Citation
Long Odds for Suit Challenging CFPB
From Mike Catalini’s post in The National Journal: The suit is being brought by State National Bank of Big Spring, Texas, a tiny…
Daily Mail
Bring on the ‘Brixit’: EU Withdrawal Would Bring Benefits for Both Britain and the US
While much of the worry in the United States about the future of the European Union has focused on Greece, Spain, and Italy and their…
Daily Mail
Lawsuit Challenges Consumer Protection Bureau
From Jim Puzzanghera’s article in The Los Angeles Times: The suit was filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., by the…
Blog
CEI Podcast for June 21, 2012: Free Speech for Me, and for Thee
Labor Policy Counsel Vinnie Vernuccio explains why today's 7-2 Supreme Court decision in the Knox v. SEIU case is an important victory for free speech.
Blog
Government Unions Stall San Diego Pension Reform
Openmarket.org Collective bargaining privileges are facilitating the San Diego Municipal Employee Association’s (MEA) ability to wreak havoc over voter-approved pension reform. These privileges elevate union…
Blog
FCC v. Fox Television: Protection Against Vague Laws Applies to Civil Cases and Protects Businesses
Past Supreme Court rulings like FCC v. Pacifica (1978) allow the federal government to ban "indecency" in broadcasting, and give the government a freer…
Blog
Supreme Court Rules against Union Forced Speech
Thomas Jefferson said that, "To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves is sinful and…
Newsletter
The Utility MACT and Rubio’s Raise Act
Blog
Government Unions Stall San Diego Pension Reform
Collective bargaining privileges are facilitating the San Diego Municipal Employee Association’s (MEA) ability to wreak havoc over voter-approved pension reform. These privileges elevate union special…
Blog
A History of Interstate Commerce Part 1: Neither Interstate Nor Commerce
The Supreme Court’s impending decision on the constitutionality of the health care bill’s individual mandate presents a golden opportunity to review the history of the…
Blog
President’s Deportation Order Is Legal
"[Immigration enforcement] has prosecutorial discretion and exercises it every day." That was not President Obama defending his administration's decision last week to defer…
Blog
Google and Antitrust: Economic Liberty in the Balance
Way back when the DOJ brought an antitrust suit against Microsoft in 1990s, Milton Friedman had this to say to The Wall Street…
Blog
Alcohol Regulation Roundup: Longest Day Edition
Happy summer solstice everyone (it was yesterday, but this is the first full day of summer)! Wherever you are, I hope you're enjoying the maximum…
Cato At Liberty
Taking a Stand against Nanny Grants
From Walter Olson's post at Cato @ Liberty: As The Hill reports, and Marc Scribner relates in more detail at CEI “Open Market,”…
Popular Science
The Battle Over Climate Science
From Tom Clynes' article in Popular Science: On a summery afternoon in mid-March, Senator Inhofe dashes onto the stage at the Heritage Foundation,…
Popular Science
Texas Bank to Take Lead in CFPB Lawsuit
From Rachel Witkowski’s article in American Banker: The State National Bank of Big Spring will file a lawsuit Thursday afternoon in the U.S.
Popular Science
Conservative Groups and Bank Challenge Consumer Bureau
From Maya Jackson Randall and Victoria McGrane’s article in The Wall Street Journal: The State National Bank of Big Spring, Texas, the Competitive…
Powerline
Major Lawsuit Challenges the Constitutionality of Dodd-Frank
From Paul Mirengoff's post in PowerLine: The plaintiffs are represented by Boyden Gray of Boyden Gray & Associates, along with the firm of…
Powerline
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Under Legal Attack Over Broad Powers
From Reuters: The challenge, brought by the State National Bank of Big Spring, Texas; the Competitive Enterprise Institute; and the 60 Plus Association,…
Powerline
Why Dodd-Frank Is Unconstitutional
From C. Boyden Gray and Jim R. Purcell’s op-ed in The Wall Street Journal: Of course, the government will respond that we are…
Powerline
Reform, Not a Bailout, Will Save Italy
WITH Greece on life support from the European Union and Spain squirming in the financial vice grip of its insolvent banks, talk of an Italian…
News Release
Unions Lose Big in Supreme Court Ruling Today, Knox v. SEIU
Washington, D.C., June 21, 2012 – The United States Supreme Court today, in a 7-2 decision, ruled against labor unions forcing unwilling workers to subsidize…
News Release
Dodd-Frank Unconstitutional Power-Grab, Says New Lawsuit
Full Document Available in PDF WASHINGTON, D.C., June 21, 2012 – The State National Bank of Big Spring, Texas, today filed a lawsuit asking…
Blog
Support Rep. Diane Black’s MTI to Halt Misguided Federal Support for “Distracted Driving” Laws
Today, Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.) issued a notice of her intent to offer a motion to instruct (MTI) [PDF] highway bill conferees to oppose…
Blog
Read Washington Post’s Sports Section for Great Hit at Justice’s Overreach
Excellent commentary in The Washington Post today on the Justice Department’s overreach. Take note — it appeared in the Sports section in a column…
Blog
Today’s Links: June 20, 2012
Powerline
Banking on Green Energy
How do you know a bank is in trouble? When it suddenly jacks up fees or imposes new ones capriciously, that’s usually a flashing red…
Powerline
Dimon on Display
Normally, government should not concern itself with a business’ operations, but when taxpayer money and the public welfare are at risk, it has a responsibility…
Bio-IT World
Does Thimerosal Prevent Autism? Epidemiology Gone Wild
Human beings are born pattern recognizers, part of the repertoire of survival skills that separates us from the beasts. We are programmed to spot relationships…
Blog
Net Neutrality: Two Concepts of Liberty
Two Concepts of Liberty In December of 2010, the FCC passed a network neutrality order mandating, among other things, that ISPs allow content to…
Blog
Budget Crises and the Rule of Teacher Unions
This last May, a California teacher named Michelle Apperson received a pink slip from the Sacramento City schools. Yet she was not let go because of…
Blog
Next steps
Over the years, we have gotten lots of inquiries about objecting to bad shareholder derivative settlements. We’d largely passed, because we had high hopes for…
Blog
Today’s Links: June 19, 2012
News Release
CEI to Score Amendment to Farm Bill
What: Rubio Amendment (#2166 ) to the Agriculture Reform, Food, and Jobs Act (S.3240), known as the Rewarding Achievement and Incentivizing Successful Employees (RAISE) Act…
National Journal
Nix the U-MACT
The U.S. Senate will vote Wednesday on legislation (S.J.Res.37) to overturn the EPA’s Utility MACT Rule, a regulation establishing first-ever maximum achievable control technology (MACT)…
National Journal
Forget Jamie Dimon — Congress needs to look in the mirror
“Jamie Dimon gets kid-glove treatment from Senators,” the front-page headline in Politico screamed after the JPMorgan Chase CEO testified and was questioned by the Senate…
Blog
Norfolk, Virginia, While Abusing Eminent Domain To Seize 78-Year-Old Business, Attempts To Silence Free Speech
I’m a month behind on this story, but something terrible is underway in Norfolk, Virginia, that should disturb all Americans who value property rights…
Blog
Communication Workers of America Remain a Thorn in Verizon’s Side
Communication Workers of America is seeking government intervention in order to protect union jobs at Verizon’s unprofitable wireline industry. If the union’s call for intervention…
Blog
To Reform Public Pensions, Reform GASB Rules
Many public pension plans in the United States make riskier investments than plans in Canada and Europe, according to a new study by researchers…
Blog
Supreme Court Issues 5-to-4 Rulings, But Not On Obamacare
The Supreme Court announced four decisions today, three of them decided by slender 5-to-4 margins, but not the long-awaited ruling about the constitutionality of…
Study
The Kids Are Alright
Full Document Available in PDF…
Blog
Bullying and Bailouts — UAW’s Strategy for Continued Existence
The UAW and its President Bob King recently targeted Nissan to be their first union-affiliated foreign automobile factory, despite the fact that Canton, Mississippi, plant…
Blog
Victory in the W.D. Washington: Classmates.com
When attorneys affiliated with CCAF first objected on behalf of Professor Michael Krauss in the Classmates.com settlement, that case paid $52,000 to class members and over…
Blog
Today’s Links: June 18, 2012
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
84 new regulations, covering everything from gopher frogs to cotton gins.
National Journal
Midwest Unions’ Desperate Last Stand
The voters of Wisconsin and California spoke loud and clear. They are tired of the special privileges and lavish benefits given to government unions and…
New York Times
This Week in Small Business: Working Without Pay
From Gene Marks' post in The New York Times' You're the Boss blog: The Internal Revenue Service offers advice for safeguarding tax…
New York Times
What Liberals Don’t Understand About Government and Our Founding Fathers
Is there anything the government can’t — or shouldn’t — do? For the men who gathered in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787 to draft…
Real Clear Markets
Newspapers Must Die: Long Live The News
Fear not the future. The long anticipated demise of the conventional newspaper business is a cause for celebration, not anguish. Freed from the shackles of…
Real Clear Markets
Energy Companies Are Not Sitting On “Inactive” Oil Leases, President Obama
The Obama Administration is hardly gung-ho about increasing fossil-fuel production. Yet the Department of Interior recently called on oil and gas companies to “develop the…
Real Clear Markets
H1-B Visa Quotas Greatly Restrain Small Business Expansion
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) announced this week that it had filled its annual H-1B visa quota for foreign high-skilled workers. The announcement comes…
Blog
Sen. Rand Paul Introduces Bills to Dramatically Rein in TSA
Yesterday, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) introduced two bills aimed at reducing the power of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). S.3303 would end the TSA’s…
Blog
Department of Homeland Security: Some Undocumented Aliens Who Came As Children Can Stay
Today, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced it will begin to grant two-year deportation deferrals for undocumented immigrants up to 30 years old…
Blog
An IRS Trojan Horse
The IRS' proposed real-time tax system is a Trojan horse for a return-free system, in which the IRS would become your tax preparer as well…
Blog
Losing the Universe with LOST
The Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST) has been languishing in the Senate for decades, but led by Massachusetts senator John Kerry, there is growing…
Blog
Auto Bailouts Incurred Extra $26 Billion in Unnecessary Expenses Due to Political Favoritism by Obama Administration
In a new report, labor economist James Sherk and bankruptcy-law professor Todd Zywicki found that taxpayers lost billions in the auto bailouts…
Blog
End in Sight for Pennsylvania’s State-Run Liquor Stores
Could it finally happen? After decades of hemming, hawing, and growing public anger over Pennsylvania’s outdated regulations, change may finally be in the cards for…
Blog
Today’s Links: June 15, 2012
Newsbusters
The Horror: NYT’s Timothy Egan Forced to Watch Fox News
From Clay Waters' article on Newsbusters: "Timothy Egan, a liberal reporter turned columnist for the New York Times, was forced to watch Fox…
Daily Caller
The IRS’s Trojan Horse
It may be another 10 months before Tax Day rears its ugly head again, but that doesn’t mean that the American people should take their…
Blog
Victory in the Seventh Circuit
As both Daniel Fisher and the Economist documented recently, the percentage of M&A transactions worth over $500 million that result in shareholder derivative suits has…
Forbes
President Obama: The Biggest Government Spender In World History
From Peter Ferrara's column in Forbes: As Hans Bader reported on May 26 for the Washington Examiner, the budget approved and implemented by…
Forbes
Cannibal Culture: West Devouring Itself From Within
ABA Journal
7th Circuit Nixes ‘Feeble’ Sears Class Action, Says Its ‘Only Goal’ Is Fees for Plaintiffs Lawyers
ABA Journal reports on Ted Frank's victory in a case challenging the settlement set to pay most of the money to attorney's rather than the…
Blog
China Takes Hard Stance on EU’s Airline Emissions Charges
It looks like it could begin a trade war — in airplanes. China has announced that it may impound European Union airplanes in retaliation if…
Blog
WSJ: Senate May Vote on Needed Sugar Reform Amendment
In today’s Wall Street Journal, an editorial sharply criticizes the U.S. sugar program and urges Congress to vote on amendments that would significantly rein…
Blog
CEI Podcast for June 13, 2012: Smarter Transportation Funding
When the federal government gives out transportation funding to the states, it attaches a lot of strings. The solution, according to Land-use and Transportation Policy…
Blog
Legislators Seek to Create New, Unnecessary Protected Class: Gun Owners
Generally, the Constitution only binds the government, not the private sector. For example, the First Amendment protects speech, and even insults, but that doesn't…
Newsletter
EPA Utility MACT, Trade Barriers, and the Mad Men Pitch CEI
Blog
Jamie Dimon and the “Just Fine” Private Sector
It will be interesting to see how the Big Government punditocracy squares its doubling-down defense of President Obama's comments that "the private sector is…
Blog
Employment Non-Discrimination Act Makes as Little Sense as Chemotherapy for a Cold
American business is quite happy to hire gay and lesbian employees, and needs no federal mandate to do so. Virtually all Fortune 500 companies already…
Daily Mail
Obama’s War on Resource Industries
Also published in The Orange County Register. As much as President Barack Obama claims to be concerned about jobs for Americans, he…
Daily Mail
New York Court Nixes Challenge to Carbon Market
From Reuters’ Point Carbon: A New York state court on Wednesday dismissed a Tea Party-backed lawsuit that tried to…
News Release
Report: Labeling Law for Beef, Pork Impedes Canada-U.S. Trade
Washington, D.C., June 13, 2012 – Complicated U.S. food labeling mandates on beef and pork impede trade between the U.S. and Canada without providing any…
Blog
Response: Are Unions Necessary?
Derek Thompson from The Atlantic recently wrote an article titled “Are unions necessary?” In this article, he poses the following questions: If our goal is…
Blog
From One Nobel Prize Winner to Another: Vernon Smith on Elinor Ostrom’s Contribution to Economics
Blog
Remembering Elinor Ostrom
Among the individuals with whom I wish I could have greater opportunities to exchange ideas is Elinor Ostrom. She passed away today, and now I…
Blog
The Private Sector Is Not “Doing Fine,” Contrary to Claims by President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid
Far more people have lost their jobs in the private sector than in the public sector, and the percentage of the economy consumed by…
Blog
Today’s Links: June 12, 2012
News Release
CEI Releases New Study, “All Pain and No Gain: The Illusory Benefits of the EPA’s Utility MACT”
Washington, D.C., June 12, 2012 – Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute published a new study, “All Pain and No Gain: The Illusory Benefits of…
News Release
Report: How to Fix Surface Transportation in Massachusetts
Washington, D.C., June 12, 2012 – Massachusetts, like other states, faces problems in funding its transportation infrastructure needs. A new report from the Competitive…
Forbes
Big Costs, Illusory Benefits: Why Congress Should Nix The Utility MACT
The U.S. Senate is expected to vote soon on legislation (S.J.Res.37) sponsored by Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) to overturn one of the most costly regulations…
Forbes
EPA’s Phony Job Numbers
The Environmental Protection Agency acknowledges its new mercury regulation for coal-fired power plants will be the most expensive in history, costing more than $10 billion…
Newsmax
H.R. 1909 Lifts Barriers to Small Loans
Last Friday’s dismal jobs number renewed the call for Congress to find common ground and “do something.” Unfortunately, the “something” that the punditocracy usually calls…
WVNS TV
Machin, Republicans Fight Mercury Emission Rule
From WVNSTV and The State Journal: The Competitive Enterprise Institute released a report called "All Pain and No Gain" earlier this month stating…
Blog
Union Bosses Care More about Collective Bargaining than Students
Openmarket.org In Massachusetts and Louisiana, union bosses’ recent actions indicate collective bargaining privileges and lavish contracts are their number one priority. First in Massachusetts,…
Blog
Stigler on the Regulatory Mindset
"There are only two alternatives to the market: the state, and prayer. It turns out the two were merged in one."…
Blog
Union Bosses Care More about Collective Bargaining than Students
In Massachusetts and Louisiana, union bosses' recent actions indicate collective bargaining privileges and lavish contracts are their number one priority. First in Massachusetts, the AFL-CIO…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
65 new regulations last week, covering everything from substance abuse to the official taxonomy of the endangered African wild ass.
WVNS TV
Are Immigration Laws Like Jim Crow?
Alabama Governor Robert Bentley was forced to defend his state’s harsh immigration law recently against charges that it amounts to a return to segregation-era racially…
News Release
Center-Right Groups Oppose Price Controls on Retailers and Banks
Washington, D.C., June 11, 2012 – Two years after many retail associations lobbied successfully for price controls on the banks that process their debit…
WVNS TV
Should We Label Genetically-Modified Food?
Green State TV is back for 2011 with an interview on biotechnology and agriculture with Greg Conko…
WVNS TV
Norquist, Conservative Groups Petition FCC in Favor of Latest Verizon Deal
From Josh Peterson’s Daily Caller article: “Demand for wireless broadband is more than doubling annually, but vast swaths of valuable spectrum — the…
Letters
Coalition Letter on Consumer Debit Card Protection Act
Full Document Available in PDF To the Members of the United States Congress: You may have seen some recent reports, including in…
Study
Fixing Surface Transportation in Massachusetts
If all highway funding responsibility were to be devolved to the states, additional revenue must be found. Innovative financing, modern electronic tolling, and new roadway…
Newsletter
Labor Union Republicans, Highway Bill, and War on Salt
Study
All Pain and No Gain
The MACT Rule supposedly reduces risk to unborn children by lowering methylmercury concentrations in non-commercial fish. But the EPA provides no empirical evidence that any…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 220: Driver’s Side Mirrors
A math professor has invented a driver's side mirror that eliminates the dreaded blind spot, but regulators won't let car makers use them.
Study
MCOOL and the Politics of Country-of-Origin Labeling
The Mandatory Country-of-Origin Label (MCOOL) for beef and pork products was brought into force by the United States in 2008. It imposes uneven tracking, segregating,…
Blog
In New York, a Private/Public Sector Union Rift
The fact that government employee unions have been at the center of budget debates across the nation underscores their outsize influence on state and local…