Bloomberg Business
$3.4 Billion Indian Land Royalty Settlement Upheld
Bloomberg reports on the class action settlement objection which argued that some beneficiaries would be overpaid while others would be left undercompensated for their claims that…
Blog
H.R. 1909 — Unfinished Free-Market Business to Lift Barriers to Lending
They said it couldn't be done. That Congress couldn't pass a bipartisan bill in an election year to help the economy. Particularly one that lessens…
Blog
Techno-Phobic California Politicians “NHTSA” Google’s Driverless Car
Last week, I wrote about Google’s amazing new self-driving car, which CEI General Counsel Sam Kazman and I had the opportunity to test-ride in…
Bloomberg Business
Higher Education Bubble Update
From Glenn Reynolds’ Instapundit: HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Are We Subsidizing Student Debt Too Generously? “Why am I subsidizing student loans for Harvard…
Cato
Obamacare’s Constitutional Defects, First Amendment Division
From Ilya Shapiro's post on Cato@Liberty: As the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Hans Bader put it: Obama’s HHS secretary sought to gag…
Legal Times
D.C. Circuit Upholds $3.4B Native American Class Settlement
Legal Times reports on Ted Frank's objection to a settlement that was not distributed fairly to the class members, especially those who were injured the…
Newsletter
EPA’s Friday Afternoon Surprise, Drug Imports, Google’s Self-Driving Car, H-1B visas
Blog
Congress Must End Taxpayers Vulnerability to Government Waste
Openmarket.org Fraud and abuse continue to be a barrier to effective government. According to the Cato Institute’s 2009 report, fraud or improper payments in government amount…
Blog
Obama: Promises Broken, Promises Kept
President Obama has broken many of his promises aimed at the general public and jobless Americans, but he has kept promises to his left-wing base…
Blog
Congress Must End Taxpayers Vulnerability to Government Waste
Fraud and abuse continue to be a barrier to effective government. According to the Cato Institute’s 2009 report, fraud or improper payments in government…
Blog
Today’s Links: May 21, 2012
Blog
Regulating Obama’s Regulators — And Those of Future Presidents
This month, President Obama released a new Executive Order building upon and making permanent the quest for regulatory savings in his…
Legal Times
Medical Roundup
From Overlawyered: Forcing companies to make politicized disclosures to customers implicates First Amendment [Hans Bader on HHS “must credit…
Blog
A Fit of Sanity on ITAR
Over at Space Politics, Jeff Foust reports that the House has passed a bill allowing the administration to remove satellites from…
Blog
EPA’s Design to Strong-Arm the Chemical Industry
If you believe the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, its Design for the Environment (DfE) program is an example of a voluntary effort to protect…
Blog
Rep. Nick Rahall Responds, Agrees with Me on MAP-21’s “Sleight of Hand” Pay-Fors
This morning on C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal,” House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Ranking Member Nick Rahall (D-W.V.) was read a passage from a blog post…
Blog
The Future of Automobility Is (Almost) Here: Google’s Self-Driving Car
[caption id="attachment_55209" align="alignleft" width="350" caption="CEI General Counsel Sam Kazman about to take a spin in the Google car. (Photo by Marc Scribner)"][/caption] This morning,…
Blog
Give a Man a Fish
Those with an interest in conserving our oceans’ fish stocks and those with an interest in promoting private property should both be interested in my…
Blog
Land of the Free? Part 2: The Real War on Women
"How could it be illegal to sell something that it's perfectly legal to give away?" -- George Carlin The recent extra-curricular exploits of American Secret Service…
Blog
Today’s Links: May 18, 2012
Blog
Before Immigration Was Regulated: Pre-20th Century Migration
Early large-scale human migration is the story of dispersal, spreading out as resources were used up and populations expanded past sustainability. The Agricultural Revolution brought…
Study
Give a Man a Fish
Attempts to prevent overfishing by promulgating regulations (which are often at odds with subsidies) have proved both ineffective and impossible to enforce. Ending subsidies and…
Legal Times
Why Is Team Obama Making it So Hard to Hire Highly-Skilled Foreign Workers?
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) introduced a bill Tuesday that would allow more Ph.Ds, scientists, and other high-skilled workers trained at U.S. universities to remain in…
Forbes
Comcast’s Puny Data Cap Increase
From Timothy B. Lee's op-ed on Forbes: Ryan Radia wants to know what I think of Comcast’s announcement that it’s raising…
Forbes
Overregulation Shackles Next Facebook
Today, Facebook finally goes public with a market capitalization of $104 billion. Its initial public offering (IPO) is the capstone of its amazing ascent that…
Financial Times
Letter to the Editor: U.S. Principles at Stake As Government Keeps Growing
Sir, Martin Wolf’s latest column ignores the wisdom of conservative commentator Stan Evans: “The problem with pragmatism is that it doesn’t work!” (“American power needs…
Washington Times
High Price of Cheap Drug Imports
With the Senate set to vote on one of the few “must-pass” bills of the year, pharmaceutical industry critics are plotting ways to add poison…
News Release
Corporate Campaigns: How Unions Take the Secret Ballot Away from American Workers
Washington, D.C., May 18, 2012 – Labor unions are resorting to imtimidation strategies called “corporate campaigns” to strong-arm companies into eliminating the secret ballot in…
Hawaii Reporter
Grassroot Perspective: Regulators Run Wild, the West Side’s Story, and More
From Malia Hill's column in The Hawaii Reporter: Credit must be given to whoever thought up the title for the new report on…
Washington Times
Team Obama’s War on Bald Eagles
From Deroy Murdock's column in The Washington Times: “Lethal take” is Washington-speak for “federally approved eagle slaughter.” Precise eagle-kill numbers are tough to…
Blog
Facebook, Overregulation, and the “Cheers IPOs”: Unshackling the Next Facebook and Its Investors
Whether or not a retail investor buys shares of Facebook when it finally goes public tomorrow -- and OpenMarket provides public policy, rather than investment,…
Blog
CEI Podcast for May 17, 2012: Ethanol’s Overstated Benefits
Senior Fellow Marlo Lewis takes apart a study claiming that ethanol lowers gas prices by more than a dollar per gallon in some regions.
Blog
Tuna-Dolphin Issue — Again a WTO Decision
No, tuna-dolphin is not a hybrid fish, but the subject of a long-standing trade dispute between Mexico and the United States arising from a 1990…
Blog
Today’s Links: May 17, 2012
Blog
Bailouts Wanted — All Taxpayers Solicited!
Blog
Government Lost Tons of Money in the Auto Bailouts, Despite Benefiting from Blind Luck
As John Lott notes, “Having just $34 billion to show after a $100 billion-plus investment would get a chief executive of any private company…
Washington Times
NLRB’s Ambush Rule Overturned For the Moment
From Bob Adelman’s article at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Small Business Nation: According to labor policy specialist Vincent Vernuccio at the Competitive…
Washington Times
‘People’s Rights Amendment’ Would Knock Out People’s Rights
From Overlawyered: Incredibly, versions of this radical rights-stripping measure has been endorsed through resolutions by the state legislatures of…
Washington Times
Horses In the Dining Room?
From Rep. Jason Chaffetz’ op-ed in The Daily Herald: Some 1.65 million lawsuits are filed each year over enforcement of federal regulations…
Newsday
Wind Turbines Endanger Eagles
From Deroy Murdock's op-ed in Newsday: "Lethal take" is Washington-speak for federally approved eagle slaughter. Precise eagle-kill numbers are tough to determine, in…
Letters
Coalition Letter to Surface Transportation Bill Conferees
Full Document Available in PDF CEI signed a coalition letter to House…
Newsletter
Corn & Global Warming, NLRB in Court, and Real Immigration Stats
Blog
Senate Rejects Obama Budget, 99-0
Blog
Let’s Lose LOST
The Law of the Sea Treaty would drastically undermine American sovereignty, giving massive powers to the U.N. (aka the Dictators’ Club of New York), but…
Blog
Cut Military Spending to Prevent Tax Increases; Obama Administration Endangers Anti-Terrorism Efforts by Exposing Undercover Agent
The Cato Institute has identified $17-20 billion in readily-achievable savings to the 2013 military budget. Such cuts can help stave off tax increases. As…
Blog
Today’s Links: May 16, 2012
Newsday
Let’s Lose LOST
Bloomberg
Light Bulb Battle Pits Tea Party Against Manufacturers
From Ari Natter's article in Bloomberg: “I think that many people feel it is a personal intrusion into their lives by government,” said…
News Release
New Smartphone App Gives Labor Union Info in Real Time
Washington, D.C., May 7, 2012 – CEI and Workplacechoice.org have launched a new smartphone application that gives citizen activists real-time information on labor union…
Blog
Court Slaps NLRB — Again
In yet another victory for workers and job creators, a federal district court has struck down the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) ambush election rule.
Blog
Ten Thousand Commandments: An Annual Survey of the Regulatory State
The latest edition of my colleague Wayne Crews’s annual snapshot of the regulatory state, “Ten Thousand Commandments,” is out. This year’s lowlights include: Estimated…
Blog
More First Amendment Violations from Obamacare, Thanks to HHS
Obamacare will drive up costs for most patients and insurance policyholders. Yet "health-insurance companies must tell customers who get a premium rebate…
News Release
Expanded 2012 Edition of Ten Thousand Commandments Now Available
Washington, D.C., May 15, 2012 – Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) released the expanded 2012 edition of Ten Thousand Commandments: An Annual…
Bloomberg
From Watergate to Wedgiegate
From Gene Healy’s column in The Washington Examiner: In a 2011 letter to the nation’s school boards, Department of Education Assistant Secretary…
Bloomberg
The Flawed Case Against Immigration
We all know the buzzwords–no amnesty, no unfunded mandates, no immigrant welfare. Opponents of sensible immigration policy repeat these lines so often you’d think that…
Blog
Labor and Occupy: Comrades in Arms
CEI Brookes Warren Fellow Matt Patterson Featured in Openmarket.org The Washington Examiner is reporting that the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is helping Occupy…
Blog
The Constellation Empire Strikes Back
Constellation, the Bush administration's plan to return to the moon, was canceled a couple years ago. But not all of Constellation was canceled. The Orion…
Blog
The Highway Bill and Sen. Jeff Bingaman’s Anti-P3 Propaganda
I've written extensively about federal surface transportation reauthorization, which is currently pending in conference. CEI, along with The Independent Institute and Reason Foundation,…
Study
Ten Thousand Commandments 2012
The scope of federal government spending and deficits is sobering. Yet the government’s reach extends well beyond the taxes Washington collects and its deficit spending…
Blog
Greek Tragedy Nears a Dramatic End
With the prospects for a Greek pro-austerity coalition fading rapidly, here is a round-up of the most useful stories on the Greek tragedy: The…
Blog
Immigration and Demographic Doom
America -- the world’s most recent great civilization -- faces a demographic problem that calls for a solution from the dawn of civilization. When civilization…
Newsletter
Volcker Rule, Iron Man, and Chemical Risk
Blog
Why Are Statists So Inconsistent?
Blog
Today’s Links: May 14, 2012
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
62 new final rules and 1,577 new Federal Register pages covering everything from sunscreen to commericial driver's licenses.
News OK
Letter to the Editor: Companies Have Right to Engage in Political Process
Regarding “Activist shareholders want full disclosure” (Business, May 6): Shareholder proposals calling for greater disclosure regarding “lobbying” sound reasonable until one considers the aim of…
Washington Times
Driving the Market From the Marketplace of Ideas
Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin recently came under attack from left-wing activists for meeting with representatives of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a nationwide association…
Blog
FCC Delays Threaten to Hurt Wireless Consumers
America’s communications regulatory regime is broken. Case in point: prior government approval is needed for what should be a run of the mill marketplace transaction.
Blog
Austerity Is Mythical, But It Would Have Real Benefits
Left-leaning commentators are wrong to decry “austerity” in Europe, since, as the Richmond Times-Dispatch notes, such “austerity” is largely mythical: European nations have not…
Blog
Framing the Debate on Chemical Regulation
Last week, CEI hosted a congressional briefing on chemical policy and regulation (the video of the event is forthcoming). A news story in…
Blog
Politics Is About Power, Not Ideology
Blog
GAO Releases Study About a Study on Studies
Blog
Why JPMorgan Chase’s Mark-to-Market Losses Don’t Bolster Case for Volcker Rule
There is much still to be known about the $2 billion in losses JPMorgan Chase is reporting due to a flawed hedging strategy. But this lack of…
Blog
Cyberbullying and Bullying Used As Pretexts for Censorship
In the name of fighting “cyberbullying,” many New York legislators would like to force blogs to remove blog comments that offend readers, unless they…
Blog
PATTERSON AND KOVACS: Labor bosses demand their dues
CEI Policy analyst Trey Kovacs and CEI Warren Brooks Fellow Matt Patterson. Washington Times http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/may/10/labor-bosses-demand-their-dues/ Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude … shall exist within the United…
Newsletter
Obama tax on medical devices, union dues, and immigrant agricultural workers
Blog
Today’s Links: May 11, 2012
Washington Times
ObamaCare’s Killer Device Tax
Much of the political conversation in Washington these days concerns innovation, job creation and competitiveness. But talk is cheap, and elected officials must enact policies…
Letters
Coalition Letter on Cyber Security Act of 2012
Full Document Available in PDF We, the undersigned organizations, write to express our deep concerns with S. 2105, the Cyber…
Blog
CEI Podcast for May 10, 2012: Freeing Our Farms
Current immigration policy keeps many immigrants in dangerous black markets, raises food prices for consumers, makes it difficult for farmers to hire workers and create…
Blog
Legacy Risks
European and American political and private institutions have made many non-sustainable retirement promises over the last 50 years. These promises cannot be kept and that…
Blog
Intellectuals Are the Shoeshine Boys of the Ruling Elite
“Why do so many intellectuals lean politically to the left?” CEI President Fred Smith has written extensively on that question. In today’s Wall Street Journal, Harvard…
Blog
Today’s Links: May 10, 2012
Michigan Capitol Confidential
Federal ‘Stimulus’ Spent $34.5 Million In Michigan For Only 183 Total Jobs
From Anne Schieber's article on Michigan Capitol Confidential: The real problem is that the government is creating these programs in the first place;…
Washington Times
Labor Bosses Demand Their Dues
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude … shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. – United States Constitution, 13th Amendment…
Blog
Amendments That Take Away Rights
The Supreme Court, like European courts, has long recognized that corporations have constitutional rights, ever since its 6-to-1 decision in Dartmouth College…
Blog
Labor and Occupy: Comrades in Arms
CEI Warren Brookes Fellow Matt Patterson Featured in Openmarket.org The Washington Examiner is reporting that the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is helping Occupy DC become…
Blog
Labor and Occupy: Comrades in Arms
The Washington Examiner is reporting that the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is helping Occupy DC become a “more permanent fixture” of the Washington, D.C., landscape…
Blog
Republican Space Socialism Update
Last time we checked in on this topic, House Appropriations Chairman Frank Wolf (R-Virginia) was decrying the wastefulness of competition. Well,…
Blog
Watch Livestream of Cybersecurity Event Featuring CEI Analyst
Blog
Today’s Links: May 9, 2012
Washington Times
Education Roundup
From Overlawyered: “Education Department Pushes Racial Quotas in School Discipline” [Hans Bader, CEI]…
Letters
Letter on Farm Bill Entitlements
Full Document Available in PDF CEI signed a joint letter advocating real reform of…
Blog
Farm Bill Needs Real Reform, Not New Entitlements, Say Free-Market Groups
CEI joined with 10 other free-market groups in a letter today urging Congress to take on real reform of agricultural subsidies in the next…
Blog
Austerity Bites – But It Isn’t the Problem
The election results in Europe, we are told, are a vote against the austerity of "savage" spending cuts. Veronique de Rugy, in National Review Online,…
Blog
There Is Nothing Left to Cut
Blog
European Lessons for America
George Will warns that America’s system of competitive federalism is threatened by our own “Greeces.” (“In Illinois the bills are coming due,” April 27). Europe…
Blog
Today’s Links: May 8, 2012
Washington Times
Forget France, the Greek Elections Are the Beginning of the End for Europe
While much of the world’s attention was concentrated on France’s presidential election last Sunday, the real action was in Greece. French President-elect François Hollande may…
Reason
Obama Is Losing the Keystone Pipeline Battle
From Ronald Bailey's article in Reason: As analyst Marlo Lewis from the free-market think tank the Competitive Enterprise Institute points out…