Blog
The Dark Ages Weren’t So Dark, And Neither Is Modernity
Blog
Solyndra In Space?
Here we go again. It's unfortunate that so many conservatives are opposed to competitive markets in spaceflight, to the point that they are willing to…
Human Events
Romney Energy Plan Makes Bold Contrast From Obama
From Audrey Hudson's post in Human Events: In addition to his strong support for fossil fuels, Romney recently took a tough stance against…
Blog
Obama Justice Department Recruits Lawyers With “Severe Intellectual Disabilities,” But Excludes Conservatives
Reality is often stranger than fiction. A former Justice Department lawyer, who publishes at PJ Tatler, has obtained documents from the Justice Department detailing…
Blog
Regulation Roundup
A creative way to get around liquor permits, plus more.
Blog
Today’s Links: August 24, 2012
Daily Caller
GOP Platform includes Internet Freedom, language indicates influence of Rand Paul and libertarian-Republicans
From Josh Peterson's article in The Daily Caller: The GOP efforts are currently being modeled on the recent stance taken by the Ron…
Human Events
Internet Freedom Enters the Final Draft of the GOP Platform
From John Hayward's post in Human Events: These ideals have gained increasing support from many quarters of the libertarian and conservative movements, and…
SNL
Vacated CSAPR could open power plants to onerous haze rule requirements
Chief among the concerns for states, according to William Yeatman, assistant director of the Center for Energy and Environment at the right-leaning Competitive Enterprise Institute,…
News Release
Penn State Climate Scientist Michael Mann Demands Apology From CEI
The Competitive Enterprise Institute received a letter on August 21 from an attorney representing Penn State University Professor Michael E. Mann that demands that CEI…
Blog
Clinton Vs. Clinton (And Obama) On Deregulation
With little success on the economic front, President Barack Obama in 2012 is embracing much of his message on the economy from 2008. And from that playbook,…
Blog
If Demography Is Destiny, We’re Screwed (So To Speak)
"Things will get better." Such sentiments frequently fall from the lips of ever-loving economic optimists who -- while noting the current distressed condition of things…
Blog
Colorado Voters Ready To Tell State to Follow Constitution
Openmarket.org, NewWallofSeparation.org In Colorado, Douglas County School Board members are questioning the district’s current collective bargaining system due to arcane provisions and a decaying…
Blog
CEI Podcast for August 23, 2012: Bailouts as Corruption
Senior Fellow Matt Patterson argues that when government is big and powerful enough to dispense favors like bailouts, special interests will flock to Washington to…
Blog
Colorado Voters Ready To Tell State To Follow Constitution
In Colorado, Douglas County School Board members are questioning the district’s current collective bargaining system due to arcane provisions and a decaying relationship with their…
Blog
Regulation And The Green Bay Packers
The NFL has a 53-man roster limit, but it doesn't prescribe how many linemen or quarterbacks the team must carry. That's up to the GMs.
News Release
I, Pencil
In November 2012, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) released I, Pencil: The Movie, an animated short film adapted from the 1958 essay by Leonard E. Read, founder…
Blog
FDA Rules Won’t Work, Will Harm Small Farmers
The FDA recently decided to delay implementing about $1.4 billion of food safety regulations until after the November election. We think the FDA should scrap…
Blog
Two July 31 wins for the Center
On July 31, district courts substantially reduced attorney fees in two class action settlements where Center for Class Action Fairness attorneys objected. In the…
Blog
Government of unions, by unions, for unions
The Washington Times In 2009, the U.S. government bailed out the auto industry, ostensibly to save the livelihoods of thousands of Americans who work for…
SNL
Government of unions, by unions, for unions
In 2009, the U.S. government bailed out the auto industry, ostensibly to save the livelihoods of thousands of Americans who work for automakers and their…
Wall Street Journal
Letter to the Editor: Yet Another Dodd-Frank Albatross
Jack Gerard is spot on in pointing out that Dodd-Frank's Section 1504, requiring lengthy disclosures of payments by U.S. energy firms to foreign governments, will…
News Busters
CNN Ignores Conservative Experts When Slamming Romney Welfare Ad as ‘False’
From Matt Hadro's article in Newsbusters: Hans Bader, senior attorney at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, added that "Waiving work requirements in favor of…
USA Today
FDA rules won’t do much good
Food-borne illnesses kill as many as 3,000 Americans each year, but consumers should not expect new Food and Drug Administration regulations to help. These rules,…
Forbes
Moral Hazard: Corrosively Dissolving Democracy From The Inside
“I know the Alt-A mortgages we’ve been shoveling at Fannie Mae are a disaster waiting to happen, but a few more bonus checks like…
Blog
Prominent Lawyer: Obama Administration Illegally “Eviscerates Welfare Reform”
In The Washington Times and a recent study, attorney Andrew Grossman explains in detail how the Obama administration violated the law in claiming…
Blog
Regulation And Government “Science” Cost Us More Than Dollars
Today, the Independent Women's Forum blog highlights a new NERA Economic Consulting study (produced for Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation) on the costs…
Newsletter
CEI Today: EPA in the news – ethanol waiver and a court ruling
Investor's Business Daily
Capitalism’s Record Of Success Beats The Government Option
From Steve Stanek's article in Investor's Business Daily: John Berlau of the Competitive Enterprise Institute has noted the government's claimed number of "jobs…
Law 360
Netflix Subscriber Fights $27M Wal-Mart Antitrust Deal
Law 360 reports on Ted Frank challenging the Netflix-Wal-Mart settlement that did not benefit class members. Theodore H. Frank, a Netflix subscriber and…
Law 360
Bailout Losses
John Berlau Featured in Special Report on Auto Bailouts…
Blog
Tampa Express Lanes Planning Director Corrects Record Distorted By Honolulu City Planner
Over at Peter Samuel’s invaluable TOLLROADSnews, we learn that Marty Stone, director of planning for Tampa’s successful all-electronic reversible tolled Lee Roy Selmon Expressway,…
Blog
In re Online DVD Rental Antitrust Litigation
The Class Action Fairness Act puts limitations on coupon settlements. In In re Online DVD Rental Antitrust Litigation, however, the district court approved a…
Blog
Today’s Links: August 21, 2012
Blog
Imagine There Are No Countries
“Imagine there’s no countries. It isn’t hard to do,” John Lennon once told us. Ignoring Lennon's grammatical error, that is exactly what University of Wisconsin-Madison…
Blog
Fred Weekly: Assaults On Capitalism
Blog
New Moody’s Standards Give Clearer Picture Of Public Pension Crisis
The public pension funding crisis has led to a vigorous debate over how those pension liabilities are valued and how large they are. The debate…
Newsletter
EPA, Pesticides, and Bailouts
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week In Regulation
65 new rules, from offshore drilling to closed captioning.
Law 360
After Billions Of Taxpayer Dollars, Green Transportation Is A Bust
Ethanol as government energy policy has been an economic and environmental bust. There’s little debate: it inflates motor fuel prices, while compromising the environment. And…
Blog
Is Government Motors Headed For Bankruptcy Again?
The tens of billions of dollars in taxpayer money spent on the auto bailouts did not fix the automakers' underlying problems, but rather helped…
Blog
Regulation Roundup
Fines for inaccurate weather forecasts, illegal chocolate egg smuggling, plus more.
Blog
West Nile Outbreak Warrants Pest Control — Pesticide Spraying Included
This year, Texas is experiencing its worst outbreak of the mosquito-transmitted West Nile virus ever. Fortunately, most people who get it won't suffer…
Blog
Wishful Thinking About Religious Freedom And Gay Marriage
One of the reasons that social conservatives oppose gay marriage is the belief that if it is legalized in a state, private institutions, like…
Blog
Struggle Over Union-Owned Bank Is A Sign Of Union Weakness
Shifting deposits to the union-owned Amalgamated Bank has become a leftist cause celebre, as several Democratic and progressive groups try to be seen as…
Blog
Lastest Junk Science On BPA And Heart Disease
Earlier this week, we learned from the wonderful world of junk science that eating egg yolks is as dangerous as smoking. Now we learn…
Blog
Today’s Links: August 17, 2012
Law 360
UN Slams U.S. Ethanol Policy
Sam Kazman talks about the consequences of ethanol mandates and subsidies on fox Business' Cavuto…
Blog
On Robert Pattinson, Cosmopolis, And The Folly of National Film Agencies
Blog
CEI Podcast For August 16, 2012: Drought, Food Prices, And Ethanol
Severe drought in the Midwest has driven corn prices to record levels. Policy Analyst Brian McGraw argues that ending the federal government's ethanol mandate could…
Blog
Regulation And The Setting Sun
Agencies are well-equipped for passing regulations, but not for repealing them. This becomes a problem as the years march on, and dusty old rules that…
Newsletter
CEI Today: GM bailout, ethanol mandates, and hospital unionization
Blog
My Fox News Interview On GM’s Losses To Taxpayers And Obama’s Auto Dealer Job Shaft
On Tuesday, I was on Fox News’ “Special Report with Bret Baier” answering Doug McKelway’s questions on the Treasury Department’s upward revision of taxpayers' losses…
Blog
California’s Unconstitutional Proposition 37
Writing in the Daily Caller, legal commentator Walter Olson says that California's Proposition 37 is bad policy that will only enrich opportunistic lawyers:…
The American Spectator
Worst Congress Ever?
It's no surprise that 60 percent of Americans, according to a new poll from Public Policy Polling for the leftist Daily Kos website, think that…
The American Spectator
A Deep Secret That Labor Unions Don’t Want Workers to Know
Labor unions often claim to favor democracy in the workplace in principle, but in practice is another story. Big Labor’s recent push for the so-called…
Forbes
It’s Futile Rep. Ryan, In Politics Feelings And Emotion Always Trump Simple Math
Well, at least the blue tribe and the red tribe are in violent agreement about something. Both think Mitt Romney made a definitive choice in…
Blog
Time To Extinguish Flame Retardant Hype
Flame retardants are making headlines these days thanks to an “exposé” — more properly characterized as an unsubstantiated smear campaign — published as a…
Blog
What The New York Times’ Ron Nixon Doesn’t Understand About Northeast Corridor Travel
In today's New York Times, reporter Ron Nixon has a remarkably misleading article on travel in the Northeast corridor (NEC). Three major distortions stick out:…
Blog
Equal Pay Should Be For Equal Work, Not Unequal Work
Yesterday, I criticized the assumption that people should receive equal pay for unequal work, such as requiring the average woman to be paid exactly…
Blog
Today’s Links: August 15, 2012
Tucson Citizen
EPA versus Arizona on regional haze issue
From Jonathan Duhamel's article in The Tucson Citizen: A previous post: EPA war on coal threatens…
Daily Caller
Left Banks With SEIU
Some prominent Democratic and progressive groups — including the Democratic National Committee, Democratic Governors Association, and America Votes — are shifting accounts, or at least…
Capital Research
Hospital Unionization Harms the Sick
Full Document Available in PDF Summary: Nursing is a valued career in a civilized society. It combines helping people with the economic demand for…
Overlawyered
California’s Prop 37: Prop 65 in Organic Garb
From Overlawyered: From Hans Bader: would the measure be open to challenge as unconstitutional, or as federally preempted? …
Washington Examiner
GM is alive, Patriot Coal is dead
President Obama's supporters have made a bumper sticker — literally — out of the talking point "Bin Laden's Dead. General Motors is Alive." This is…
Blog
When Wage Gaps Are Fair
When I and my wife first got married, she worked shorter hours than I did, and used her additional time outside the workplace for activities…
Blog
In Praise Of Judicial Activism
Judicial activism is a dirty word in politics. It shouldn't be. Over at The American Spectator, David Deerson try to rehabilitate a term that has…
Blog
Today’s Links: August 14, 2012
Blog
Union contracts driving pension crisis
The Washington Examiner Maryland’s $37 billion public pension system earned a pitiful 0.36 percent return on its investments last fiscal year. How embarrassing is…
Fox News
Taxpayer losses tied to auto bailout rise
From Doug McKelway's article on Fox News: John Berlau of the Competitive Enterprise Institute argues the stock decline reflects the liability of the…
Overlawyered
Maryland Roundup
From Overlawyered: If you think the current federal crusade on disparate minority school discipline rates is unreasonable, check out the…
American Spectator
Needed: Judicial Activism
When it comes to the issues, it’s much harder than it should be to find substantive differences between President Obama and Mitt Romney. One potential…
Blog
Alcohol Regulation Roundup: Dog Days Edition
These days in D.C., the mercury regularly rises above the 90-degree mark right along with most of the U.S. As unpleasant as it might be…
Newsletter
CEI Today: Ethanol policy, California’s green chemistry law, and carbon taxes
Blog
Supposed “Bipartisan” Consensus Can’t Waive Laws Such As Welfare Reform And Its Work Requirements
As I've noted before, the Obama administration violated the text, structure, and purpose of the 1996 welfare reform law, in claiming the authority…
Blog
Today’s Links: August 13, 2012
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week In Regulation
68 new rules, from health care to Glasflugel gliders.
American Spectator
Facebook And FTC Agree Settlement Over Privacy Row
From Nathan Eddy’s post in TechWeekEurope: The FTC said it took action after Google violated a previous settlement with the…
Financial Times
Letter to the Editor: The Most Cosmopolitan of Composers
Sir, Andrew Clark’s appreciation of Frederick Delius and of Sir Thomas Beecham’s Delius recordings is most welcome and perceptive (“…
Financial Times
Ethanol vs. the World
From The Wall Street Journal: For more evidence, consider the ethanol waiver requested by the hunger charity ActionAid and the free-market Competitive Enterprise…
Financial Times
Union contracts driving pension crisis
Maryland’s $37 billion public pension system earned a pitiful 0.36 percent return on its investments last fiscal year. How embarrassing is that? Even the fiscal…
QC Online
Editorial: Naked truth about TSA
From an editorial in The Dispatch and The Rock Island Argus: The fact that TSA is pursuing the case is no surprise given…
Barron's
Laws Gone Wild? Drowning in Regulation
Barron's highlights Wayne Crews's study on the federal regulatory burden. According to a forthcoming report by the Competitive Enterprise Institute called Tip of…
Blog
Yes, Obama Did Gut Welfare Reform
Earlier, I wrote about how the Obama administration gutted welfare reform. Now, the New York Times is claiming that the Obama administration did…
Blog
Bureaucratic Green Chemistry
California bureaucrats recently released their proposed regulations implementing the state’s 2009-passed “green chemistry” law. The law supposedly will make life safer for California residents by…
Blog
Regulation Of The Day 226: Hot Dog Carts
Nathan Duszynski is 13 years old and lives in Holland, Michigan. His stepfather has multiple sclerosis. His mother has epilepsy. Neither is able to work.
Blog
The Myth Of The Phoenix: Losses Resulting From Purity Tests Don’t Plant The Seeds Of Future Success
Blog
Capitalism In Space
Over at National Review Online today, I have a piece on the current state of play in U.S. human spaceflight. It’s…
Blog
The Case For A Repeal Amendment
If you want different results, you need different rules. Allowing two-thirds majorities of the states to repeal federal laws and regulations is one rule change…
Blog
Today’s Links: August 10, 2012
News Release
As Corn Production Shrivels, EPA Stalls on Ethanol/Hunger Issue
Washington, D.C., August 10, 2012 – Today, the U.S. Agriculture Department released its much-anticipated crop data report, revealing sharply reduced corn supplies due to…
Overlawyered
Feds’ Crusade on Disproportionate Minority School Discipline Rates
From Overlawyered: Also includes a sidebar on the feds’ somewhat contrasting “anti-bullying” campaign. More: Hans Bader, plus a letter from…
Blog
CEI Podcast For August 9, 2012: Getting TSA To Follow The Law
When the TSA installed full-body scanners in airports across the country, they did so illegally. Land-use and Transportation Policy Analyst Marc Scribner explains how a…
Blog
Obama Administration Aggravates The Minority Achievement Gap, Increases Risk Of School Violence
If you want to fix the achievement gap between black and white students, you must first fix the behaviors that contribute to it, like the…
Newsletter
CEI Today: TSA Body Scanners and Our Petition
Newsletter
CEI Today: Hansen’s global warming claims, Romney & Obama on reg reform, and Bloomberg v teacher unions
E Week
Google $22.5M Settlement With FTC Over Privacy Criticized by Industry Group
From Robert J. Mullin's article in eWeek: A group promoting competitive innovation on the Internet has criticized the FTC’s “headline-grabbing settlement” for $22.5…
Real Clear Markets
Markets, Not Mandates, Are the Key to Sustainable Development
What exactly is sustainable development? Former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Brundtland, speaking at the United Nations' Stockholm Conference in 1972, described it as "development that…
News Release
FTC’s Record Fine Sends Ominous Warning to Internet Innovators
Washington, D.C., August 9, 2012 − Google will pay $22.5 million to settle an FTC complaint claiming the company misled Safari users about its…