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Free the Economy podcast: Capitalism and the historians with Phil Magness
In this week’s episode we cover the prospect of Inflation Reduction Act 2.0, rising consumer confidence, the perils of stress bragging,…
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Free the Economy podcast: Giving for a cause with Peter Lipsett
In this week’s episode we cover attitudes toward social media companies, the guerilla war over ESG investing, YIMBY housing reforms in…
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Free the Economy podcast: Liberty movement jobs with Claire Kittle Dixon
In this week’s episode we cover the war on prices, the great un-wokening of corporate America, the attack on credit card…
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Free the Economy podcast: Technology and politics with Corbin Barthold
In this week’s episode we cover bringing your parents to a job interview, the case against a universal basic income, and why…
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Free the Economy podcast: Technology and society with Will Rinehart
In this week’s episode we cover nuclear radiation, luxury handbags, rent control in Maryland, net neutrality, and fighting malaria…
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Distinguished guests celebrate liberty movement jubilee
I recently returned to D.C. from Tampa, Florida, where I attended the 60th anniversary meeting (“Diamond Jubilee”) of the Philadelphia Society. For those who…
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Free the Economy podcast: Frontier economics with Kendall Cotton
In this week’s episode we cover the diamond jubilee of the Philadelphia Society, the cost of government regulation in the UK, the…
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Free the Economy podcast: Heroes of Progress with Alexander Hammond
In this week’s episode we discuss venture capitalists fighting red tape, challenges to electric vehicle adoption, Americans sleeping on the job,…
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Bees are flourishing again. Thanks, capitalism!
You can relax, everyone: The honeybees are back. As Andrew Van Dorn of the Washington Post reported recently, America suddenly now has a record…
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Free the Economy podcast: Extremely online with Brad Polumbo
In this week’s episode we cover how honeybees came back from colony collapse disorder, why you shouldn’t believe the government’s nutrition advice,…
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Free the Economy podcast: Gig work with Liya Palagashvili
In this week’s episode we cover how to rebuild after the Baltimore bridge collapse, legal challenges to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s new…
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Free the Economy podcast: Paying for organs with Pete Jaworski
In this week’s episode we cover the future of AI and employment, why we shouldn’t trust Chinese economic statistics, and how the…
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Free the Economy podcast: Defending election integrity with Walter Olson
In this week’s episode we cover the Securities and Exchange Commission’s controversial new rule on climate change, federal science policy and indigenous…
National Review
SEC’s Climate Rule Is Finally Here, but for How Long?
The day many observers of financial regulation have long been awaiting (and dreading) has come. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted last week to approve its final rule on…
Blog
SEC’s new climate disclosure rule a slow-motion train wreck
The day that many observers of financial regulation have long been awaiting (and dreading) has come; the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has voted…
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Free the Economy podcast: Free markets and the common good with Iain Murray
In this week’s episode we cover fake environmentalism and the need to build, a look at policymaking inside the National People’s Congress…
News Release
SEC’s climate disclosure rule is redundant and vulnerable to legal challenge
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released its final climate disclosure rule today, mandating public companies disclose information related to greenhouse gas emissions. The…
Blog
An exemplary climate debate on campus
I recently returned from Miami and the campus of Florida International University (FIU), where I was pleased to take part in the FIU Environment…
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Free the Economy podcast: Politically homeless with John Tillman
In this week’s episode we cover an environmental conference in Miami, allegedly underfunded government schools, Google’s AI diversity debacle, and new…
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Free the Economy podcast: Federal tech with Deb Collier
In this week’s episode we cover the future of environmental policy, rare earth minerals in Wyoming, and what we can learn from…
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Free the Economy podcast: Federalism wins with Patrick Gleason
In this week’s episode we cover President Biden’s attack on shrinkflation, barriers to workplace flexibility, and a motherlode of domestic lithium.
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Major asset managers drop climate activism
It’s all over the business news headlines this morning: Major money managers are exiting an international alliance focused on influencing climate change policy and reducing…
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Free the Economy podcast: Understanding AI with Matthew Mittelsteadt
In this week’s episode we cover Elon Musk’s controversial pay package, protecting children online, and the Biden administration’s slamming the breaks…
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Free the Economy podcast: Moving the rocks off the lawn with Andrew Langer
In this week’s episode we cover elite opinion versus the average American, the popularity of vocational training, why Millennials are suddenly investing…
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Free the Economy Episode: Sensory Pleasures and Public Health with Michelle Minton
In this week’s episode we cover an environmentalist culture war, foreign investment in U.S. manufacturing, corporate diversity efforts, and the call…
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Free the Economy podcast: Against crony capitalism with Nick Sorrentino
In this week’s episode we cover emergency federal spending, workplace management trends for 2024, suppressing speech about public health, and defending…
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Free the Economy podcast: Protecting your property rights with Betsy Sanz
In this week’s episode we cover slow-moving infrastructure projects, the impact of the conservative boycott of Bud Light, good and…
Citation
Big Business Took A Beating From Conservatives Over Woke Marketing In 2023, But Did It Change Anything?
CEI’s Richard Morrison is cited in Daily Caller on ‘woke marketing:’ “Regardless of what InBev’s senior management or board members believe in their hearts about…
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Liz Warren’s revolving door with Wall Street
There was an interesting development in the world of big government and big business recently. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) declared that “The abuse of…
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Free the Economy podcast: Avoiding a Central Bank Digital Currency with Nicholas Anthony
In this week’s episode we cover the legislative record of House of Representatives in 2023, the proliferation of conferences about ESG investing,…
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No, we don’t want as many new laws as possible
The New York Times recently published an article reviewing what happened in the House of Representatives over the past 12 months, and it gives…
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Even the University of California system has dropped carbon offsets
MIT Technology Review just published an article on one of my perennial favorite topics, carbon offsets. According to senior editor James Temple, the University…
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Free the Economy podcast: (De-)regulating tech and AI with Adam Thierer
In this week’s episode we cover social mobility in the 50 states, Elizabeth Warren’s revolving door with Wall Street, the latest…
National Review
Mass Transit: Preferred over Cars, Except When It Isn’t
For decades, environmentalists and urban planners have been on a mission to get Americans out of their cars and on to buses, light rail, commuter trains,…
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Free the Economy podcast: Making Congress work with Kevin Kosar
In this week’s episode we cover people who fetishize old homes, the big AI risk no one’s talking about, how environmentalist activists…
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Free the Economy podcast: Centers of Progress with Chelsea Follett
In this week’s episode we cover the housing abundance agenda, antitrust concerns about corporate climate alliances, the future of global nuclear…
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Free the Economy podcast: The future of energy and environmental policy with Travis Fisher
In this week’s episode we cover the political path toward abundance, the need for permitting reform beyond the National Environmental Policy Act,…
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Free the Economy podcast: Making college pay with Preston Cooper
In this week’s episode we cover Javier Milei’s election as president of Argentina, how much money it takes to be happy,…
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Free the Economy podcast: Getting out of control with Neil Chilson
In this week’s episode we cover the American Nuclear Society’s Winter 2023 conference, the opportunities and pitfalls of online side-hustles, and the…
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Free the Economy podcast: Personal finance and YouTube with Spencer Johnson
In this week’s episode we cover how states can reform higher education, ways that managers can make their employees happier at work,…
The Hill
The rise and fall of ESG investing
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: The trouble with big-government conservatives with André Béliveau
In this week’s episode we talk about which state has the least-bad business taxes, how many Americans really love America, the continuing…
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Free the Economy podcast: Polling capitalism with Karlyn Bowman
In this week’s episode we talk about the surprisingly low demand for free transit, the demographics of higher education in the U.S.,…
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Free the Economy podcast: Creating the future with Jim Pethokoukis
In this week’s episode we talk about income and tax migration, refilling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the problem with federal crop…
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Free the Economy podcast: Going into labor with Sean Higgins
In this week’s episode we talk about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s legal fate, rising economic might in India, terrible federal…
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Free the Economy podcast: Financial regulation and ESG with Hester Peirce
In this week’s episode we talk about commuting via bicycle, regulatory reform legislation from Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), the new book…
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Free the Economy podcast: Threats to economic freedom, then and now with Iain Murray
On this week’s podcast we talk about recycled Legos, socially responsible pension funds, pessimistic views about politics, and a special…
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Free the Economy podcast: unemployment that works with Matt Darling
In this week’s episode we talk about banning plastic gift cards in California, the solution to Germany’s energy crisis, the political…
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Will polyester recycling become fashionable?
The Wall Street Journal ran a fascinating article last week on the future of innovation and technology, but it’s not about AI or semiconductors.
Blog
The road to pork product serfdom
There are interesting developments afoot in the world of agriculture and livestock, as recently recounted in the pages of the New York Times. According…
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Free the Economy podcast: Supreme Court preview with Ashley Baker
In this week’s episode we talk about the long history of the Lewis Powell memo of 1971, innovation in textile recycling, how…
Blog
Will COVID-era work-from-home flexibility disappear?
The question of how many Americans are going to continue working remotely, post-COVID, is back in the news again (if, indeed, it ever left).
Blog
The Powell Memo was good, actually
This week the Competitive Enterprise Institute published my study (co-written with my colleague Iain Murray) on the 50-plus year history of the…
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Free the Economy podcast: freedom and conservatism with Avik Roy
In this week’s episode we talk about the future of nuclear power, the possible end of remote work, and the complexities of…
News Release
Leftwing conspiracy theories about 1971 “Powell memo” debunked in new CEI report
A new Competitive Enterprise Institute report debunks a leftwing conspiracy theory that free market interests seek a “corporate domination of America” (as Greenpeace put…
Study
Threats Then and Threats Now
Executive summary In 1971 Lewis Powell, a prominent Republican lawyer who would go on to serve on the Supreme Court, wrote a memo warning about…
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Free the Economy podcast: Defend your points and miles with Bryan Bashur
In this week’s episode we talk about where our doctors come from in the US, what current inflation numbers tell us about…
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Free the Economy podcast: The ESG Agenda with Jack McPherrin
In this week’s episode we talk about job recruiters who lie to applicants, post-Covid reforms to the CDC, debunking socialist takes…
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Free the Economy Episode 34: Permitting Prosperity with Daren Bakst
In this weeks episode we talk about labor union history, demands for a 4-day work week, YIMBY policy wins, and Reason’s…
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Free the Economy Episode 33: Federal Trade Commission Failures with Kimberlee Josephson
In this week’s episode we talk about defending financial privacy, new polling on what Republican voters want, reactions to new employment…
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Free the Economy podcast: Government rules behind a paywall with Patrick McLaughlin
In this week’s episode we talk about banning incandescent light bulbs, mission creep at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, new nuclear capacity…
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Good news about new business starts nationwide
The Economic Innovation Group has a fascinating report out this week on how we’re seeing a boom in new businesses being started – definitely a…
Blog
No, Florida, you can’t sue corporate directors for ‘going woke’
Recently Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis called on the Sunshine State’s pension fund manager to consider action against Bud Light’s parent company, Anheuser-Busch InBev. In a…
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Free the Economy Episode 31: Reforming the States with Carrie Conko
In this week’s episode we talk about the Federal Trade Commission’s takeover of AI policy, shareholder lawsuits against “woke” corporations, an encouraging…
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Free the Economy podcast: Ugh! Capitalism! with Jeremiah Johnson
In this week’s episode we talk about Democrat and Republican myths, corporate welfare in Ohio, scams in the carbon offset market,…
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Free the Economy podcast: School Choice for Everyone with Ed Tarnowski
In this week’s episode we talk about trends in self-employment, how rent control leads to more evictions, empty corporate gestures on…
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Don’t believe the ‘cost-of-thriving’ doom
There has been a lot of discussion in the last several years – and even more so in the last few weeks – about income…
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Free the Economy podcast: teaching capitalism with Allen Mendenhall
In this week’s episode we talk about the cost of thriving in America, the incredible expanding CHIPS Act, and occupational licensing…
Blog
Local zoning boards are not democracy
At the Competitive Enterprise Institute, we have often discussed the need to reform zoning, permitting, and building regulations, so I was intrigued…
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Wall Street doesn’t want to come back to the office
The continuing saga of remote versus in-office work acquired a new data point recently when Bloomberg released its latest Markets Live Pulse survey, which…
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Free the Economy podcast: importing talent with Connor O’Brien
In this week’s episode we talk about the major income tax case going to the Supreme Court, the looming death of ESG…
Real Clear Markets
What Comes After An ESG Craze That’s Not Ready to Die?
Could this year be the end of the beginning for environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing? Buzz in the business press suggests …
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Free the Economy podcast: online trust with Taylor Barkley
In this week’s episode we talk about a survey on work trends for finance bros, Delta’s questionable bid to become the first…
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Businesses flocking to states with lower taxes, better regulations
Experts on U.S. economic policy spend a lot of time looking at competition between states and how good tax and regulatory policy can help…
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Younger workers don’t favor full-remote work
Among people who follow the news on workplace (and workforce) satisfaction, the opinions of younger workers are often considered especially relevant, because we assume that…
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Free the Economy podcast: growth and taxes with Alex Muresianu
In this week’s episode we talk about Gen Z and remote work, businesses moving between states, and inspiring evidence of human…
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Free the Economy podcast: Immense economic costs with Scott Lincicome
In this week’s episode we talk about central bank digital currencies, bankers backing off of ESG claims, avoiding the mistakes of…
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Free the Economy podcast: Capitalists of the world unite! with Richard Salsman
In this week’s episode, we talk about conservatives defending the D.C. swamp, Andrew Stuttaford’s warning about green land grabs, a new Heartland Institute report…
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Protecting private property in the Peach State
Institute for Justice communications manager Dan King brings us an infuriating but important story out of the state of Georgia. Property owners in the…
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Free the Economy podcast: Transparency for government, privacy for people with Brian Hawkins
In this week’s episode we talk discuss Tim Carney’s view on why big government is good for big business, Stone Washington on the…
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What happens if governments stop trying to make electric vehicles happen?
I recently spotted an interesting analysis of the market for electric vehicles and the prospect for them eventually replacing ones powered by internal combustion…
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Free the Economy podcast: Letting people prosper with Vance Ginn
In this week’s episode we talk about Warren Buffet’s electric vehicle pessimism, sky-high school funding in New York City, a report…
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Free the Economy podcast: Freedom is intoxicating with Jacob Grier
In this week’s episode we talk about public opinion regarding capitalism, eliminating COVID relief slush funds, rolling back parking mandates, partisan…
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Retirement finance worries increase for Americans
The Employee Benefit Research Institute and Greenwald Research have published their 33rd Annual Retirement Confidence Survey, and it’s got some interesting results. The survey…
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Americans agree: Politics doesn’t solve most problems
Our friends at the Pew Research Center have some new political survey results out, and the numbers are…not encouraging. The research summary finds:…
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New Jersey fishermen challenge Chevron deference
Big news out of the Supreme Court this week as justices have agreed to hear a lawsuit challenging the so-called Chevron doctrine, a policy requiring…
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Punishing success with higher mortgage rates?
The Biden administration recently implemented changes to fees on mortgages that are backed by government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Our old friend…
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Free the Economy podcast: Grow for tomorrow with Adam Millsap
In this week’s episode we talk about judicial deference at the Supreme Court, Biden’s new mortgage rate policy, how Americans are thinking…
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Free the Economy podcast: Smart urbanism with Max Dubler
In the latest episode, we talk about John Berlau and Stone’s Washington’s recent Wall Street Journal op-ed on financial regulation and free speech,…
FIU News
Environmental forum brings together diverse viewpoints, experts on environmental policy
“If you’re serious about climate but you’re also serious about democracy, you’re going to have to figure out how to make them work together.” New…
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Free the Economy Episode 17: Political Fusionism with Stephanie Slade
In this week’s episode we talk about Michael Strain’s and Dominic Pino’s recent arguments for economic optimism, Jessica Melugin’s defense of…
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Free the Economy Episode 16: Tar Heel Activism with Brooke Medina
This week we talk about political pessimism in popular polling, the return of the Malthusian environmentalists, the problem with Buy American…
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Free Enterprise Scholarship in Alabama
Some fans of economic freedom have been worried in recent years that anti-capitalism is rife on U.S. college and university campuses, from Competitive Enterprise Institute…
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Making the Perfect the Enemy of the Good: Everything-Bagel Public Policy
Thanks to Caleb Watney of the Institute for Progress for recommending the great New York Times column by Ezra Klein about the red…
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Blue State Bailouts on the Horizon?
Whenever we see risky and poorly thought-out ventures in the business world, the negative consequences of those ideas will usually be limited to the shareholders…
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Free the Economy Episode 15: Eco-Modernism and Abundance with Alex Trembath
In this week’s episode of the Free the Economy podcast, we talk about the likelihood of blue state bailouts, issues with “…
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Free the Economy Episode 14: Conservative Economics with Dominic Pino
This week we talk corporate mega-mergers that turned out for the best, political meddling with the Federal Reserve’s inflation policy, “woke” language…
Discourse Magazine
The Abundance Agenda: Energy, the Master Resource
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Free the Economy Episode 13: The Future of Online Privacy with Spencer Purnell
This week we talk about Silicon Valley Bank and political favoritism, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s climate agenda, the relationship of…
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Desperately Seeking Regulatory Restraint
Our friends at the Wall Street Journal editorial board recently published a timely warning about the surge in federal regulation being pushed by the…