Blog
TSA Sing-Along
The good folks at Reason.tv have released an educational music video about the TSA featuring singer-songwriter-comedian Remy. Worth watching.
Blog
Is the U.S. Serious About Trade and Economic Growth — Or About Currying Favor with Trade Unions?
Is the U.S. serious about trade or does the Obama administration just want to cater to union supporters and set up more obstacles for trade…
Blog
Delaware to Erase a Remnant of Prohibition?
On April 6, a remarkable bill was quietly introduced in the Delaware state house. If it passes and is signed into law,…
Blog
This Time, Many Jobs May Be Gone For Good
Pajamas Media Americans have a lover’s faith in technology. And no wonder: for much of American history, technological innovation has lifted millions out of poverty,…
Blog
Morning Media Summary
Blog
Felix Salmon on Internet Gambling
He writes: But it’s insane to legalize an activity on the grounds that some tiny fraction of the people doing it are very successful…
Blog
Fighting Back Against Obama’s Big Labor Favoritism
Republicans in both Houses of Congress are answering the Obama administration’s overreach in union favoritism. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Oversight Committee…
Blog
Colorado Governor Hickenlooper Overturns Low-Alcohol Ban
Blog
NFL Case Illustrates Power of Unions
The NFL's protracted labor dispute with The Union Formerly Known As The NFL Players' Association (TUFKATNFLPA) turned another corner yesterday. An Appellate Court ruling granted…
Blog
Obama Administration Undermines Safeguards for Teachers and Students
In the Washington Examiner, I explain how the Education Department is both undermining protections for falsely-accused students and teachers, and reducing the accuracy…
Blog
Vote Expected Soon on Judicial Nomination of Left-Wing Law Professor Goodwin Liu
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has filed a cloture petition on the pending nomination of Berkeley Law Professor Goodwin Liu to the Ninth Circuit…
Blog
CEI Podcast for May 18, 2011: Suing Chuck E. Cheese
Communications Coordinator Lee Doren breaks down a bizarre class action lawsuit against Chuck E. Cheese's. The suit accuses the company of offering gambling services to…
Blog
Unionization by Regulation: House Oversight Committee Seeks Answers from Politicized NLRB, NMB
As unions continue to decline in their private sector membership, union leaders are seeking political solutions to their problems. President Obama will need organized labor’s support…
Newsletter
Obamacare Amicus Brief, Protect IP, and Swipe Fees
Blog
Tom Palmer on the Morality of Profit
The Atlas Economic Research Foundation‘s Tom Palmer has a new video explaining why profits are moral and how the profit motive brings out…
Blog
Morning Media Summary
News Release
IRS Global Data Sharing Threatens Bank Solvency, Privacy and Human Rights
Contact: Lee Doren, 202-331-2259 Nicole Ciandella, 202-331-2773 Washington, D.C., May 18, 2011 – A proposed rule from the Internal Revenue Service…
Citation
More on Sean Lanigan and False Accusations
Citation
The Value and Price of College
Blog
Planning to Disaster: Paso Robles, Calif. Adopts Form-Based Code
I’ve previously written about the dangers of form-based codes (see here, for instance), the Euclidian zoning replacements that, rather than gut government planning abilities,…
Blog
Trade Week: Fair Trade Isn’t Fair
As I passed by the Commerce Department on my way in to work this morning, I saw the bureaucrats had erected a banner for…
Blog
Fighting for its Life: Absolute Poker Makes a Deal with Feds
In 2002, four fraternity brothers from the University of Montana founded an online gambling platform that became one of the most popular online casinos for…
Blog
USDA’s War on Potatoes
The Wall Street Journal reports today that the U.S. Department of Agriculture is proposing to “eliminate the ‘white potato’ — defined…
Blog
Morning Media Summary
News Release
Free Market Groups Applaud Proposed Privacy Law Reforms
Washington, D.C., May 17, 2011 – Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) today introduced legislation (S. 1011) to reform the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA). The…
Blog
Freakonomics Author Steve Levitt on Internet Poker
Steve Levitt, author of the well known pop-economics book Freakonomics, has a recent post explaining his opposition to the crackdown on Internet gambling.
CEI Planet
CEI Planet: March – April 2011
Blog
Greenland Flourishes Due to Global Warming and Climate Change
Alarmists have been decrying the effects of global warming on Greenland for years, even though Greenland was greenest during the Medieval Warm Period, and Greenland’s Vikings,…
Newsletter
NLRB Overreach, Public Transit, and the Regulation of the Day
Blog
Morning Media Summary
Op-Eds
Falsely Accused Teachers and Students Will Be Harmed by New Education Department Policy
The Washington Post had a sad story on May 14 about a school teacher falsely accused of sexual misconduct by a student with a…
Op-Eds
If You Care About Immigration, You Should Care About the STAPLE Act
President Obama’s immigration speech last week suffered from political schizophrenia. Early on he bragged of his administration’s efforts to stop undocumented immigration, but later…
Blog
CEI Files Another Amicus Brief Challenging Obamacare
Debate over the constitutionality of the massive health care law passed in 2010 has focused on its "individual mandate": the requirement that individuals buy health…
Blog
Temporarily Buoyed by Japanese Earthquake, General Motors Looks for Profit Overseas
"GM sees China as a road to profit," reports the Washington Post today. "GM last year sold more cars in China than in the…
Blog
AOL cy pres Ninth Circuit appeal oral argument set
I’ll be arguing the AOL cy pres case June 7 in Pasadena. (My record in Ninth Circuit oral arguments to date: 2-0, with…
Citation
Myron Ebell on the Endangered Species Act
Myron Ebell, Director of CEI’s Center for Energy and Environment, debates the merits and unintended consequences of the Endangered Species Act. Myron explains that despite…
Blog
PROTECT IP Act: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Combating "rogue websites" is a top priority for many in Congress this year. Lawmakers have held several hearings over the past few months…
Blog
Stetson v. West Publishing Corp. – BarBri Class Action Settlement
Because the 170,000 class members are law students and lawyers, I’ve been getting a lot of inquiries about this case and its coupon settlement. Stay…
Blog
Durbin ‘Swipe Fee’ Price Controls — Bernanke’s Warning and Dean Baker’s Fudge of Fed Data on Costs
Even considering the usually sympathetic audience at the Huffington Post, liberal economist Dean Baker had a tough task of persuasion with his Monday column defending…
Newsletter
Walmart, Hormones in Milk, and the EPA
Blog
Morning Media Summary
Op-Eds
Feds’ Online Poker Shutdown Assaults Internet Freedom
On April 15, a day now known as “Black Friday”, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) effectively shut down three major online poker websites by…
Citation
Testimony of Roger Clegg Before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights on the Federal Government’s Role in Preventing Student Harassment (PDF)
Citation
Testimony of Kenneth L. Marcus Before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights on ‘Religious Harassment in the Public Schools’ (PDF)
Blog
Senators Introduce Bill to Push Back against NLRB Overreach
Reacting to the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) blatant efforts to promote organized labor’s agenda, Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 174: Lying about the Size of the Fish You Caught
If you live in Texas, look over your shoulder before you tell a tall tale about your last fishing trip.
Blog
Brookings Report: Time to Fix America’s Broken Transit Policy
Following my post yesterday on Portland’s immense rail transit waste comes this new report from the Brookings Institution. Released today, the report (and…
Blog
Raise Awareness on Your Own Time
Openmarket.org The Washington Examiner had a piece that hits close to home, as I have seen this waste firsthand. I’m sure many in D.C.
Blog
Raise Awareness on Your Own Time
The Washington Examiner had a piece that hits close to home, as I have seen this waste firsthand. I’m sure many in D.C. area…
Blog
There is No More Fat to Trim from Government Budgets, Part 3
The USDA is spending $2 million to take pictures of what San Antonio school children eat for lunch.
Legal Brief
Brief Amici Curiae of Minnesota Legislators and North Carolina Legislative Leaders in Support of Plaintiffs-Appellees/Cross-Appellants
Full Document Available in PDF Court below correctly found that the ACA…
Blog
TSA Pats Down Infant
Surprisingly, no explosives were found during extra screening, including what a TSA official describes as a "modified pat-down" of the suspicious infant.
Blog
Morning Media Summary
News Release
CEI Calls PROTECT IP Act “an Improvement” Over COICA
Today, three U.S. Senators introduced the PROTECT IP Act (bill text), which would establish new mechanisms for combating “rogue” Internet sites that are…
Blog
Is Trade Adjustment Assistance a Pre-Condition for Pending Trade Agreements?
Today, at the Senate Finance Committee’s hearing on the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA), the committee chairman, ranking Republican, and the U.S. Trade Representative’s…
Blog
Who’s Afraid of Walmart?
As surely as summer follows spring, it seems like every new Walmart store opening announcement in a major city is now followed by protests. The…
Blog
Rail Transit Pipe Dream is Alive and Not-So-Well in Portland
If you’ve been following the free-market critiques of rail transit, you know that Portland, while frequently touted as “the city that works” by lefty…
Blog
Hormones in Milk: They Do a Body Good
Today's Washington Post Food section contains a number of articles following up on the Post's "The Future…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 173: Yellow Pages
San Francisco is phasing out the distribution of hard-copy Yellow Pages.
Blog
Time to Recharter Executive Agencies
Several government agencies are mightier today than traditional departments like the Treasury. For instance, the EPA is one of the major regulatory bodies and…
Blog
The FCC is Broken
A new report in The Hill notes House Republicans’ concern over “dysfunction” at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the need for overhaul. Their…
Blog
NLRB vs. Arizona, South Dakota
By Chris Woodward/Onenewsnow.com A labor policy expert is blasting the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for filing lawsuits over secret ballot legislation. The legal complaints…
Newsletter
Rep. Jackson, Baby Bottles, and Alcohol Regulation
Blog
Morning Media Summary
Op-Eds
When Washington Fails a Cost-Benefit Test
Today I’m pretending I’m a bureaucrat, and I’ve decided you shouldn’t do backflips on a pogo stick. Also, nousing a pogo…
Citation
Stop the Natural Gas Streaker!
One News Now
NLRB vs. Arizona, South Dakota
Blog
New Jersey Bill Would Criminalize Taking Photos of Kids
Last week, a New Jersey State Assembly committee considered a bill that would make it illegal to photograph minors without parental consent. The committee ultimately…
Blog
Congressional Economics
Congress might as well pass a law guaranteeing an above-average lifestyle for all Americans.
Blog
Morning Media Summary
News Release
Obama Gives Half-Hearted Speech on Immigration Reform
Washington, D.C., May 10, 2011 — The Competitive Enterprise Institute is cautiously optimistic about President Obama’s call for comprehensive immigration reform. Some of his…
American Spectator
Congressional Economics
The House of Representatives is not exactly a bastion of economic knowledge. But it can be a goldmine for economic educators if they know where…
Blog
Alcohol Regulation Roundup: May 9, 2011
While some states seem to never change at all, this Monday's Alcohol Regulation Roundup highlights some pleasant possibilities on the horizon.
Newsletter
CBO Pension Report, HIV Testing, and Florida
Blog
Morning Media Summary
American Spectator
Oregon’s Anti-BPA Packaging Legislation May Jeopardize Public Health
The Oregon Senate recently voted in favor of SB 695, which would ban BPA use for children’s food containers, baby bottles and sippy cups…
American Spectator
Conservatives blast T. Boone Pickens’ plan to seek new subsidies for natural gas vehicles
Seattle PI
Telecom deal not clear as a bell
Blog
New CBO Pension Report: Underfunding Could Be Higher
That state and local governments face serious pension funding problems isn't a particularly controversial contention. However, the question of how much they're underfunded by is…
Blog
Clinic for Porn Actors Closes, AIDS Group Rejoices
After years of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation trashing them in the media, the Adult Industry Medical Foundation (aka AIM) has closed its doors for good,…
Newsletter
CEI Weekly: Special Interests Walk Away With Multi-Million Dollar Obamacare Handouts
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CEI Weekly: Special Interests Walk Away with Multi-Million Dollar Obamacare Handouts
Newsletter
Organic Food, Free Trade, and the CEI Podcast
Blog
Regulation of the Day 172: Bestiality and Baggy Pants
NBC Miami's Brian Hamacher with the second-best lede I've read this week: "Floridians are going to have to start pulling up their pants and stop…
Blog
Morning Media Summary
Blog
CEI Podcast for May 5, 2011: Salt
A new study says that high-salt diets may not be as harmful as once thought. Research Associate Daniel Compton takes a look.
Baltimore Sun
BPA Poses Serious Health Risk to Children
The Washington Times
State Cartel Looking to Hike Internet Taxes
A handful of U.S. senators are teeing up legislation to capture more tax revenue on Internet purchases. Certainly there are valid (and some not so…
National Review
Raise DC Cab Fares; Don’t Create a Cartel
Blog
Prince Charles Says, “Let Them Eat Organic”
HRH the Prince of Wales delivered the keynote address at The Washington Post's "Future of Food" conference yesterday at Georgetown University.
Blog
It’s Nothing Death, Poverty, and Ignorance Can’t Fix
The New York Times “Room for Debate” frets today about overpopulation (h/t Don Boudreaux). Julian Simon and liberty have long since come…
Newsletter
Free Trade, Union Handouts, and Early Retirement
Blog
Regulation of the Day 171: Cream Puffs
This blog will be paying close attention to the heated legislative battle in Madison to give the delicious cream puff its due.
Blog
Morning Media Summary
Blog
Progress on Free Trade — With Strings Attached
Looks like there could finally be some progress on long-pending free trade agreements (FTAs). Yesterday U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said that the administration…
One News Now
Unconstitutional to Take Unhealthy Foods off the Market
Blog
Congress Needs to Fix “Orphan Works” Gap in Copyright Law
I recently blogged at the Examiner on the frustrating saga of the Savory Collection, a collection of rare jazz recordings from the late 1930s…
Letters
Coalition Letter to the House Judiciary Committee: Rein in the DOJ
Full Document Available in PDF Dear Member, We are a coalition of consumer advocates and free market organizations,…
Blog
Free Trade Agreements Don’t Kill Jobs
Over at the Daily Caller, I look at employment data and find out that the labor force has grown by 23 million people since NAFTA…
Blog
Union Health Dependent on Obamacare
Openmarket.org The Obama administration through Obamacare (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) steadily gives competitive advantages to Big Labor. Benefits for top political donors of…