Blog
Could Heating Costs Set Records This Winter?
Gasoline prices reached their peak at over $5 per gallon last June before declining to the current $3.70, but the worst may be yet…
Blog
Why Railway Unions Oppose the Deal Biden Helped Arrange
The Chamber of Commerce today urged Congress to step in and impose a settlement should talks between the rail industry and the its…
Blog
CEI Leads Coalition Opposing Increased Government Interference in Rail Operations
CEI and 21 other organizations and individuals have signed a letter opposing the misleadingly named Freight Rail Shipping Fair Market Act, which would…
Blog
Mixed News on CPI: Headline Rate Improves, Core Rate Accelerates
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for August is out. It increased 8.3 percent over the last year, down from 8.5 percent in July. The…
Letters
Coalition Letter Opposing Freight Rail Shipping Fair Market Act
Dear Member of Congress: We, the undersigned individuals and organizations, oppose the inaccurately named Freight Rail Shipping Fair Market Act. It will cause significant harm…
New York Post
It seems clear Dems pressured the FDA to delay the COVID vaccine to hurt Trump
For every week we didn’t have a COVID-19 vaccine, more people died, more children were kept out of school, and more damage was done to…
Politico
Climate Bill Boosts California Move to Clean Cars
Politico cites Senior Fellow Marlo Lewis on California’s new climate bill: Marlo Lewis, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute,…
Comment
Comments to the Federal Trade Commission Regarding the Motor Vehicle Dealers Trade Regulation Rule
Comment Submitted: September 12, 2022 Docket No. FTC-2022-0046-0001 On behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), I respectfully submit the following comments in response to…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Queen Elizabeth II passed away at age 96. Meanwhile, in a four-day week, agencies issued new regulations ranging from St. Louis bridges to Atlantic krill…
Blog
Fed Chairman Powell’s Remarks at Cato Monetary Conference
Every year, our friends at the Cato Institute hold a monetary policy conference. This year’s conference opened with Cato President Peter Goettler interviewing Federal…
Blog
Paternalistic FTC Rule Would Stifle Consumer Choice in Auto Market
As if American drivers didn’t face enough headwinds with high gas prices, supply chain constraints, and state rules that may force them out of…
The Economic Standard
Stablecoins Could Make Greenback the Internet’s Reserve Currency
Pick any global hotspot and search it with the term stablecoins. On the first search result page you’ll likely find Hong Kongers, …
Litigation
Competitive Enterprise Institute et al. v. EPA
National Review
ESG’s Midlife Crisis
For the last several years, much of the corporate world has, to a greater or lesser degree, adapted to the demands imposed by “environmental, social, and…
News Release
National AI Strategy Needs Key Updates to Strengthen U.S. Position as Global Leader
WASHINGTON—The United States should make key revisions to its national Artificial Intelligence (AI) research and development strategy in order to stay ahead of competitors, according…
Study
Strategies to Improve the National Artificial Intelligence Research and Development Strategic Plan
Few policy issues are as crucial to the future of U.S. national security and global economic competitiveness as the development of artificial intelligence (AI)…
The Washington Times
Critics of NLRB’s ‘joint employer’ rule predict job losses, more red tape for businesses
The Washington Times cites Research Fellow Sean Higgins on the NLRB joint employer rule: The board’s apparent goal is to encourage collective…
Blog
Pondering the Paradox of the Paltry Proliferation of Prominent Proposed Rules in the Federal Register
Spending is up, the debt is up, and Republicans keep helping raise the debt ceiling. Armageddon does not result, we have learned. On the…
News Release
NLRB Democrats Unveil New Rule Expanding Joint Employer Liability…Again
Democrats on the National Labor Relations Board have put forward a new rule expanding “joint employer” liability for businesses nationwide. CEI labor policy expert…
Blog
NLRB Proposes Third Rewrite of Joint Employer Rule in Four Years
As expected, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has proposed a new version of the “joint employer” rule, which establishes when a…
Blog
The Inflation Reduction Act’s Implications for West Virginia v. EPA: A Response to Professor Dan Farber
An environmental reporter last week asked for CEI’s thoughts on University of California, Berkley law professor Dan Farber’s article on the Inflation Reduction…
Blog
CEI Leads Coalition Letter Against EPA Interference with Alaska’s Pebble Mine
Mining is one of the relatively few environmentally related issues where federal agencies other than the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have been given the lead—or…
National Review
Unions’ Cynical Minimum-Wage Gambit
We want California to be the first in the nation as it is in so many fronts, and to be able to spread this to other…
Comment
Coalition Comments on Proposed Determination to Prohibit Disposal Sites in Pebble Deposit Area
Comments of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, 60 Plus Association, Heritage Action for America, Freedom Works, Project 21, Reaching America, American Lands Council, American Business…
Blog
Threats to Democracy Posed by an Unleashed Administrative State
President Joe Biden’s much-covered Independence Hall remarks last week have drawn their share of praise, condemnation, and memes. Prominent was Biden’s easy deployment of…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The labor market continues to look strong, and the Federal Trade Commission lost its attempt to keep an early cancer-detection test off the…
Inside Sources
How Sandbox Programs Can Help Promote Innovation and Consumer Welfare
Technological innovation is spurring startups and financial companies to make consumer transactions more accessible, faster and more affordable. Around the world, leading financial centers seek…
The Hill
This Labor Day, let’s ensure that individual workers are empowered, too
Ideas never die. If they become unpopular, people forget about them, but then they bounce back when a new generation rediscovers them. And whatever made…
News Release
CEI Experts React to August Jobs Numbers
The Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 315,000 new jobs in the month of August, slightly below market expectations. The unemployment rate rose to…
News Release
Judge Rules Illumina-Grail Merger is Legal Despite FTC Antitrust Accusations
In a decision reached today, an administrative judge ruled that a proposed merger between Illumnia and Grail can proceed after ruling against a move…
City Journal
A Pox By Any Other Name
Anyone wondering why medical authorities seem so ineffectual need look no further than their newfound obsession with renaming the monkeypox virus and the disease it…
Blog
Starbucks Alleges an NLRB Whistleblower Reveals Election Shenanigans
A challenge by Starbucks to a recent union election overseen by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) includes a remarkable claim by the company: There…
Blog
Dispelling Misleading Claims about the Inflation Reduction Act and West Virginia v. EPA
In adversarial proceedings, it is seldom prudent to rely on your opponents’ assessment of the outcome. Alas, some conservatives seem inclined to believe Democrats’ self-serving…
Wall Street Journal
Renewable Energy? Where’s Your Permit?
The U.S. has one of the developed world’s most costly, time-consuming and unpredictable systems for authorizing big infrastructure projects. In the Inflation Reduction Act, Sens. Joe…
Real Clear Energy
No, Democrats’ Climate Law Does Not Overturn West Virginia v. EPA
“And whatever interpretive force one attaches to legislative history, the Court normally gives little weight to statements, such as those of the individual legislators, made after the…
National Review
Monkeypox Outbreak Leveling Off, No Thanks to Government
Something that apparently surprised government bureaucrats and left-wing commentators but is, in fact, completely predictable is happening: The growth in new monkeypox cases is leveling off…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
President Biden announced partial student loan forgiveness for people earning up to $125,000. The number of new final regulations this year topped 2,000. Meanwhile, agencies…
National Review
The Skyrocketing Cost of Staying Cool This Summer — and Future Ones
Add air conditioning to the long list of items experiencing inflation under the Biden administration. Whether it is fixing your home’s existing system or buying a…
Fox Business
Video: CEI’s Jessica Melugin Joins Fox Business to Discuss Twitter and Free Speech
Director of the Center for Technology & Innovation Jessica Melugin reacts to the judge’s decision to order Twitter to issue a subset of data in…
Blog
The Fed’s Preferred Inflation Measure Improves, Mixed Picture on Consumer Spending
Two new economic indicators published Friday morning give reason for cautious optimism. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is the inflation measure that gets the…
Blog
Student Loan Forgiveness Is Regressive, Will Increase Tuition
When the Inflation Reduction Act passed, I pointed out that its $300 billion in tax increases and spending cuts would not begin to phase…
Blog
SEC Small Business Committee Throws Down the Gauntlet on State Trading Preemption
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee (SBCFAC) has thrown down the gauntlet. As the SEC’s website explains, the…
Blog
New York Right to Repair Bill Is a Bad Idea
Do consumers have the right to repair their smartphones, tablets, and laptops? The short answer is yes. While copyright law may have some room for…
Citation
CEI’s Joel Zinberg Joins Mornings with Maria to Discuss the Inflation Reduction Act
CEI Senior Fellow Joel Zinberg joined Mornings with Maria on Fox Business Network to discuss the Inflation Reduction Act.
Real Clear Policy
New York’s Digital Fair Repair Act Doesn’t Defend Property Rights, It Attacks Them
Consumers shouldn’t face legal penalties for fixing or altering personal electronic devices like smartphones for their own use. The “right to repair” movement, led…
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Opposing Credit Card Competition Act
Dear Member of Congress: We, the undersigned organizations, oppose the inaccurately named Credit Card Competition Act of 2022 (S. 4674). The bill is…
The New York Post
Key to CDC reform is undoing mission creep — and tossing woke programs
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky has finally admitted what has been obvious to most observers for 2½ years: The agency has been…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The 2022 Federal Register surpassed 50,000 pages last week. Meanwhile, agencies issued new regulations ranging from hearing aids to vessel repair duties. On to the…
Blog
CDC Restructuring Shows that Institutions Matter
One of my policy mantras is that institutions matter. That’s why the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) restructuring announcement is big…
Blog
Prominent Short Sellers Target ESG-themed Firms
For a long while, my CEI colleagues and I have touted the vital role that short sellers play in a free market economy. CEI Founder…
News Release
Regulations Impede Innovation in Financial Services; Regulatory Sandboxes Are the Solution: CEI Report
A new Competitive Enterprise Institute report discusses the regulatory barriers financial services companies face in trying to bring innovative products and services to consumers…
Study
How Regulatory Sandbox Programs Can Promote Technological Innovation and Consumer Welfare
Around the world, leading financial centers seek to attract companies capable of developing innovative financial products and services. From blockchain-based payments to alternative credit scoring…
Blog
SEC Attempts to Regulate Indefinable “ESG” Topics
Today is the filing deadline for public comments on a new Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed rule titled “Investment Company Names.” This proposal…
Blog
Megaportals for Guidance Documents: Toward Emergency 2025 Legislation to Correct Biden’s “Whole-of-Government” Incursions
In preparing an August 2022 update on executive branch sub-regulatory guidance documents and memoranda (the observable tally is 107,000 but vastly more exist), a…
Comment
CEI Comment on SEC ‘Investment Company Names’ Rule
Introduction The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) is pleased to have the opportunity to comment on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) current notice of proposed…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The FBI raided former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. Meanwhile, agencies issued new regulations ranging from street markings to salmonella prevention. On to the…
Blog
Progressives Need Democracy, Not Technocracy
As Democrats debate the merits over legislative versus administrative action on topics ranging from climate change to gun control, they face a fundamental decision: technocracy…
Real Clear Energy
An Update on Anti-West Virginia Scheming in the Schumer-Manchin Reconciliation Bill
Last Friday I discussed two provisions in the misnamed Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) that seemingly aim to rebut the Supreme Court’s recent landmark decision in West Virginia…
Blog
How the Inflation Reduction Act Favors Unions over Taxpayers
The word “prevailing” appears 27 times in the text of the misleadingly named Inflation Reduction Act, which was passed by Congress Sunday and…
Blog
CPI Gives Reason for Cautious Optimism on Inflation
Inflation may finally be coming down. July’s month-to-month Consumer Price Index (CPI) increase dropped to zero last month, down from 1.3 percent in June. The…
Blog
Federal Agency Guidance Document Inventory Tops 107,000 Entries
Federal statutes appear in the U.S. Code. Regulations, pass through the Federal Register, and come to rest in the Code of Federal Regulations. But no…
Blog
CEI Submits Comment Opposing EPA Proposed Rule Allowing States to Use Clean Water Act as a Climate Policy Tool
Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute submitted a comment to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on its proposed regulatory changes to Section 401 of the…
Comment
CEI Comments to EPA Regarding Environmental Protection Agency, Clean Water Act Section 401 Water Quality Certification Improvement Rule, Proposed Rule
INTRODUCTION The Competitive Enterprise Institute is a policy and analysis organization committed to advancing the principles of free markets and limited government. We are particularly…
C-SPAN
Video: Senior Fellow Joel Zinberg Joins C-SPAN to Discuss Senate Democratic Health Care and Prescription Drug Proposals
Senior Fellow Joel Zinberg joined the Washington Journal to discuss Senate Democratic Health Care and Prescription Drug Proposals. Click here to read more.
Wall Street Journal
The FTC Heads for Legal Trouble
For students of federal regulatory power, the most interesting agency in Washington these days is the Federal Trade Commission. But not for the reasons FTC…
Wall Street Journal
The FTC Heads for Legal Trouble
For students of federal regulatory power, the most interesting agency in Washington these days is the Federal Trade Commission. But not for the reasons FTC…
Blog
How the Inflation Reduction Act Will Expand Regulation
Ever since observers began tallying rule counts and pages in the Federal Register, detractors have complained about what poor measures such devices are. They might…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The Inflation Reduction Act, which would not reduce inflation, is now expected to pass after Sen. Kyrsten Sinema agreed to sign on. Meanwhile, agencies issued…
Inside Sources
Counterpoint: Manchin Disappoints With Inflation Reduction Act
Throughout Joe Biden’s presidency, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., has acted as a check on his party’s worst excesses. Manchin has stopped billions, possibly trillions, of…
Crowdfund Insider
The Crypto Revolution Has Just Started
Hot summer temperatures have done nothing for the current “crypto winter,” which has seen a $2 trillion market drop from highs last year.
Wall Street Journal
How Miami ‘Caught a Wave’ and Became the Hot New Tech Hub
This city has become the favorite destination for people escaping progressive dystopias like San Francisco and New York. During the pandemic it had the country’s…
Blog
Why Carried Interest Tax Hike Deserves to Die in IRA and Otherwise
The Inflation Reduction Act (referred to by critics such as Phil Kerpen as the Income Reduction Act) will likely be voted on in the…
News Release
U.S. Economy Adds 528k Jobs In July Amid Inflation and Shrinking GDP, but Congress isn’t Helping: CEI Analysis
The U.S. economy added 528,000 in July, and the unemployment rate edged down to 3.5 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.
Blog
Does the Schumer-Manchin Bill Undercut West Virginia v. EPA? No, But Not For Lack of Trying
This Wednesday on Fox Business with Larry Kudlow and later on Fox News with Sean Hannity, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) warned that buried…
News Release
Senate Votes on Sensible Reforms to Fix Broken Environmental Permitting System
In a vote that brings big implications for energy, mining, and infrastructure, the Senate voted today for reforms that would make improvements in the nation’s…
Blog
How to Make Official Time Even Worse
“Official time” is the practice of allowing members of public sector unions to conduct union business while getting paid for the regular government job…
Blog
Think Handouts to Rich Electric Vehicle Buyers Are Unfair? Check Out the Inflation Reduction Act’s Homeowner Tax Breaks
The Manchin-Schumer Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 extends the current tax credits up to $7,500 for electric vehicles (EVs). Among the many flaws with…
Blog
Important NEPA Reform Vote in Senate this Week, with Implications for the Schumer-Manchin Package
The Senate may vote as soon as this week to reinstate Trump administration reforms to the federal permit process under the National Environmental Policy Act…
Letters
Coalition Urges Congress to Reauthorize FCC’s Spectrum Authority
We, the undersigned, write this letter to express our support for H.R. 7624, the Extending America’s Spectrum Auction Leadership Act of 2022, which would extend…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
GDP shrank, the Federal Reserve increased the federal funds rate, the Senate passed the CHIPS+ Act to subsidize chipmakers, and the Build…
Blog
Net Zero, Joe Manchin, and High Energy Prices
This morning National Review published my article expressing skepticism that the advance of “net-zero” climate policy is inevitable (or even likely). It was written…
National Review
No, Net Zero Is Not ‘Inevitable’ — It Might Not Even Be Likely
When it comes to debates over energy policy and climate change, environmental activists have long enjoyed one massive advantage. It’s not any moral, economic, or…
Blog
Regulators Going off the Rails on a Crazy Train
One year after a supply chain crisis caused shortages across the nation, the Biden administration is trying to prevent railroads from modernizing and automating.
Wall Street Journal
The 20-Year Experiment Holding America Back
Many commentators these days, both progressive and conservative, decry a lack of opportunities for the American middle class, the concentration of certain industries under a…
News Release
GDP Woes Worsened by Lawmakers’ ‘Ready, Fire!, Aim” Spending Spree
Gross domestic product fell by 0.2 percent in the second quarter, according to the U.S. Commerce Department. Already there was a 0.4 percent decline in…
News Release
Manchin/Schumer Deal on Health Care, Energy Spending is Bad News for Inflation, Taxpayers
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Joe Manchin reportedly announced a surprise deal on July 27 that resuscitates Democrats’ big government spending ambitions on…
News Release
CEI Report: Stablecoin Benefits Threatened by Lawmakers, Regulators
Stablecoins can revolutionize payment systems, provide a stable store of value for people living under totalitarian or corrupt regimes, and lower transaction costs (particularly for…
Blog
As Congress Mulls Stablecoin Law, CEI Shows the Way
Reports sprung last weekend that consensus stablecoin legislation from the House Financial Services Committee was near ready. While Congress is unlikely to debate…
Study
A Market Approach to Regulating Stablecoins, the Future’s Money
Executive Summary The cryptocurrency sector experienced its most successful year to date in 2021. Familiar digital assets Bitcoin and Ethereum hit record values, as the…
News Release
Statement by CEI Senior Fellow Ryan Young on the Fed’s Interest Rate Hike
The Federal Reserve today announced a 0.75 percentage point increase in the federal funds rate. It is the fourth such increase this year, and part…
News Release
Senate-Passed Corporate Welfare “CHIPS” Bill Won’t Help U.S. Companies Out-Compete China
The Senate today passed the CHIPS+ Act, a bill that would hand over tens of billions of tax dollars to domestic production of semiconductors. CEI…
Blog
The Facebook Antitrust Case Is Aging Poorly
Antitrust cases often take years to litigate. While wasteful, this isn’t always a bad thing. The politics surrounding a case might stay the same, but…
Letters
CEI Leads Coalition Opposing the Confirmation of Joseph Goffman as EPA’s Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation
Dear Chairman Carper, Ranking Member Capito, and Members of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works: The undersigned organizations and individuals write to express…
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Letter on Proposed Antitrust Bills that Would Harm Consumers
We, the undersigned economic, legal, and public policy experts, write to express concern overlegislative and executive branch proposals aimed at dramatically expanding government antitrustand competition…
Blog
Getting Inflation Wrong and Making It Right
Everyone makes mistakes. Owning up to them is an underrated life skill that is almost non-existent among political pundits. Doubling down when threatened is a…
Blog
Stomping FROGs: An Updated Inventory of Biden’s Elimination of Trump-Era Final Rules on Guidance Document Procedures
Since President Obama unleashed the pen and phone, federal agency guidance documents and the confusion and abuse surrounding them has been covered extensively.
National Interest
Anti-Trust Bills Will Harm U.S. Consumers and National Security
Proposed antitrust bills aimed at Big Tech will inadvertently put individual users and national security at risk. Three policies within the proposed legislation are especially problematic:…
The Hill
Isolating China through decoupling would be a mistake
What should be the goal of America’s trade policy with China? The simple answer would be mutually beneficial exchange of goods, services and payments. However,…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
President Biden signed the FORMULA Act, which will temporarily suspend baby formula tariffs and other regulatory measures that made the formula shortage worse. Footage emerged…
New York Times