Blog
Rhode Island Elected Officials Subvert the Gift Clause, Taxpayers Pay the Price
Over at the Rhode Island Providence Journal, my colleague Jessica Miller and I express the need for Rhode Island (along with every other state)…
Blog
Maryland Court Dissolves Injunction Against Blogger; Massachusetts Judge Orders Blogger to Take Down Blog Posts
A Maryland judge has vacated an injunction obtained by ex-terrorist and convicted felon Brett Kimberlin against a conservative blogger, Aaron Walker, who…
Study
Freeing Europe From the Euro
The basic principles of the common market could save the European Union, if they were applied to monetary policy. Europe’s currency future lies in competition.
News Release
Dodd-Frank Price Controls Put Barriers to Jobs, Economic Growth
Washington, D.C., July 6, 2012 – Today’s weaker-than expected jobs numbers highlight the role overregulation plays in hampering job growth. As the Dodd-Frank law, which…
Blog
Politicians’ Incentives to Give in to Government Union Demands
In his column today, George Will identifies a key problem in addressing overly generous government employee compensation: incentives. While he rightly places the blame…
Blog
Google, Antitrust Antagonism, Patent Trolling, and Joseph Schumpeter
Google has been in the news lately for all the right reasons, but also some wrong ones. The FTC is investigating its use of patents…
Blog
A Dream Deferred: An Independence Day Story About Becoming An American Citizen
On July 4, Popehat’s Ken White posted a touching story about Filipino World War II veterans belatedly given their promised American citizenship in the…
Blog
CEI Podcast for July 5, 2012: Relic of Prohibition
Prohibition ended 79 years ago, but in Washington, D.C., it is still illegal to buy liquor on Sundays. Fellow in Consumer Policy Studies Michelle Minton…
Blog
Against the First Amendment: How Public-Sector Unions Neglect Free Speech
No one should be forced to join or contribute to any organization if they do not want to do so. This principle forms the bedrock…
Blog
Today’s Links: July 5, 2012
Op-Eds
38 Studios and the ‘Gift Clause’
Rhode Island’s $75 million loan guarantee to former baseball star Curt Schilling, like most government subsidies, promised to fulfill certain public objectives. Supporters of the…
Bennington Banner
Court Ruling on Blogger Sparks Debate
From Andrew Amelinckx's article in The Bennington Banner: In the wake of a district court judge’s ruling forcing Dan Valenti to remove references…
Douglas County Sentinel
Federal Regulations Hurting Georgia and Local Banks
From Haisten Willis' article in The Douglas County Sentinel: Economist John Berlau, Senior Fellow for Finance and Access to Capital at the Competitive…
Blog
Alcohol Regulation Roundup: July 4th Liberty Edition
As you prepare to raise your glass in celebration (or memorial) of American freedom, give a cheer for the ever increasingly liberated alcohol laws around…
Douglas County Sentinel
The American Revolution Comes to a Pitiful Close
June 2012 – and especially its last week – was ripe with ominous metaphor, all revolving around the Supreme Court’s decision on June 28th to…
Blog
Power Back On Faster In Virginia Than In Maryland: Political Incentives At Work?
I wish all OpenMarket readers a Happy Fourth of July. Things are finally returning to normal here in most of the Washington, D.C., region, where…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 223: Fred Flintstone Cars
Sebastian Trager built a replica of Fred Flintstone’s car, but regulators won't let him drive it.
Newsletter
Obamacare & John Locke, EPA Lead Paint, and a Biofuel Fix
Blog
Today’s Links: July 3, 2012
Forbes
Lamenting the Lost Legacy of Independence Day
Why do we still celebrate Independence Day? Is it a lingering habit, a mindless bit of nostalgia, a time to indulge in fireworks and barbecues,…
Blog
Food Safety Regulations That Kill
In Reason magazine, Baylen Linnekin writes about "the sickening nature of many food-safety regulations," like the "poke and sniff" inspection method mandated by the…
Blog
Sunday Reflection: After the recall, big trouble for Big Labor
The Washington Examiner When it rains it pours, and right now organized labor is getting drenched. On June 5, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker survived…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 222: Macaroni
According to federal regulations, you may not, in fact, stick a feather in your hat and call it macaroni.
Blog
Court’s Obamacare Decision — What Would John Locke Say?
Richard Epstein of the Hoover Institution and the University of Chicago Law School gives the Chief Justice some tough love in “What Was Roberts…
Blog
How Restricted Borders Replaced Free Migration
By the late 19th century, liberalism had essentially defeated mercantilism as the West's dominant economic philosophy. With its ascent, state attempts to control trade and travel…
Blog
D.C. To End Sunday Liquor Ban?
In D.C. politics, one month can make all the difference. At the end of April, Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham said that he opposed…
Blog
The State of American Manufacturing
Blog
The Good, the Bad, and the Broccoli
Most people thought that the health care decision would hinge on the Court’s interpretation of the Commerce Clause. That’s why I wrote the first three…
Blog
Unexceptional Ruling on Lead Paint
Homeowners seeking to do renovations on pre-1978-built homes will continue to pay extra because of the EPA's lead paint rule -- and a federal court…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
101 new final regulations, covering everything from Costa Rican flowers to tanning.
Daily Caller
Senate highway bill contains ‘smoothing’ pension gimmick
From Angela Malik's article on The Daily Caller: Marc Scribner, a transportation analyst at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, explained that smoothing “in theory…
Daily Caller
Groups Release Dueling Internet Freedom Declarations
From Grant Gross’ article in CIO: One declaration, backed by Free Press, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Center for Democracy and Technology and…
Daily Caller
Groups That Fought Anti-Piracy Bills Post Their ‘Declaration of Internet Freedom’
From Jennifer Martinez’ article in The Hill: Libertarian groups TechFreedom and the Competitive Enterprise Institute released their own declaration over the weekend and…
The Wire
This Declaration of Internet Freedom Is Vague
From Rebecca Greenfield's article in The Atlantic: We're not the only ones to find this declaration too simple. As a direct response, TechFreedom…
The Wire
Another Energy Department-Funded Program Goes Under
From Chris Woodward’s article in OneNewsNow: Brian McGraw, policy analyst at the Competitive Enterprise Institute‘s Center for…
The Wire
Anti-SOPA Veterans Issue Declaration of Internet Freedom
From Timothy B. Lee’s article on ArsTechnica: But not everyone was enthusiastic about the declaration. Indeed, a coalition of right-of-center organizations promoted…
The Wire
Sunday Reflection: After the Recall, Big Trouble for Big Labor
When it rains it pours, and right now organized labor is getting drenched. On June 5, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker survived a union-driven recall election,…
Capital Research
Attack of the Scare Ads!
(Published by Capital Research Center) Since Barack Obama took office in January 2009, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a suite of…
Blog
Highway Bill Passes Congress, WSJ Blasts “Fiscal Accounting Hocus Pocus”
This afternoon, both the House and Senate approved the conference report of the largely Senate-crafted MAP-21 surface transportation reauthorization. The bill, which is expected…
Blog
Obamacare Lives. So, Now What?
Former CEI scholar Tom Miller (now with AEI) has some thoughts on the Obamacare decision in today's…
Blog
Soda Pop, States’ Interests, and the General Welfare
Michael Bloomberg is as notorious as any American politician of our time. The New York Mayor’s recently proposed ban on “sugary drinks” larger than 18 ounces is the…
Blog
Pension Reform: Could Michigan Be A Model State?
Appalled by the $22.4 billion fiscal millstone that the public teacher pension fund (MPSERS) has become, Michigan lawmakers hope to make long-overdue structural reforms.
Blog
Today’s Links: June 29, 2012
Wall Street Journal
The Road to Fiscal Hell
From Stephen Moore's column in The Wall Street Journal: Without the drilling money the bill elevates fiscal accounting hocus pocus to new heights.
Reason
Government Mini Golf: The Federal Regulations For Putt-Putt Courses
From Peter Suderman's post on Reason's Hit & Run: Under the umbrella of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the federal government has issued…
Newsletter
CEI Today: Pension bailouts, court ruling on EPA regs, and a RAISE Act defeat
Blog
CEI Podcast: June 28, 2012: The Obamacare Decision
General Counsel Sam Kazman shares his thoughts on the Supreme Court's health care decision, the Commerce Clause, Congress' taxation power, and more.
Blog
Supreme Court Concocts New “Rational (Tax) Basis” Test in Upholding Health Law
In a move that seems to have surprised many observers, the Supreme Court today upheld nearly all of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act…
Blog
Obamacare Upheld, 5-to-4: A Perverse Decision That Undermines Political Accountability
Today, in a really perverse ruling, the Supreme Court upheld Obamacare's individual mandate as a tax in a 5-to-4 decision, even though Obamacare's supporters…
Blog
Union Bosses: Are They Con Men?
The definition of a con man is “a dishonest person who uses clever means to cheat others out of something of value.” Nowadays, a fitting…
Blog
Quick Thoughts on the Health Care Ruling
The Supreme Court upheld the health care bill, as you've no doubt heard by now. Over at the Daily Caller, I offer a few quick…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 221: Miniature Golf Courses
The federal government regulates the slopes of miniature golf courses.
News Release
Supreme Court Concocts “Rational Tax Test” in Health Ruling
Washington, D.C., June 28, 2012 – Statement by CEI Senior Fellow Gregory Conko: In enacting the health care individual purchase mandate, Congress…
Politico
Transpo Bill Briefings Go Late
From Adam Snider and Burgess Everett's post in Politico's Morning Transportation: The Competitive Enterprise Institute isn’t exactly heartened that pension smoothing is going…
Daily Caller
Three Quick Thoughts on the Health Care Ruling
The Supreme Court has upheld the health care law’s insurance mandate, to the surprise of many. This surprise sparked a few quick thoughts about the…
Blog
A Political Climate that Discourages Setting Up a Small Business
The EEOC has punished a cafe owner for not selecting a hearing- and speech-impaired applicant for a cashier’s position, even though such impairments obviously…
Blog
The Good-Citizen Economist
Comment
Testimony on “Mandate Madness: When Sue and Settle Just Isn’t Enough”
Full Document Available in PDF Chairman Lankford, Ranking Member Connolly, Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for inviting me to testify before…
Blog
Former GAO Auditor: Public Pension Underfunding Worse than Pew Estimates
This week, GASB approved new standards that would require state pensions that are less than 80 percent funded to base income projections on lower — more…
Blog
Highway Bill Would Continue Pension Underfunding Shell Game
As if the Senate Highway Bill (S. 1813) could not become more of a lumbering monster, along comes its Section 40312, which allows "pension…
Blog
Today’s Links: June 27, 2012
Forbes
The New York Times’ Impotent Whining About Apple Inc.
They're at it again, and this time it's not about the evils of outsourcing or the un-Western factory conditions in Asia. It's not about workplace…
Washington Post
Romney Finally Punches Back on Outsourcing
From Jennifer Rubin's post in The Washington Post's Right Turn: Hans Bader of the Competitive Enterprise Institute wrote about…
News Release
Threat of Pension Fund Bailouts Lurks in Senate Highway Bill
Washington, D.C., June 27, 2012 – Hidden in the ever-expanding Senate Highway Bill (S. 1813) is a provision that would make the already serious…
News Release
EPA’s Regional Haze Regime Imposes Big Costs for Invisible Benefits
Washington, D.C., June 27, 2012 – William Yeatman, Assistant Director of CEI’s Center for Energy and Environment, will testify at a June 28 hearing…
Blog
Georgia Offers “Amnesty” to Businesses From Its Tough Immigration Law
More amnesty from immigration laws by prosecutorial discretion! No, not the president’s order to defer deportation for certain children of undocumented immigrants, but the decision…
Newsletter
State Gift Clauses, UK in the EU, Dodd-Frank Lawsuit
Study
Government Barriers to Georgia’s Growth
Full Document Available in PDF Few states have been hit as hard by the financial…
Blog
The Highway Bill’s Sleeper Funding Provision: Pension Smoothing
Things appear to have turned around for the stalled surface transportation reauthorization talks. Conference committee members worked over the weekend trying to come to a…
Blog
Today’s Links: June 26, 2012
News Release
Future of Video Forecast: Sunny, With a Chance of Regulation
Washington, D.C., June 26, 2012 — Tomorrow morning, the U.S. House of Representatives Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology will hold a hearing…
Washington Post
Why Unions Don’t Want Workers to Earn More
During the recent debate on the farm bill, the Senate voted down an amendment that would allow unionized employers to give workers raises based…
Blog
The Growing Threat of a PBGC Bailout
Everyone hates a bailout. Or at least that's what everyone says, until circumstances force some business leaders to seek them and politicians to grant them…
Blog
Will New GASB Rules End States’ Fuzzy Pension Math?
Today, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) voted to approve new government accounting standards that will provide a clearer picture of the liabilities taxpayers across the…
Comment
Comment Letter on EPA’s Carbon Pollution Standard
CEI's Marlo Lewis' comments submitted to the EPA on the agency's proposed "Carbon Pollution Standard."…
Blog
Globalization Has Been Happening for a Long Time
Our innate tendency to truck and barter, as Adam Smith put it, is very strong indeed.
Blog
Supreme Court Limits Arizona’s Anti-Immigration Law
The Supreme Court has struck down portions of Arizona’s SB 1070 — the controversial immigration law that targets undocumented migrant workers. The Court ruled that…
Blog
Supreme Court Strikes Down Mandatory Life Sentences Without Parole for Teenagers, But Does Not Cite “International Norms”
The Supreme Court has just ruled 5-to-4 that states cannot mandate life sentences without the possibility of parole for murderers under age 18, no matter…
Blog
A History of Interstate Commerce Part 3: The Expansion
The seminal event in expanding the commerce clause’s interpretation was the 1937 Supreme Court case National Labor Relations Board v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp.
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
77 new final rules and 1,633 Federal Register pages, covering everything from prison rape to airport concession workers.
Real Clear Markets
Global Governments’ Growing Embrace of Big Pharma
As the pharmaceutical industry wrestles with multiple existential threats-from price controls to patent cliffs to dwindling pipelines-calls are growing for deeper government-industry cooperation. As private…
Daily Caller
Supreme Court Rules 7-2 Against SEIU
From Angelica Malik's article in The Daily Caller: Ivan Osorio, of the conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute said, “The Court’s ruling is a significant…
Gold Water Institute
The Gift Clause: Big Government Kryptonite
Gov. Scott Walker’s recall election victory and California ballot measures garnered the bulk of headlines this month. The results indicate voters are fed up with…
News Release
Supreme Court Immigration Ruling a Modest Victory for Free Market Reforms
Washington, D.C., June 25, 2012 – The Supreme Court has struck down portions of Arizona’s SB 1070—the controversial immigration law that targets undocumented…
Blog
Who’s the Outsourcer-in-Chief? Obama
Earlier, after discussing all the jobs that have been sent overseas by the Obama administration using taxpayer subsidies, I dubbed President Obama the “…
Legal Brief
State National Bank of Big Spring et al. v. Geithner et al.
The Competitive Enterprise Institute and the 60 Plus Association join the State National Bank of Big Spring, Texas, in their lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of…
Blog
The Myopia of “Green” Business at Rio+20
If cliches carry a grain of truth, the saying, “No good deed goes unpunished,” carries a silo in the business world. One of the sorriest…
Newsletter
CEI Weekly: Scott Walker Wins Recall Election
Newsletter
CEI Weekly: EPA’s Utility MACT Is All Pain, No Gain
Newsletter
CEI Weekly: CEI Joins Dodd-Frank Lawsuit
Blog
Bailouts Won’t Save Europe, Only Reform Will
As European leaders panic over bailouts for Southern Europe, they miss an important reality. Comprehensive structural reform is the only long-term solution for recovery. Perversely, bailouts…
Blog
The Gift Clause: Big Government Kryptonite
Gov. Scott Walker’s recall election victory and California ballot measures garnered the bulk of headlines this month. The results indicate voters are fed up with…
Blog
Supreme Court Ruling in FCC v. Fox Television Stations Undermines Vague Regulations at SEC, EEOC, and NLRB
In its ruling yesterday in FCC v. Fox Television Stations, the Supreme Court overturned the FCC’s finding that Fox Television was guilty of…
Newsletter
Dodd Frank, Supreme Court Decision, and Italy
Blog
Today’s Links: June 22, 2012
Blog
A History of Interstate Commerce Part 2: Rebels Without a Clause
The Articles of Confederation, which preceded the Constitution, lacked a Commerce Clause. The federal government had no power to regulate commerce among the states. That…
Blog
States should use gift clauses to control government spending
Deseret News Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker seems to understand what his recall victory really means. “It was a triumph more than anything for middle-class…
Gold Water Institute
Obama’s Consumer Watchdog Gets Sued
From Suzy Khim’s post in The Washington Post‘s WonkBlog: The State National Bank of Big Spring, Tex., the Competitive Enterprise Institute and the…
Washington Post
Competitive Enterprise Institute Files Lawsuit Against Obama’s Consumer Watchdog
From Allen McDuffee's post in The Washington Post's ThinkTanked: The Competitive Enterprise Institute is one of a small number of think tanks that…
The Wichita Eagle
Use ‘Gift Clause’ to Prohibit Subsidies
Appeared in The Wichita Eagle, The Tallahassee Democrat, and The Yankton Daily Press. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker seems to understand what his recall…