The Wall Street Journal
Lina Khan’s Failed FTC Experiment
President Biden has embraced modern progressivism and ditched his liberal economic-policy inheritance. Nowhere is this more striking than in competition policy—the past 40 years…
Wall Street Journal
Biden Is Coming for Your Air Conditioner
Your next new home air conditioner could set you back $12,000 or more, with federal regulators contributing to the rising cost of staying cool.
Blog
House bill fights appliance regulatory overreach
The American people face a wave of new federal appliance regulations, and all of them are bad. But this week, the House of Representatives…
ITIF
“‘Khanservatives’ Are Wrong About Big Tech”
Joseph Coniglio with the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation discusses the ill-conceived alliance between Khanservatives and neo-Brandeisians.
Reuters
“US Lawmaker Probes FTC Work with Europe to Block Amazon iRobot Merger”
Reuters reports on Rep. James Comer’s (R-KY) recent inquiry into the FTC’s collusion with the EU to block mergers.
ICLE
“Labor Monopsony and Antitrust Enforcement: A Cautionary Tale”
Experts with the International Center for Law & Economics discuss the FTC’s fixation with labor policy in a new paper.
TechFreedom
“FTC Impersonation Rule Unworkable, Violates Section 230”
TechFreedom argues that the FTC’s trade regulation rule on the Impersonation of Government and Businesses is incompatible with Section 230.
ITIF
“Small Changes Could Strengthen the Proposed Fake Review Rule”
Becca Trate with the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation suggests improvements to the FTC’s proposed trade regulation rule on Use of Consumer Reviews and…
Wall Street Journal
“Lina Khan Wears Prada”
The Wall Street Journal‘s editorial board questions the FTC’s market definition in its recent challenge to the Tapestry/Capri merger.
Americans for Tax Reform
“Five Takeaways from House Judiciary’s Bombshell Report on Lina Khan’s Runaway FTC”
Tom Hebert from Americans for Tax Reform highlights key takeaways from the recent House Judiciary report on the FTC.
Reason
“Another Illegal Power Grab from the FTC”
Eric Boehm from Reason discusses the FTC’s employee noncompete ban.
Marketplace
Job satisfaction up, but may be near a plateau
CEI’s Sean Higgins is cited in Marketplace on employment satisfaction: These days, Sean Higgins at the Competitive Enterprise Institute think tank said…
Daily Caller
‘Gambling With The Grid’: New Data Highlights Achilles’ Heel Of One Of Biden’s Favorite Green Power Sources
CEI’s Paige Lambermont is cited in Daily Caller on energy policy: “This isn’t subsidies per kilowatt hour of generation. It’s raw subsidies.
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: government space innovation and pear marketing
Regulators had another busy week leading up to the likely Congressional Review Act deadline. Agencies issued new regulations ranging from bird harvests to partially…
Blog
Biden’s veto of joint employer rule CRA a blow to small businesses
President Biden’s veto Friday of a Congressional Review Act (CRA) bill rolling back the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) “joint…
Blog
How SAFER Banking Act poses new dangers to marijuana and other legal industries
Marijuana has been in the news lately, and the news seems to be overwhelmingly favorable to the industry in terms of reducing uncertainty as…
National Review
CA’s $20 Fast Food Minimum Wage Is a Regressive Tax
California’s new $20 an hour minimum wage for fast food restaurants has turned into a regressive tax on the state’s low-income residents. People who…
National Review
The Biden Administration Is Working Overtime to Make Work Less Flexible
The Biden administration has been putting in extra hours to quash the burgeoning trend of employment flexibility, and its latest effort is overhauling overtime rules.
News Release
April adds 175,000 jobs, signaling economic stress test: CEI analysis
The US economy added 175,000 jobs in April, a significantly lower number than economists were anticipating and signaling a major economic stress test…
Blog
House GOP prepares CRA resolutions against Biden climate-risk rules, including SEC climate disclosure rule
Members of the House Financial Services Committee have passed four Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolutions targeting four Biden-era climate-risk rulemakings. Among these…
Blog
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…
The American Spectator
Will California Hobble the US Railroad Industry?
CEI’s Patricia Patnode is cited in Reason on the EPA’s imposition of regulation: As Patricia Patnode of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, which…
Blog
Fed flirts with stimulus
As expected, the Federal Reserve signaled its commitment to fighting inflation by holding interest rates steady at this week’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting.
Blog
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…
Blog
Myths and facts about the PROVE IT Act
Myth: Supporting the PROVE IT Act (S. 1863) does not mean support for carbon taxes.Fact: Many bill supporters readily acknowledge that it will…
News Release
House Poised to Vote on Legislation to Reverse Biden’s Attacks on Oil and Gas Lease Sales
The House is expected to vote this week on legislation to reverse the Biden administration’s cancellation of oil leases in the Arctic…
Brownstone Institute
The Four Sins of ‘Thawteffery’
CEI’s Wayne Crews Ten Thousand Commandments was cited by the Brownstone Institute in an article: Such coercion stands behind the tax revenue,…
Blog
New FDA lab tests rule could bankrupt small labs
Yesterday the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that on May 6 it will promulgate a rule under its authority to regulate medical…
Blog
Why policymakers should reject the PROVE IT Act: It’s a pro-tax, anti-energy bill
The PROVE IT Act (S. 1863) requires the collection and regular updating of the carbon intensity of domestic and foreign goods. It establishes…
Blog
California’s $20 fast food worker minimum wage a regressive tax
California’s new $20 an hour minimum wage for fast food restaurants has turned into a regressive tax on the state’s low-income residents. People who…
Forbes
TikTok Ban Lands A Blow To Intellectual Discourse Online
The TikTok ban, once perceived as a remote threat, is now the law of the land, enshrined into U.S. law through…
Blog
FDA makes lab test power play
The Food and Drug Administration has just released its long anticipated final rule that explicitly asserts its claim of authority to regulate laboratory-developed-tests (LDTs)—tests that are designed,…
Blog
Subsidy-free capitalism may require a constitutional amendment
Automobiles, electrification, ample consumer goods and mass marketing, a construction boom, and access to credit helped fuel the Roaring Twenties of a century…
Blog
Why the PROVE IT Act would result in carbon taxes
The PROVE IT Act (S. 1863) is not a benign information collection bill on the carbon intensity of domestic and foreign goods. Instead,…
The Center Square
Op-Ed: To win the South, unions should embrace right to work
The United Auto Workers’ recent success organizing a Chattanooga, Tenn., Volkswagen factory and an upcoming vote at a Mercedes-Benz factory in Alabama raise the…
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: airline fees and greenhouse gas reporting
The Federal Register grew at nearly triple its usual pace last week. It is on pace for its first-ever 100,000-page year. GDP growth slowed…
Blog
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,…
Blog
EPA’s new powerplant rule is the Clean Power Plan on steroids
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) yesterday announced its final rule establishing carbon dioxide (CO2) emission performance standards for existing coal powerplants and…
National Review
Administrative State Hits Warp Speed
As my colleague Ryan Young noted on X, this week’s Federal Register is a bumper edition of new rules and regulations, almost triple the…
Wall Street Journal
‘Net Neutrality’ Faces a Stiff Judicial Test
The Federal Communications Commission voted Thursday along partisan lines to reclassify broadband internet access service as a common carrier telecommunications service under Title II…
News Release
EPA rule against power plants – bad for energy reliability and prices, bad for rule of law
The EPA today announced its final rule establishing carbon dioxide (CO2) emission guidelines for existing coal power plants and CO2 performance standards for…
Blog
Weak GDP is first stress test for inflation fighters
I have been saying for a while that inflation expectations will remain high until policymakers prove they can restrain their stimulus spending during an…
The Wall Street Journal
‘Net Neutrality’ Faces a Stiff Judicial Test
The Federal Communications Commission voted Thursday along partisan lines to reclassify broadband internet access service as a common carrier telecommunications service under Title II…
Daily Caller
Biden’s EPA Says Sweeping Power Plant Regs Won’t Harm America’s Grid — Experts Are Saying The Exact Opposite
CEI’s Marlo Lewis is cited in an article in Daily Caller on the on power plant regulation: “The final rule differs from the…
Blog
Small banks targeted as FDIC cracks down on technology partnerships
Earlier this week, Politico’s “Morning Money” column reported an astonishing finding that almost certainly points to politicization in enforcement by federal bank regulators.
Blog
US move to ban TikTok a troubling signal for our great experiment in self-determination
As a part of a foreign aid funding package, the Senate passed a bill mandating TikTok’s divestiture from Chinese-based parent company, ByteDance. Biden…
News Release
Report: ‘Radiophobia’ Drives U.S. Nuclear Policy
A new Competitive Enterprise Institute report challenges an anti-nuclear power policy that is a case study on how not to regulate and govern. Nuclear…
Blog
The flawed foundations of radiation risk assessment
The debate surrounding nuclear power has long been shaped by complex scientific, political, and social factors. At the heart of this debate lies the…
Study
Myths and Facts in Radiation Risks
Introduction Nuclear power is probably the only known energy source that can support the world’s growing energy needs while simultaneously reducing global carbon dioxide…
Forbes
“FTC Rule Barring Non-Compete Agreements Likely Will Fail”
Alden Abbott, former FTC general counsel, outlines why the FTC’s noncompete rule will ultimately be struck down in court.
Bloomberg
“US Sues to Block $8.5 Billion Union of Coach, Michael Kors”
Bloomberg reports on the FTC’s recent challenge to stop Tapestry Inc. from acquiring of Capri Holdings Ltd.
Real Clear Markets
“The FTC’s Unhealthy Obsession with Private Equity”
David McGarry with the Taxpayers Protection Alliance discusses FTC Chair Lina Khan’s obsession with the relationship between healthcare and private equity.
Blog
FTC approves ban on noncompete agreements, sets up potential court battle
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) voted to ban the vast majority of noncompete agreements in employment contracts during a special open commission meeting…
Blog
Major questions on net neutrality: A new report
A new Competitive Enterprise Institute report, Major Questions on Net Neutrality: A primer on the FCC’s brewing broadband legal fight, analyzes the FCC’s…
Blog
New UK report recommends ‘rules about rules’ for regulation
In a new report, the Center for Policy Studies in the UK surveys that nation’s regulatory landscape – and doesn’t like what it…
Blog
The vital role of private conservation: A different perspective on Earth Day
Amidst the jubilation over government-led environmental initiatives on yet another Earth Day yesterday, it’s crucial to highlight a perspective too often overlooked: private conservation,…
News Release
FCC move to impose utility-style regulation on broadband providers vulnerable to legal challenge – CEI paper
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is expected to vote Thursday to impose utility-style regulation on broadband internet access providers under Title II of…
Study
Major Questions on Net Neutrality
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is poised once again to change and classify broadband internet access service (BIAS), the mass market wireline and wireless…
Blog
FTC tightens grip over its in-house judges
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) possesses one of the most conflicted administrative law court (ALC) systems. The agency recently began hiring new…
Forbes
There Is No Earth Day Without Private Conservation
Today is Earth Day, and NPR and the rest of the media are celebrating government and its environmental laws such as the…
The Center Square
As the U.S. adds jobs, Illinois continues to lag in unemployment numbers
CEI’s Sean Higgins is cited in The Center Square on worker shortages: Researcher Sean Higgins with the Competitive Enterprise Institute said despite the…
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: service lamps and summer meals
Congress debated aid bills to Ukraine and Israel. Donald Trump’s hush money trial began. Agencies issued new regulations ranging from incinerator permits to effluent…
New York Post
Layoffs at Tesla reveal the need for fresh ‘green’ thinking
Tens of billions of dollars in subsidies for electric vehicles. Billions more coming to subsidize charging stations. Non-stop jibberjabber about “sustainable” this and “Green New Deal”…
Blog
Seattle’s new minimum wage rule undermining delivery drivers
A new Seattle minimum wage law meant to boost the incomes of app-based delivery drivers has instead backfired, resulting in less work for drivers.
Blog
Department of Energy is coming after our light bulbs – again
We have already said goodbye to the incandescent light bulb, thanks to federal regulations. Will its replacement be next? Department of Energy (DOE)…
Forbes
TikTok Is A Beacon Of Democracy In The Social Media Landscape
Recent developments in the U.S. House of Representatives have put TikTok, the immensely popular Chinese-owned social media app, in the crosshairs of lawmakers. The…
Blog
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…
Blog
The FCC regulation web – again
In a January blog I discussed the needless web of regulation created by the FCC’s classification of broadband as a Title II common…
The Federalist
More Than Two Dozen AGs Sue Biden Administration Over EV Mandate
CEI’s Daren Bakst is cited in The Federalist over a new emissions rule: Daren Bakst, director of the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Center on Energy…
Blog
Biden says his steel tariffs totally different from Trump’s, speculates uncle was eaten by cannibals
President Joe Biden vowed Wednesday that he would get tough on China’s steel dumping by tripling tariffs on imports. He argued this was totally…
News Release
CEI praises measure to overturn CFPB’s destructive price controls on credit card late fees
On Wednesday, the House Financial Services Committee is expected to approve a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution sponsored by Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY) to…
Real Clear Markets
“Lina Khan Isn’t Qualified to Define Market Competition”
Charles Sauer, president of the Market Institute, provides a reality check for the FTC’s current Chair.
Truth on the Market
“Kroger/Albertsons: Is Labor Bargaining Power an Antitrust Harm?”
ICLE’s Brian Albrecht casts doubt on the FTC’s view of labor markets in the agency’s challenge to the Kroger/Albertsons merger.
American Action Forum
“FTC’s COVID-19 Grocery Supply Chain Study Taught Us…Nothing”
Fred Ashton from the American Action Forum explains why the FTC’s recent report provides little reason to resurrect antitrust enforcement under the Robinson-Patman Act.
Blog
Sunshine in Wyoming’s civil forfeiture
Transparency in civil forfeiture took a small step forward last week when the Wyoming Liberty Group published its latest report. One difficulty in…
Blog
The eventual federal regulatory budget has bipartisan roots
With apologies to Margaret Thatcher, I’ll often joke that when the federal government runs out of other people’s money, it keeps spending anyway. The…
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: train crews and airport concessions
Our colleague R.J. Smith passed away. R.J. coined the term “free-market environmentalism,” ran CEI’s private conservation efforts for many years, and was a…
EconLib
The Inheritances that Matter Most
Inheritances can be controversial because some people inherit enormous wealth while others inherit nothing or even debts. Due to this apparent inequity, even the…
Fox News
California’s green agenda is targeting every mode of transportation, despite wide opposition
CEI’s Marlo Lewis is cited on Fox News about California’s green agenda: “Commerce is the lifeblood of the economy and transportation of…
Blog
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…
Blog
Wi-Fi on wheels: FCC oversteps its authority with school bus ruling
This week the Competitive Enterprise Institute filed an amicus brief regarding yet another case of mission creep in the Biden administration. In this…
American Institute for Economic Research
Biden Redoubles Effort to Crush Crypto With EIA’s Mining Survey
The Biden administration has launched yet another attack against the cryptocurrency industry–an environmental impact “survey” to bolster a politically motivated attack on the crypto…
American Institute for Economic Research
Biden Redoubles Effort to Crush Crypto With EIA’s Mining Survey
The Biden administration has launched yet another attack against the cryptocurrency industry–an environmental impact “survey” to bolster a politically motivated attack on the crypto…
Blog
Spectrum spectacle: Security and competitiveness demand action on spectrum
We are familiar with the proverb “He who hesitates is lost.” Unfortunately, the United States is hesitating in allocating more spectrum to the marketplace…
The Center Square
Study: Mixed record on permitting reform offers some hope
CEI’s James Broughel provided comments to The Center Square about a study he authored: “Pennsylvania’s a state where energy is very important…
Deseret
The Biden admin wants to change home appliances, Republicans are pushing back
CEI’s Ben Lieberman is cited on Deseret News about republican pushback to home appliance regulation: Ben Lieberman of the Competitive Enterprise Institute…
The Center Square
FACT CHECK: Biden touts inflation has “fallen”
CEI’s Ryan Young is cited in The Center Square on a Biden fact check: Ryan Young, senior economist at the Competitive Enterprise…
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: Censorship by proxy with Jenin Younes
In this week’s episode we cover Gen Z job satisfaction, dumb biotech policy in the European Union, and figuring out…
Blog
Green rules, red tape: What American farmers can learn from EU protests
The European Union (EU) has been implementing various measures to fundamentally transform the agricultural sector, notably through initiatives such as the European Green…
Letters
Coalition Letter Opposition to the California Air Resources Board In-Use Locomotive Regulation
Re: Opposition to the California Air Resources Board In-Use Locomotive Regulation Docket EPA-HQ-OAR-2023-0574 We, the undersigned individuals and representatives of national organizations and think…
Blog
RJ Smith (1937-2024)
Freedom has lost a true champion with the passing of longtime CEI analyst RJ Smith. RJ’s tireless advocacy for private property rights will be…
Blog
The Inflation Reduction Act’s EPA slush fund gets going: Now it needs to be stopped
Last week, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced eight nonprofit organizations will be able to hand out $20 billion of taxpayer dollars to…
Legal Brief
CEI Issues Amicus Brief in Support of Petitioners in Molak vs. FCC
In Molak v. Federal Communications Commission, CEI argued that neither of the provisions of the Telecommunications Act relied upon by the Federal Communications Commission…
Blog
‘Fast Track’ series looks at states’ permit progress: First up, Pennsylvania
The Competitive Enterprise Institute is pleased to announce the release of a new policy paper series called “Fast Track.” The series, overseen by CEI…
Reason
Inflation Is So Back
CEI’s Ryan Young is cited on Reason about rising inflation: “If the Federal Reserve was thinking of cutting interest rates at its…
Blog
R.J. Smith – In Memoriam
The Competitive Enterprise Institute has lost a treasured friend and mentor, Robert J. Smith. All my thoughts about R.J. run to superlatives. He was…
News Release
Lasting reforms needed to break Pennsylvania’s environmental permitting backlog
Pennsylvania has a long history of reforming its permitting practices to improve efficiency, but despite periods of progress and some improvements in average review…
News Release
Inflation still too high to lower interest rates: CEI analysis
The Consumer Price Index report for March again read 0.4 percent, though the 12-month rate is now up to 3.5 percent. CEI senior…
Study
Breaking the Backlog
Pennsylvania has a long history of reforming its environmental permitting practices to improve efficiency. Despite periods of progress and some improvements in…
Letters