Op-Eds
Failure is Not a (Government) Option
At his press conference on the debt ceiling negotiations, President Obama lamented that he’d rather “be talking about stuff that everybody welcomes, like new [government]…
Citation
At the University of North Dakota, Yes Also Means No
Citation
One Year Later: Frank-Dodd “Reform” Leaves Fannie and Freddie Intact
Blog
National Security Agency: The “Enron” of U.S. Intelligence
Blog
Wasteful Education Spending Continues Despite Laughable Claim that Spending has Been Cut to the Bone
As Heather MacDonald notes, California state universities still are wasting plenty of money despite dishonestly claiming to have cut spending "to the bone”:…
Blog
Competitors: Stop That Merger!
Real competition happens in the market. Not in Washington.
Blog
Scientific American Busts Organic Food Myths
Over at the Scientific American magazine blogs, science writer Christie Wilcox takes on some of the mythology surrounding organic foods, including the…
Blog
Morning Media Summary
Citation
No Union, Including SEIU, Should Be Above the Law
Op-Eds
Labor Unions Stop the Music
Mozart and Chopin have never had a nemesis like a union scorned. All around the nation, orchestras and symphonies are going silent, crushed by inflexible…
Op-Eds
Put a Ceiling on Overregulation
President Barack Obama may have inadvertently revealed one area of common ground with the Republicans during his recent news conference laying out sharp differences with…
Washington Times
Greens Go for the Gold, Leave Us in the Red
Washington Times
SEIU’s Dirty Tactics Exposed
News Release
Berlau Blasts Cordray Consumer Nomination and Dodd-Frank
Daily Caller
Competitors: Stop That Merger!
AT&T and T-Mobile would like to merge. The $39 billion deal would make them the largest mobile phone service provider in the country. Not everyone…
Blog
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Nominee Richard Cordray Supports Price Controls and Borrower Bailouts
Last Thursday, before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau architect Elizabeth Warren insisted that her priority was not to ban certain…
Blog
Federal Job Security
More workers die than get fired at many federal agencies.
Blog
CCAF objection in Blessing v. Sirius XM Radio
The Center for Class Action Fairness LLC objected today to a valueless class action settlement: the objection, filed in the Southern District of New…
Newsletter
Drilling Permits, Pennsylvannia Liquor Regulations, and the Regulation of the Day
Blog
Free Speech versus Compelled Praise for Diversity
Can the government force those it licenses to parrot its praise for "diversity"? The Colorado Department of Human Services Child Care Division thinks so, issuing…
Blog
Morning Media Summary
Blog
Regulation of the Day 185: How to Wear Pants
Collinsville, Illinois officials know that when you look good, you feel good. That’s why they are now regulating the height at which people shall wear…
Blog
Alcohol Regulation Roundup: July 19, 2011
California: In an attempt to lower the rates of minors drinking alcohol, a bill is being pushed that would prevent grocery store patrons from…
Daily Caller
July 19 Roundup: Will Congress Reverse This Term’s Much-Attacked SCOTUS Decisions?
Daily Caller
It’s for the Children
The government robber barons justify themselves by telling you that big government is for your own good or, even better, “it’s for the children!” What…
Yahoo! News
NASA’s Inconvenient Ruse: The Goddard Institute For Space Studies
Yahoo! News
Day Cares Can’t Mandate Diversity
It is ridiculous that a bossy Colorado state agency proposed forcing day care centers to post two or more visual displays “presenting diversity in a…
Economic Times of India
Will Rivals Do to Google What Facebook Did to MySpace?
Blog
Another Shot at Pennsylvania Liquor Privatization
Ah, Pennsylvania: home sweet home. The state known for its soft pretzels, Hershey’s chocolate and Sylvester Stallone statues. Unfortunately, it has also…
Comment
Russ Brown to Testify Before the NLRB
Full Document Available in PDF Russ Brown, Vice President at the Labor Relations Institute, will…
Blog
Police Shut Down Renegade Lemonade Stand
Vendors inside the car show didn't appreciate the competition. So they talked the city government into passing a new ordinance that put the girls out…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 184: Picking up Dog Poop
A Vienna, Austria man was recently jailed for not picking up after his Great Danes.
Blog
British Social Workers Tear Apart Happy Families, Seize Children from Loving Parents
In Britain, social workers and child-protective services are tearing apart happy families, and seizing children from loving parents "for no good reason," notes Christopher…
Blog
Morning Media Summary
One News Now
Regs Reform Merely a Pittance
One News Now
Vincent Vernuccio Exposes SEIU Manual of Dirty Tricks
Vincent Vernuccio discusses new attempts by unions, specifically SEIU, to pressure and coerce employers and corporations as a way to get around dwindling numbers.
One News Now
Vincent Vernuccio on SEIU Organizing Tactics Manual
Vincent Vernuccio discusses new attempts by unions, specifically the SEIU, to pressure and coerce employers and corporations as a way to get around dwindling numbers.
Blog
Permit More Permits, Please
Want jobs? The National Ocean Industries Association and the American Petroleum Institute have the answer: restore the number of exploration and offshore drilling permits…
One News Now
Obama Ideology All the Way Down
Blog
The President’s Health Care Fables
The president pushed the health care bill through Congress using a series of fables -- health insurance horror stories…
One News Now
President Obama Doesn’t Know the First Thing About Economics
As the Oscar buzz surrounding actress Meryl Streep keeps growing — thanks to her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher, it’s worth remembering one of the real…
Big Government
Unnecessary Government Intervention
Big Government
Labor’s New Strategy: Intimidation for Dummies
In the past decade, unions have become increasingly desperate to obtain new dues-paying members. An example of how desperate can be found in a 70-plus-page…
Blog
Liquor Wholesaler Domination in Washington, D.C.
Terroirist blogger David White has posted a good commentary on the Specialty Wine Retailers Association report on alcohol wholesaler spending: “Toward…
Blog
Greens’ “Skin-Deep” Science on Sunscreen
It’s summer and, not surprisingly, environmental activists at the Environmental Working Group (EWG) are publishing summer-themed scare reports. This year, they “update” their a…
Blog
Stealing You Blind: Some Solutions to Over-Government
The central theme of my new book Stealing You Blind is that America is over-governed – at federal, state, and local level (there’s a…
Blog
NYC Bureaucrat Tries to Harsh Urban Apiarist’s Buzz for Not “Watering” Beehive
Although New York City reversed its position on urban beekeeping in Spring 2010 and legalized the practice, there are apparently still some government employees with…
Blog
Morning Media Summary
Blog
Obama Administration Funds Special-Interest Groups, Wipes Out Jobs, Refuses to Cut Wasteful Spending
The EPA has donated millions to the very environmental groups that routinely sue it. Then, when they sue it, it gives them millions…
Big Government
Time to Re-Privatize Fire Departments
National Review
Highway Robbery
National Review
A Training Manual for Right-Sizing Government
Attempting to reduce the size of government program-by-program is almost certainly a fool’s errand. With a trillion-dollar deficit looming every year, ending earmarks or finding…
National Review
Let’s Not Repeat Mortgage Mistakes
You write that the Obama administration decided last year to let “the market sort things out” regarding America’s housing woes in lieu of government intervention.
Wall Street Journal
Let There Be Light Bulbs
Wall Street Journal
Is Obama Administration Rolling Over on Meritless Lawsuits Against the Government to Pay Off Trial-Lawyer Allies at the Expense of Taxpayers?
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition in Support of the Wireless Tax Fairness Act
Full Document Available as PDF CEI has signed a letter along with a coalition of other…
Blog
CEI Podcast for July 14, 2011: The Incandescent Light Bulb Ban
Have a listen here. Earlier this week, General Electric (GE) CEO Jeffrey Immelt gave a speech at a conference on free enterprise. Energy Policy…
Blog
Debt Ceiling Deal of 1996 Set Regulatory Reform Precedent
In National Review this week, Wayne Crews and I make the case for including regulatory reform in a debt ceiling package. "Any hike in…
Blog
$130,000 in Stimulus Funds Spent for Book on “White Privilege” that Attacks Colorblindness
The Omaha Public Schools spent $130,000 in federal stimulus funds to buy a diversity manual for 8,000 teachers, administrators, support staffers -- even…
Blog
Morning Media Summary
Wall Street Journal
Bush Years Imposed Crushing Regulatory Burdens
Among the biggest lies told by liberals over the past few years is that the administration of President George W. Bush was some sort of…
Wall Street Journal
Omaha Public School Stimulus Money Teaches Kids to Stop ‘Being a Color-Blind’ Society
Wall Street Journal
July 14 Roundup: Headed for SCOTUS?
News Release
CEI Calls For ‘Ceiling’ on Regulation in Debt Ceiling Deal
Wall Street Journal
Chris Horner on “Green” Programs and the War on Styrofoam
Chris Horner addresses the failure of "green" programs, both in terms of cost and purpose. He discusses the many millions wasted by the government…
Newsletter
Fannie Mae, Shake Shack, and Stealing You Blind
Blog
Massachusetts’ Collective Bargaining Law: A Worry for the Obama Administration?
It's not easy being a governor or state legislator these days. With states facing deep budget deficits, state lawmakers around the nation are working to…
Blog
Morning Media Summary
Wall Street Journal
Bureaucrats Are Stealing Americans Blind
Wall Street Journal
Lights Out
Bellingham (WA) Herald
Government to Google: All Search Results Must Appear First
According to legend, when Winston Churchill and his lifelong foe Clement Attlee ran into each other at a row of urinals in the House of…
Bellingham (WA) Herald
Leahy Hearing Pushes “SCOTUS Soft on Business” Theme
Bellingham (WA) Herald
The Debt Ceiling, Thomas Jefferson and the Semi-Virtue of a Balanced Budget Amendment
I’m for a balanced budget, even an amendment, but I’m more for the principle of limited government. A federal government that picks a national bird…
Bellingham (WA) Herald
FTC Ban on Junk Food Ads Would do More Harm than Good
The Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) supposedly voluntary guidelines for marketing food products to children, if adopted, would undermine free speech, seriously hinder small businesses, consumer…
Blog
Fannie Mae Played a Bigger Role in the Financial Crisis than Previously Thought
In the Wall Street Journal, Peter Wallison, who prophetically warned against the risky practices of mortgage giant Fannie Mae, describes the key role…
Blog
A Free-Market Told-You-So
Blog
Michelle Obama’s 1700 Calorie Hypocrisy
I am no fan of ad hominem attacks, especially when it’s the President and his administration that deserve true criticism for their policies. So, when…
Blog
CEI’s Iain Murray Interviewed on New Book, Stealing You Blind
CEI Vice President for Strategy, and director of CEI’s Center for Economic Freedom, Iain Murray has a new book, Stealing You Blind: How Government…
Blog
Obama Makes Deficit-Reduction Deal Harder by Appearing to Plot to Use Tax Increases for Spending, Rather Than Debt Reduction
Publicly, President Obama has suggested a grand bargain to get America's staggering budget deficits under control, a deal in which Republicans would agree to…
Blog
Immelt Pleads for Tax Holiday to Enhance GE Rent-Seeking
Yesterday, arch rent-seeker Jeffrey Immelt, General Electric CEO and Obama’s job czar, headlined the “Campaign for Free Enterprise” job summit. In typical fashion, Immelt had…
Newsletter
Guns, Ethanol, and the Regulation of the Day
Blog
Morning Media Summary
Bellingham (WA) Herald
Put a Ceiling on Overregulation
After months of saying it wanted a “clean” hike in borrowing authority, the Obama administration now proclaims it wants to do something “big” in a…
Daily Caller
10 Questions with ‘Stealing You Blind’ Author Iain Murray
News Max
Book: Red Tape, Druggie Monkeys Bankrupting US
News Max
Scientists Developing Fungus-Resistant Wheat
News Max
Immelt Met by Protestors: ‘Hey! Hey! Ho! Ho! Cronyism Has Got to Go!’
News Release
Proposed Interagency “Voluntary” Guidelines — Censoring Speech While Stifling Free Enterprise
Blog
Justice Department’s Witch Hunt Against Banks Will Harm Economy
The Justice Department is now extorting multimillion dollar settlements from banks, by accusing them of racial discrimination because they use traditional, non-racist lending criteria…
Blog
Energy Secretary Wants to Force You to Save Money
Energy Secretary Steven Chu admitted the paternalistic motivation for the effective ban on incandescent light-bulbs on Friday. Such honesty from a bureaucrat is somewhat…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 183: Throwing Wet Sponges
Apparently British regulators don’t think their subjects are sponge-worthy.
Blog
Morning Media Summary
News Release
Government Bureaucrats “Stealing You Blind,” New Book Reveals
Washington, D.C., July 11, 2011 – So-called public servants are “stealing you blind” with inflated salaries, early retirement, massive pensions, leaving a legacy of red…
News Max
Government Pay Raises–It’s an Inside Con Job
Washington Examiner
The New Robber Barons
Washington Examiner
Protestors Disapprove of Immelt’s Keynote Speech on Creating Jobs
Washington Examiner
The Left’s 14th Amendment Lie
Washington Examiner
Why Republicans Are Fighting to Save the 30-Cent Light Bulb
New York Times
Red Tape Update: I Demand That You Audit Me
Blog
Stimulus Dollars Funded Mexican Coffin Industry through “Operation Fast and Furious”
Not content with just using American tax dollars to subsidize foreign "green jobs" that replaced U.S. jobs, the Obama administration used stimulus dollars…