2023 proxy voting season officially behind us, we can note a few trends in corporate governance that stood out. For one, it…
Washington Examiner
UAW strike: What the media won’t tell you about the strike
One of the things that liberal groups, unions included, have been good at is creating a narrative and selling that to the …
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: milk losses and duck vehicles
Google’s antitrust trial started, and the Justice Department cited Russian antitrust actions to back up its case. The latest inflation numbers were a…
Blog
Will polyester recycling become fashionable?
The Wall Street Journal ran a fascinating article last week on the future of innovation and technology, but it’s not about AI or semiconductors.
Blog
22 months after we asked, the Food and Drug Administration answered!
Finally! Nearly two years after we asked, the government has finally told us what it was doing! Here’s what happened: We asked the Food and…
Washington Times
Newsom boosts climate cred by suing ‘Big Oil’ as California struggles to tap brakes on fossil fuels
CEI’s Myron Ebell is cited by the Washington Times on Newsom suing big oil: Myron Ebell, director of the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Center for…
Reason
Environmentalists Are Destroying My Kitchen
Reason Magazine cites CEI’s Devin Watkins and Sam Kazman on environmentalist agendas: “When a new energy standard is adopted by the DOE, the result is…
Forbes
Regulatory Reforms Belong In The FY2024 Budget Deal
Certain regulatory reforms with deep bipartisan endorsement should be incorporated into contentious fiscal budget agreements, particularly when spending cuts are difficult (which is always). We’re…
New York Post
Americans may be richer, but they’re not happier
US household wealth has hit an all-time record of $154.3 trillion. So what? “Americans have never been wealthier,” CNN’s Matt Egan reports, and then raises…
Frederick News Post
A new proposal for constitutional restoration
Now that Congress has gotten past debt-ceiling drama, next up is wrangling the nation’s budget for the coming year. A budget is about policy and…
Blog
The road to pork product serfdom
There are interesting developments afoot in the world of agriculture and livestock, as recently recounted in the pages of the New York Times. According…
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: Supreme Court preview with Ashley Baker
In this week’s episode we talk about the long history of the Lewis Powell memo of 1971, innovation in textile recycling, how…
Blog
UAW strike mostly a PR move
United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain is making much of the fact that the union is currently engaged in its first-ever strike against three…
PCMA
Just the Facts: Research and Analysis Finds Anti-PBM Legislation Does Not Lower Prescription Drug Costs for Patients
PCMA cites CEI’s Joel Zinberg anti PBM legislation: “This policy would significantly change drug pricing and utilization and shift billions of dollars annually from patients…
Wall Street Journal
Court to FDA: Stop Playing Doctor
The Food and Drug Administration regulates pharmaceuticals, but it has no business playing doctor and giving you medical advice. That’s the message of a Sept.