Blog
Human Achievement of the Day: Earthquake Airbag for Homes
Citation
Verizon’s Deal With Cable Companies Finds Supporters, Detractors
From Michelle Maisto’s article in eWeek: Eleven…
Citation
Natural-Gas Vehicles Plan Sputters in Senate
From Ben Geman’s post in The Hill’s E2 Wire Blog: The Senate plan would have expanded credits for purchasing natural-gas cars and trucks,…
New York Times
Rising Sea Levels Seen As Threat to Coastal U.S.
From Justin Gillis' article in The New York Times: The handful of climate researchers who question the scientific consensus about global warming do…
New York Times
March 13 Roundup: Boom-Era Property Speculators to Get Foreclosure Aid
From Walter Olsen’s post on Overlawyered: “Are Courts Dragging Out the Housing Crisis?” [Mark Calabria, Cato] “Boom-Era Property Speculators to Get Foreclosure…
New York Times
Immigration Restrictions Incentivize Corruption
The allegations surrounding Pinal County, Arizona, Sheriff Paul Babeu and his attorney Chris DeRose are what tabloid writers dream of. It’s got it all: a…
Blog
If PBGC Cannot Go On Taking Over Pensions, It Will Stop
Herbert Stein’s law — “If something cannot go on forever, it will stop” — is being proven right once again. This time, what cannot go…
Newsletter
Highway Bill, National Debt, and the Strategic Petroleum Reserve
Blog
Today’s Links: March 12, 2012
Blog
Summer Plans? Apply for IHS Summer Seminars on Liberty
Blog
Human Achievement of the Day: “Cheetah” Breaks Legged-Robot Speed Record
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
64 new final rules were published last week, down from 89 the previous week.
News Release
Senate Considers Ill-Conceived Ban on Highway Tolls
Washington, D.C., March 12, 2012—The Senate is set to vote Tuesday on additional amendments to the massive surface transportation bill, the Moving Ahead for Progress…
Washington Times
Raising the Tipped Minimum Wage Does More Harm Than Good
Politicians and interest groups playing the gender card to push their agendas is nothing new. But recently, it seems to be getting harder, as they…
Washington Times
Can California’s Economic Self-Immolation Be Exported?
What is it about California that make its elected leaders work so hard to earn their place in the dunce’s corner alongside Greece? With all…
Washington Times
Economic Rebound in Doubt as 10 Percent of All US Workers Employed Just ‘Part-Time’
From Gene J. Koprowski’s article in The Daily Caller: “The ‘recovery’ is weak and may sputter,” Hans Bader, a scholar and economics expert…
Washington Times
Higher Education Bubble May Explode in Taxpayers’ Faces
From Glenn Reynolds’ Instapundit: HANS BADER: Higher Education Bubble May Explode in Taxpayers’ Faces. May?…
Blog
Higher Education Bubble May Explode in Taxpayers’ Faces
"61 percent of folks with a student loan are not paying," notes Andrew Gillen, Ph.D., of the Center for College Affordability and Productivity. Many…
Blog
Downgrading the West
In my column for The Washington Examiner today, I discuss the origins and consequences of our horrific, $15+ trillion debt: For decades, the government has been spending…
Blog
It Gets Better All the Time
Blog
Today’s Links: March 9, 2012
Blog
Human Achievement of the Day: LED Lamp that Lasts 37 Years
Washington Times
Come, Sweet Debt: Civilizational Reset on the Horizon
From the presidential inaugurations of George Washington to George W. Bush, our federal government accrued a debt of more than $5 trillion. Thanks to the…
Blog
Structural Factors of the Municipal Pension Crisis
Public employee pensions are sinking local governments. Over the last four years, they have even pushed some municipalities into bankruptcy -- from Vallejo, California, to Central…
Blog
CEI Podcast for March 8, 2012: IRS Moves to Fund Foreign Dictators
A new IRS regulation hits the trifecta of enriching foreign dictators, helping them crush dissent, and would raise no revenue for the U.S. government. Vice…
Blog
New IRS Rule Would Benefit Foreign Dictators, Drive $87 Billion Out of U.S. Economy, Could Cause Bank Failures
A new IRS rule would benefit foreign dictators and drive $87 billion out of U.S. economy, as my colleague, Iain Murray, explains in The…
Blog
Today’s Links: March 8, 2012
Newsletter
Shampoo, Bill Clinton, and T. Boone Pickens
Blog
JOBS Act would Create More than 10 million Jobs
At long last, some truth in advertising in Congress! Today, the U.S. House of Representative is poised to pass a bipartisan "jobs bill" that will…
Blog
Human Achievement of the Day: Energy Harvesting Street Tiles
Imagine if there was a product that could harness the power of your footsteps and use that energy to power the devices around you?…
One News Show
Costly Regulations
From Chris Woodward's column on OneNewsNow: With already 600 new regulations in 2012, a fellow in regulatory studies says the United States continues…
One News Show
Koch v. Pickens Natural-Gas Battle Reaches Senate Floor
From Ben Geman’s article on The Hill‘s Energy & Environment Blog: And several groups are circulating a joint letter to senators opposing the…
One News Show
Leave a Light On For Earth Hour
From Peter Roff’s column in the U.S. News & World Report: The modern environmental movement believes that mankind’s activities need to be regulated…
One News Show
U.S. Chamber Pushes Regulators for Hearing on Nonbanks
From Donna Barok’s article in American Banker: The American Council of Life Insurers, Business Roundtable, and Competitive Enterprise Institute, among others, made the…
One News Show
New IRS Rule Benefits Only Foreign Dictators
Since when is it the U.S. government’s job to report on the financial activities of foreign nationals to their home governments? It is now. The…
News Release
JOBS Act Would Create More than 10 Million Jobs
Washington, DC, March 8, 2012 – At last, there is a “jobs act” that lives up to its name, notes John Berlau, senior fellow…
Blog
Science Washes Hype about “Toxic” Shampoo Down the Drain
Every now and then, government regulators manage to do something reasonable. Last week, the Canadians made a smart move by accepting hard science over hype…
Blog
Millionaire Collects Food Stamps; Food Stamps Cover Far More Than the Cost of Food
A millionaire in Michigan is collecting food stamps after winning the lottery. “Amanda Clayton, a 24-year-old from Lincoln Park, Michigan . . .
Blog
Human Achievement of the Day: Malaria Vaccine
You may remember last year when the Human Achievement Hour blog highlighted mosquito-zapping lasers which selectively kill female, blood sucking mosquitoes and reduces the…
Blog
Ma Bell Is Long Gone, but Her Pension Costs Remain
AT&T is asking the Communications Workers of America (CWA), which represents a large segment of its workforce, for benefit concessions, as it tries to rein…
Blog
Senate Should Reject Anti-Tolling Highway Bill Amendment
I previously wrote about Sen. Herb Kohl’s (D-Wisc.) terrible amendment to the Senate’s MAP-21 bill that would allow the Department of Justice and Federal…
Blog
Back to Work
Blog
Today’s Links: March 7, 2012
The Hill
News Bites
From The Hill's Healthwatch blog: The free-market Competitive Enterprise Institute claims proposed reforms of the Toxic Substances Control Act would undermine public…
The Hill
Consumers Shouldn’t Bank on Savings From Debit Card Price Controls
Coauthored by Kelly McCutchen, President and CEO of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation The news that Bank of America is again testing new…
RealClear Policy
Bill Clinton’s Too Spiteful to Help Govern
Bill Clinton, Back to Work: Why We Need Smart Government for a Strong Economy Alfred A. Knopf (New York), 2011, 208 pages, $23.95 Reviewed by…
Blog
Bloomberg News: “Boom-Era Property Speculators to Get Foreclosure Aid”
"The Obama administration will extend mortgage assistance . . . to investors who bought multiple homes before the market imploded, helping some speculators who drove…
Blog
Today’s Links: March 6, 2012
Blog
Corporate Welfare for Farmers
In a recent blog post, I describe the Agricultural Marketing Service's (AMS) Beef Promotion and Research "checkoff" program as corporate welfare. The agency’s Public…
Newsletter
Free Speech, State Pensions, and Petroleum
Study
The Real Meaning of “TSCA Modernization”
Modernizing the Toxic Substances Control Act, the federal law that regulates chemicals, could lead to bans on many valuable products, thereby undermining innovation and diverting…
Blog
Human Achievement of the Day: A Cure for Every Virus
A team of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Lincoln Laboratory has created a treatment for viral infections that could effectively treat all…
News Release
Nation’s Chemical Law Not Broken
Washington, D.C., March 6, 2012 — Proposed reforms to the nation’s chemical safety law—the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)—threaten to undermine public health and innovation,…
RealClear Policy
EU’s Proposed Gender Quotas For Corporate Boards
From Isaac Gorodetski’s post on Point of Law: In recent commentary, senior attorney and counsel for special projects with the Competitive Enterprise Institute,…
RealClear Policy
Is Your Company Ready to Meet its New Disability Hiring Quota?
Has the economy got you worried about reelection? Looking for clever ways to showcase your bona fides as a promoter of “fairness,” champion of the…
Blog
European Union Pushes Discriminatory Gender Quotas for Corporate Boards
The European Union (EU) could not keep member states like Greece from cheating on EU budget rules, resulting in Greece's fiscal collapse and the current…
Blog
Today’s Links: March 5, 2012
Blog
Pension Funds are For-Profit
Openmarket.org California’s Constitution clearly states the California Public Employees’ Retirement System’s (CalPERS) singular motive is to make profits. I point this out in “Mixing Pensions…
Blog
Human Achievement of the Day: Robot Learns to Sculpt
Comment
Reply Comments to FCC Re: Verizon Wireless Application to Acquire Spectrum Licenses
Full Document Available in PDF Executive Summary: The Federal Communications Commission should approve the applications of Verizon Wireless to acquire spectrum licenses…
Blog
Pension Funds are For-Profit
California’s Constitution clearly states the California Public Employees' Retirement System's (CalPERS) singular motive is to make profits. I point this out in “Mixing Pensions with…
Blog
Trey Kovacs: Mixing pensions with politics
Labor Policy Analyst Trey Kovacs Featured in The Orange County Register Who here is better to run a business? In 2011, Apple recorded a net…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
Just another week in the world of regulation:…
Legal Brief
Bulldog Investors v. Massachusetts
Full Document Available in PDF Under the regulation at issue here, journalists, academics, students and others who are not wealthy or financially…
RealClear Policy
Breitbart Forever Changed Political Activism
RealClear Policy
Too Fat? Too Thin? Progressive Policies Can Fix That!
Political projects that seek the perfectibility of man by using the coercive powers of the state have a long and checkered history – perhaps the…
News Release
Free Speech for the 99% on Trial in Bulldog Investors v. Massachusetts
Washington, DC, March 5, 2012 – The Competitive Enterprise Institute today filed an amicus brief in support of hedge fund Bulldog Investors and free speech…
Blog
Human Achievement of the Day: Heart Gel Repairs Damage
Surviving a heart attack is not the end of the story for most people: for many survivors, tissue in the heart is damaged due to…
Blog
Obama Administration Seeks Quotas Based on Disability, Race, and Perhaps Sexual Orientation
The Obama administration is pushing quotas in the workplace and higher education, seeking to force businesses that have federal contracts to hire at least…
Blog
Breitbart the Fusionist Thinker: How the Activist and Tactician Promoted a Key Piece of Conservative Philosophy
Newsletter
Obamacare, Green Stimulus, and Corporate Welfare
Blog
Today’s Links: March 2, 2012
RealClear Policy
The Autoworkers Obama Left Behind
From Michelle Malkin’s column: Thanks to a separate Freedom of Information Act request filed by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, we already know that…
RealClear Policy
Liberals Need to Choose: Welfare State or Immigration
Overcoming the costs of the welfare state is the biggest challenge faced by proponents of immigration reform. The perception that immigrants use and abuse the…
RealClear Policy
Mixing Pensions With Politics
Who here is better to run a business? In 2011, Apple recorded a net profit of $6.62 billion and its highest September earnings ever. The…
Blog
CEI Podcast for March 1, 2012: A Highway Bill Everyone Can Hate
Land-Use and Transportation Policy Analyst Marc Scribner explains why almost nobody is happy with how this year's highway bill is turning out.
Blog
Human Achievement Hour 2012: March 31, 8:30pm
It’s that time once again to show your support for human achievement by not participating in the World Wildlife Fund’s Dark Ages Hour, where…
Blog
Obamacare: Anyone Have a Plan B?
In just a few week the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments regarding the legal challenges to the administration's controversial health-care overhaul, especially the constitutionality of the so-called "individual mandate" that requires every American to purchase government-approved insurance. The…
Blog
A New Wall of Separation: End Corporate Welfare
In his famous letter to the Danbury Baptists, Thomas Jefferson declared the Constitution erected a “wall of separation between church and state.” The Father of…
Blog
Today’s Links: March 1, 2012
Blog
UAW: Building taxpayer burdens
By Trey Kovacs and F. Vincent Vernuccio, The Washington Times President Obama and United Auto Workers(UAW) President Bob King are touting the “achievement” of the auto…
News Release
Senate Highway Bill Offers More Big Government Business as Usual
Washington, D.C., March 1, 2012 –The U.S. Senate is currently considering the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21, S. 1813),…
RealClear Policy
Stop the Regulation!
From Mike Whalen’s op-ed on The Huffington Post: Unfortunately, when it comes to our current government and regulation, the reality is that where…
Orange County Register
As Climate Case Melts, Zealots Resort to Fraud
From The Orange County Register's editorial: That's why Mr. Gleick's antics don't surprise us. For example, Greenpeace reportedly stole garbage from Chris Horner,…
Capital Research
The Battle for New England
Full Document Available in PDF New England is generally considered among the most leftleaning regions of the country. This perception is largely…
Capital Research
Flex-Fuel Amendment Makes for Strange Bedfellows
From The New York Times‘ Wheels blog: Environmentalists and automakers, as well as the United States Chamber of Commerce, the Competitive Enterprise Institute…
Capital Research
Letter to the Editor: What Is the Place of Unions Today?
Richard D. Kahlenberg and Moshe Z. Marvit argue that unionization should be legally recognized as a civil right. They are correct that freedom of association…
Newsletter
The EPA’s Endangerment Finding and the 2012 Julian Simon Award
Blog
Today’s Links: February 29, 2012
One News Now
Algae for Energy
From Chris Woodward's column on OneNewsNow: Chris Horner, senior fellow for the Competitive Enterprise Institute's (CEI) Center for Energy and Environment, doubts it…
One News Now
UAW: Building Taxpayer Burdens
President Obama and United AutPresident Obama and United Auto Workers (UAW) President Bob King are touting the “achievement” of the auto bailouts while slamming Republicans…
National Journal
One Law for Me, Another for Thee
Newsletter
EPA’s Endangerment Finding, the Highway Bill, & Google
Blog
Think of the Children
Karen Lewis, president of the Chicago Teachers’ Union, has alleged that Rahm Emanuel privately told her that “25 percent of the students in this…
Blog
CSR: Business’s Shampoo?
To the Editor, Financial Times: Gillian Tett notes the vogue among CEOs for “corporate social responsibility” (When Making Shampoo Becomes a Service to Society).
Blog
Today’s Links: February 28, 2012
National Journal
Is Drug War Driven Mass Incarceration the New Jim Crow?
Once in a great while a writer at the opposite end of the political spectrum gets you to look at a familiar set of facts…
Newsletter
EPA Endangerment, FDA Regulation, and Alternative Fuels
Blog
Mazie Slater misquotes a case
In Dewey v. Volkswagen, the parties negotiated and the district court approved a settlement that violates Supreme Court and Third Circuit precedent, which makes…
Legal Brief
Brief in Coalition for Responsible Regulation et al v. Environmental Protection Agency
Full Document Available in PDF Introduction The suite of rules challenged in these coordinated cases involves what is assuredly the most burdensome,…