Forbes
As Liberty Fades, Contemplate The Wisdom Of The Olive Tree
It’s easy to despair watching the flame of liberty flicker and die. To accept the sad fact that our Founders’ vision of limited government could…
Blog
Teachers Unions Defend Institutional Incompetence
Openmarket.org No good deed goes unpunished. Take Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s brave decision to lay off 3,600 employees — including teachers and principals — of…
Blog
When Violations Of The Law Have No Remedy: The Case Of Warrantless Wiretapping
Yesterday, in Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, Inc. v. Obama, a panel for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the federal government did not…
Blog
Teachers Unions Defend Institutional Incompetence
No good deed goes unpunished. Take Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s brave decision to lay off 3,600 employees -- including teachers and principals -- of 24 of New…
Blog
Today’s Links: August 8, 2012
Forbes
The Least Sexy But Most Urgent Economic Reform Remains Ignored In The Presidential Campaign
Despite the federal government’s unabated growth, the most significant domestic policy landscape change has been shutting off the the power to the Social Security third…
Forbes
Sen. Al Franken Voter Fraud Revelations Call For Ways To Reduce It
Blog
Today’s Links: August 7, 2012
Forbes
Trade Deficit Is Nothing to Worry About
Does it bother you that you run a trade deficit with your grocery store? You probably bought thousands of dollars’ worth of food from it…
Forbes
Womack Seeks to Close Quill Loophole, Force Online Stores to Pay State Sales Tax
From Neil McCabe’s column in Townhall: Christie said taxation of online sales an important issue to all the nation’s governors and endorsed federal…
Blog
Decoding The Malthusian Fallacy
The writings of Reverend Thomas Robert Malthus (1766-1834) inspired Victorian historian Thomas Carlyle to condemn economics as "the dismal science." Witnessing the deplorable crowding,…
Letters
Coalition Letter to the U.S. Senate on Tax Competition
Full Document Available in PDF CEI co-signed a coalition letter to the U.S. Senate urging support for Senator Rubio’s S.J.Res. 46, which…
Newsletter
CEI Today: TSA body scanners, Obama bailouts & jobs failures, and new global warming data
Blog
Unions Claim Moral High Ground, Kick Off Sleazy Smear Campaign
Openmarket.org UNITE-HERE, the nation’s largest hospitality union, has assembled a new coalition of pro-union organizations to target Hyatt hotels with the goal of organizing…
Blog
Unions Claim Moral High Ground, Kick Off Sleazy Smear Campaign
UNITE-HERE, the nation’s largest hospitality union, has assembled a new coalition of pro-union organizations to target Hyatt hotels with the goal of organizing the chain’s…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week In Regulation
85 new regulations, from prairie dogs to corporate jets.
Fox News
The dangerous demonization of our food
Apples, celery, and bell peppers may be hazardous to your health, according to some environmental activists. At least that's the impression you might get reading…
Fox News
Red state farmers, conservatives clash over farm bill
From Tom Lutely’s article in The Billings Gazette: Conservative groups like Americans for Prosperity, Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform and the Competitive…
Blog
Update On TSA’s Lawlessness Over Body Scanners
As I noted previously, the Transportation Security Administration has failed to comply with a court order demanding that they initiate a notice-and-comment rulemaking regarding…
Blog
Who’s Really Responsible For Making Sure Teens Don’t Smoke?
Blog
CEI Podcast For August 2, 2012: Cybersecurity Bill Fails
Today the Senate shot down a controversial cybersecurity bill that Associate Director of Technology Policy Studies Ryan Radia believes would have been a disaster.
Blog
Obama’s jobs council a total flop
The Washington Times When President Obama’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness last gathered in January, he boasted, “This has not been a show council. This…
NJ
In the light of day, that solar plan looks like cap-and-trade
From Paul Mulshine's column in The Star Ledger: That’s a bailout. On that Myron Ebell of the conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute is in…
McClatchy DC
TSA Flouts the Law on Body Scanners
Also appeared in: The Charlotte Observer, Tulsa World, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Press of Atlantic City, and Juneau Empire. For more than…
Newsletter
CEI Today: Internet freedom, carbon taxes, and false health care fraud
Blog
The Great Hollywood Swindle
When is a market not a real market? When it trades in fake goods — products or services that could not exist if government didn’t…
McClatchy DC
Angela Merkel’s Bismarckian Euro Diplomacy
German Chancellor Angela Merkel seems to be channeling her 19th century predecessor, Otto von Bismarck, in a striking way; engineering a diplomatic balancing act…
Daily Caller
Cyber Bill Shouldn’t Gut Private Contracts
(Written with TechFreedom president Berin Szoka) Days before August recess, Senate Democrats are scrambling to pass legislation creating a…
Daily Caller
Obama’s Jobs Council a Total Flop
When President Obama’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness last gathered in January, he boasted, “This has not been a show council. This has been…
Overlawyered
Chicken Scraps
From Overlawyered: I joined hosts Mark Newgent and Andrew Langer of RedMaryland on their BlogTalkRadio show Monday evening to talk…
Blog
Maryland’s Public Pension Debacle Is Likely to Repeat Itself
The Maryland public employee pension system announced this week that it had achieved a dismal return rate on its investments of 0.36 percent — a…
Blog
Postal Service Set To Default On Multi-Billion Dollar Retiree Payment
Openmarket.org Today, the United States Postal Service (USPS) takes one step closer toward a taxpayer bailout. The blame falls squarely on the shoulders of…
Blog
Why Stop At Assault Weapons?
After the horrific events of the shooting in Aurora, countless pundits are calling for the reinstatement of the federal assault weapons ban. I agree with…
Blog
Today’s Links: August 1, 2012
Blog
Postal Service Set To Default On Multi-Billion Dollar Retiree Payment
Today, the United States Postal Service (USPS) takes one step closer toward a taxpayer bailout. The blame falls squarely on the shoulders of the current…
Blog
EPA Attack On Asthmatics Coming To An End?
CEI warned policy makers a couple decades ago that an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) phase out of over-the-counter sales of CFC containing asthma inhalers…
Blog
Milton Friedman Turns 100
Products
Letter to Maryland State Board of Education
Full Document Available in PDF As a lawyer who used to bring civil-rights cases for a living, I am writing in opposition…
Newsletter
CEI Today: Sales tax bill, crony capitalism, and Chick-Fil-A
Blog
Regulation Of The Day 225: Boobie Pillows
Kern County, California's government takes morality very seriously. Chapter 9.12.010 of the County Code states that “No vendor shall vend stuffed articles depicting the female…
Blog
Unruly Lead Paint Rule
The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform recently released an interesting report on regulatory impediments to job creation. Among the…
Overlawyered
Unhappy Birthday to You
Call the State National Bank of Big Spring,…
Overlawyered
State of the Web: Which vision of an ‘open Internet’ would you fight for?
The physical layer of the Internet is owned by a tight cabal of powerful corporations that includes behemoths like AT&T and Verizon Communications. During the…
National Journal
Carbon Tax: Bad Politics, Bad Policy
Carbon taxes have been in the news of late. On July 10, former GOP Congressman Bob Inglis of South Carolina launched the Energy and Enterprise…
National Review
What is NYU Going to Do?
From George Leef's post in The National Review: The furor over Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy’s opposition to same-sex marriage…
Overlawyered
Labor and Employment Roundup
From Overlawyered: Hans Bader of the Competitive Enterprise Institute explains why he sees no contradiction in opposing the Employment Non-Discrimination…
Blog
Chick-Fil-A And Free Speech: New York City Council Speaker Pressures University To Punish Restaurant For Speech
New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn wants to kick Chick-fil-A out of New York because its CEO said he opposed gay marriage. She…
Blog
Harassing Newborns And Their Mothers: Mayor Bloomberg’s Latest Overreach
The New York Post reports, “Mayor Bloomberg is pushing hospitals to hide their baby formula behind locked doors so more new mothers will breast-feed.” When…
Blog
Miraculous Markets: Water Into Wine
Libertarians are often accused of “worshiping” the free market. But the truth is, markets can perform miracles. A car growing in Iowa? David Friedman (son…
Newsletter
Medieval global warming, threats to Internet freedom, and the Cybersecurity Act
Blog
Groupon Marketing class action settlement
There was a lot of publicity about the “$8.5 million” Groupon will pay to settle a class action over expiration dates; several class members complained…
Blog
Today in the News; July 30, 2012
Study
The Marketplace Fairness Act Would Create a State Sales Tax Cartel and Hurt Consumers
The Marketplace Fairness Act (S. 1832) seeks to capture more tax revenue for states on Internet purchases. Traditional retailers, states, and localities have urged Congress…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week In Regulation
86 new rules last week, covering everything from Florida tomatoes to tug boat races.
Daily Mail
America’s Real Choice: Cronyism or Capitalism
America appears to be at war with itself, if the Presidential campaign is anything to go by. The adverts that have saturated the airwaves over…
National Review
Sandy Weill’s About-Face on Glass-Steagall
Isn’t it something how a former Wall Street baron named as one of Time magazine’s “25 People to Blame for the Financial Crisis” suddenly becomes…
News Release
Internet Tax Bill Would Allow Taxation Without Representation
Washington, D.C., July 30, 2012–This Wednesday, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation will hold a hearing on the Marketplace Fairness Act (S.
Fortune
Google and Facebook’s new tactic in the tech wars
Fortune discusses the problem with cy pres awards and references Ted Frank for more details. The key recurring concern with any class action…
Blog
Amendment to Cybersecurity Act Would Deter Federal Government Privacy Abuses
[caption id="attachment_58589" align="alignright" width="150"] Lord Acton's beard absolutely knows that power corrupts[/caption] In the ongoing debate over the Senate’s Cybersecurity Act of 2012 (…
New York Post
Letter to the Editor: Quota-Free Classes
Kyle Smith misquoted me in his otherwise excellent column, “Political Science” (PostScript, July 15). I never said “courts have ruled that applying Title IX to…
Washington Examiner
Letter to the Editor: Pushback Against Chick-Fil-A is Illegal
Michelle Malkin was right to lament the mayor of Boston's contempt for the First Amendment. The mayor said he would block Chick-fil-A from opening a…
Blog
Maryland’s Unconstitutional School Discipline Quotas
Crimes and infractions are not evenly distributed across racial groups, as the Supreme Court noted in United States v. Armstrong, 517 U.S. 456 (1996). …
Blog
Politics In A Nutshell
Blog
Today’s Links: July 27, 2012
News Release
CEI Fellow Testifies On Sarbanes-Oxley and Dodd-Frank “Unhappy” Anniversaries
Washington, D.C., July 27, 2012 – As two purported financial “reform” laws mark their anniversaries this July, CEI’s John Berlau testified two times this week…
Blog
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick One Signature Away From Health Care Mistake
Massachusetts is the latest in a string of states to transform private home health care providers into government employees. The disingenuous legislation will raise the…
Comment
Testimony on The 10th Anniversary of the Sarbanes- Oxley Act
John Berlau testifies July 26, 2012 before a House Financial Services subcommittee on the topic of the 10th anniversary of Sarbanes-Oxley.
Blog
Today’s Links: July 26, 2012
Washington Examiner
Cooperation Is What Markets Are For, Not Governments
When President Obama told a Virginia crowd last week that “if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own,” he was right. His…
Law Fare Blog
Ryan Radia of CEI on the Liability Exemption Provisions of Lieberman-Collins
From Paul Rosenzweig's post on Lawfare: Ryan Radia, who works for the Competitive Enterprise Institute, writes in with a few a couple of…
Law Fare Blog
President Obama’s Deportation Deferral Order Is Legal
“We will see each other down the line in litigation.” That threat was leveled by Rep. Steve King (R-IA) at Department of Homeland Security (DHS)…
Law Fare Blog
Why Conservatives Must Heed Congressman Issa’s Call
In yesterday’s Atlantic interview, Republican Congressman Darrell Issa issued a conservative call to action on Internet policy: “The tech world needs us.” He’s right. Companies…
Law Fare Blog
Expanding Title IX
Hans Bader discusses the legal and practical implications of expanding Title IX. Fox News Channel's Fox&Friends, July 24, 2012…
Blog
I Never Said Title IX Was Unconstitutional, Or Only Applied To Sports, Contrary To Media Matters’ Claims
Over the years, I have often written about applications of Title IX to areas other than sports, once handled Title IX cases as a…
Blog
New Regulations Threaten To Wipe Out Community Banks
The new Basel III capital requirement regulations are supposed to strengthen the international financial system, with their avowed effect being to: improve the banking…
Blog
Alternative Teacher Certification: Opening the Education Market
Almost everyone can remember that one teacher who changed their life; the teacher who stimulated education and personal development of their students by virtue of…
Blog
Bloomberg Calls for Anarchy
Openmarket.org Here we go. Another mass shooting, another round of mass stupidity from progressive politicians and pundits. Latest example: In the wake of the…
Blog
Bloomberg Calls for Anarchy
Here we go. Another mass shooting, another round of mass stupidity from progressive politicians and pundits. Latest example: In the wake of the horrific shootings…
Blog
Bloomberg Soda Ban Blocks Sale of Low-Calorie Drinks
As I’ve written before, Mayor Bloomberg’s big-soda ban is ill-conceived, unjust, invasive, and useless, among other things. As Seth Goldman, the CEO of Honest…
Blog
Today’s Links: July 25, 2012
Law Fare Blog
Answers to Your Questions on Skilled Immigration
From The New York Times‘ Economix blog: Q. Do you agree with David Bier from the Competitive Enterprise Institute that “highly skilled foreign…
Blog
CEI Podcast for July 24, 2012: Unfunded Mandate Reform
Research Associate David Deerson explains why past efforts to rein in unfunded mandates failed, and why new legislation that Congress is set to vote on…
Blog
Groups Urge Boehner To Hold Firm And Not Give In To Agricultural Special Interests
CEI joined 11 other groups in a letter today to House Speaker John Boehner urging him not to give in to special interest…
Blog
Don’t Blame Capitalism for Washington State’s Liquor Privatization “Failure”
There is no alternative way, so far discovered, of improving the lot of the ordinary people that can hold a candle to the productive activities…
Products
Farm Bill Will Not Solve Drought
Dear Speaker Boehner, We write…
Blog
Billions of Tax Dollars Spent Raising False Hopes Among Homeowners
The Obama Administration's Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) gave "banks $1,500 bonus payments and servicers $1,000 bonus payments for each loan modification they processed. This…
Newsletter
Financial regulation, state-on-state taxation, and the Law of the Sea Treaty
Blog
Today’s Links: July 24, 2012
Comment
Testimony on Examining Consumer Credit Access Concerns, New Products and Federal Regulations
CEI’s John Berlau testified before the House Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit. Berlau explains why reducing unnecessary regulatory barriers will increase competition for…
Blog
The Positive-Sum Tendency Of Market Interaction: A Point Which Bears Repeating
Blog
Cut Down On Unfunded Mandates, Part III
In my last post, I discussed the ways in which Rep. Virginia Foxx’s (R-N.C.) Unfunded Mandates Information and Transparency Act (UMITA) updates and improves…
News Release
Net Neutrality Unconstitutional, Public Interest Groups Tell Appeals Court
Washington D.C., July 24, 2012 — On July 23, TechFreedom and the Competitive Enterprise Institute, along with the Free State Foundation and…
News Release
Farm Bill Boondoggle Won’t Cure Drought, Coalition Tells Boehner
Washington, D.C., July 24, 2012 – Twelve government watchdog groups, including CEI, sent House Speaker John Boehner a letter this morning urging him to hold…
Forbes
Carbon Taxomania: Bipartisan Stupidity On Steroids
From Larry Bell's column in Forbes: As my respected friend Marlo Lewis, a senior fellow with the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) notes, “During…
Forbes
Libertarians make the case: net neutrality is unconstitutional
From Cyrus Farivar’s article in Ars Technica: A group of well-known libertarian organizations has filed an amicus brief (PDF) to the US Court…
America's Future Foundation
Profiles in Liberty: Fred Smith
From Tom Swanson's column for America's Future Foundation: As he prepares to name a successor, Fred Smith has big plans for the…
Comment
Testimony on “The Marketplace Equity Act of 2011”
Full Document Available in PDF The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) is a non-profit public policy research organization dedicated to advancing individual liberty…
Blog
Time To Reform Unfunded Mandates
Study
Assessing the Empirical Basis of the “Biodiversity Crisis”
Full Document Available in PDF EXECUTIVE SUMMARY For several years now, the World Wildlife Fund and other wildlife interest groups have been…
Newsletter