Blog
Obama Wants to Extend PATRIOT Act
One may be a Republican and the other a Democrat, but make no mistake. Bush and Obama are two peas in a pod.
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Bastiat on the Stimulus Package
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Regulation of the Day 51: Mandatory Hand Sanitizing
In Jersey City, New Jersey, the school district is requiring students to “sanitize their hands when they walk into the class in the morning, before…
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Regulation of the Day 50: Tires from China
The burden is on tariff supporters to explain why they think people who live in one country are more deserving of economic opportunity than people…
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To Heckle the President, or Not?
Politicians make themselves look bad far more effectively than any heckler could. They don’t need the help.
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Do Corporations Have Human Rights?
Intel’s defense in its EU antitrust case has taken the surprising line that the company’s human rights were violated. Over at Real Clear Markets, CEI…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 49: Political Speech
If Congress can’t pass laws abridging the freedom of speech or of the press, maybe they can pass laws abridging the freedom of speech and…
RealClear Markets
Does Intel Have Human Rights?
Intel's battle for the ages against the European Commission's antitrust regulators has a surprising new twist: Intel is claiming that its human rights were violated.
Blog
Regulation of the Day 48: Barbers in Nevada
Want to be a barber in Nevada? You’ll need to get a license first. One of the requirements is a chest X-ray, of all things.
Blog
Regulation of the Day 47: Irish Potatoes
It is bad policy to keep perfectly good food off the market because of its shape, especially during times of recession and high food prices.
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Dog Bites Man
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Regulation of the Day 46: Chemical Weapons
If your company exports chemical weapons, make sure you keep good records. Every year, on company letterhead, you have to list ten things for the…
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Regulation of the Day 45: Wooden Crates
Even the humble wooden crate cannot escape the government’ watchful regulatory eye.
Blog
The Starry-Eyed 37 Percent
Some time ago I said that President Bush's chronically low approval ratings were a good thing. Evidence of widespread skepticism about politicians. Or at least…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 44: Soil Scientists
In Wisconsin, you need a license to work as a soil scientist.
Blog
Economics 101: Where Do Monopolies Come From?
Bryan Caplan says there are only two ways for a monopoly to form: government protection, or being the best.
Blog
Regulation of the Day 43: Telemarketing
It is a federal offense for telemarketers to charge their customers without permission. In English, this is called stealing. Which was already against the law…
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Hoover and the Great Depression
It’s certainly possible to blame Herbert Hoover’s policies for the Great Depression. Just not on the grounds that those policies were free-market.
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Regulation of the Day 42: Hearing Aid Calibration
In Virginia, state law requires hearing aids to be calibrated at least annually. Records must be kept for three years.
Blog
Regulation of the Day 41: The Color of Beer Cans
Having already solved all of the country's economics woes, the FTC now has time to threaten to step in and stop Budweiser from selling cans…
Club For Growth
Checked Baggage Regulations
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Nanotech: Innovation or Stagnation?
In the long run, a competitive, cut-throat market process driven by innovation is better for consumers than if government were to fund and direct research.
Blog
Regulation of the Day 40: Flying a Plane
Want to fly a plane? The FAA just published 72 pages worth of changes to its already extensive certification rules. 173 changes in all.
Washington Examiner
Nanotechnology: Innovation vs. Corporate Welfare
For the sake of consumers, nanotech firms should compete in the marketplace, not in Washington. Otherwise a vibrant, dynamic, and innovative sector risks…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 39: Postmodern Microwave Ovens
Appliances have to have little badges on them that say they comply with rule that requires the little badges. Perhaps the rule came from the…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 38: Carrying Letters
If anything qualifies as an anti-competitive practice, fining and jailing people for competing with you would certainly top the list. Which brings us to a…
Blog
DOJ to Investigate Microsoft-Yahoo Search Partnership
As expected, The Department of Justice is launching an antitrust investigation into the Microsoft-Yahoo search engine partnership. As I've said before, this is not an…
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Why I Want a Public Option in the Health Care Bill
A bill with a public option will probably not pass. Too much opposition. But one without it probably will.
Blog
Friday Fun: Viking Funeral
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Regulation of the Day 37: Lemonade Stands
It is illegal for children to sell lemonade in New York City without a permit.
Blog
New Schumpeter Book
In the tradition of the Reader’s Digest condensation of F.A. Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom, Joseph Schumpeter’s Can Capitalism Survive? is coming out on September…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 36: Buying American
The $787,000,000,000 stimulus contains a provision requiring the Department of Homeland Security to buy american textiles. Basically, that means TSA uniforms will go up in…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 35: Doctors with Borders
In 49 states, it is illegal to practice medicine outside of the state in which you are certified. Tennessee is the lone state with an…
Overlawyered
July 16 Roundup: Chronicling the High Cost of Our Legal System
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Rose Friedman, 1910-2009
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Regulation of the Day 34: Diabetic Truckers
It is a violation of federal regulations to “operate a commercial vehicle in interstate commerce” if you have insulin-treated diabetes.
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The Long Odds of Voting
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Regulation of the Day 33: Pressure-Sensitive Plastic Tape
Ending the levy would “likely to lead to continuation or recurrence of dumping,” so it’s here to stay. Domestic tape producers must be pleased. Consumers,…
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Federal Budget Deficit Hits $1,270,000,000,000
Federal spending is going up. Tax receipts are going down. 2009's federal budget deficit is now up to $1.27 trillion as a result. That's about…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 32: Migratory Birds
If you’re planning on hunting migratory birds this year, be sure to read all 14 subparts and 61 sections in Title 50 of the Code…
Blog
TARP Transparency: A Good Start, but Not Enough
More transparency would alleviate some of TARP’s symptoms. But TARP itself is a disease. The sooner Congress gains the political will to recover from its…
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Money Is Not Wealth
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Regulation of the Day 31: Fraud in Wholesale Oil Markets
If you’re a wholesaler of crude oil or gasoline, a new FTC rule makes it illegal to engage in any business practice that“operates or would…
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Media Bias: The More, the Better
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Regulation of the Day 30: Labeling Mustard
If your company makes mustard bottles that are reusable as beer mugs, you are specifically required to put a country-of-origin label on your product.
Blog
They Can’t Even Keep Drugs Out of Prison?
Armed guards. All the bad guys behind bars. Under constant supervision. And Mexico still can’t keep drugs and drug dealing out of its prisons.
CEI Planet
TARP Transparency: A Good Start, but Not Enough
Herbert Allison is President Obama’s newly-confirmed head of the Treasury Department’s Office of Financial Stability. On Thursday, June 25, he promised to “emphasize transparency so…
Blog
All Community Organizing Is Astroturfing – And That’s Fine!
The fact that members of Congress extolling the president’s plan are attacking astroturfers while leaving their arguments alone says to me that the Congressmen believe…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 29: Protecting Us from Cheap Foreign Goods
Sometimes (but not always), when a foreign producer sells goods to U.S. consumers cheaply, the U.S. government takes action to put a stop to it.
Blog
Inconvenient Evidence Suppressed in EU-Intel Antitrust Case
The EU’s top antitrust regulator intentionally suppressed “potentially exculpatory" evidence in its case against Intel. This is the rule of men, not law.
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Regulation of the Day 28: Urine Trouble Now
Want to work for HHS? You’ll have to comply with approximately 32,463 words worth of regulations in the Mandatory Guidelines for Federal Workplace Drug Testing…
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Reporting the Hidden Costs of Stimulus
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Microsoft, Yahoo, and Antitrust
If regulations are to be effective, they must be either clear or silent; antitrust statutes are neither. That alone is reason enough to urge trustbusters…
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Regulation of the Day 27: Beekeeping in South Dakota
Beekeeping in South Dakota is illegal without a license.
Blog
Today’s Unintentionally Funny Headline
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Regulation of the Day 26: Fortune Telling in Maryland
You need a license to tell fortunes in Annapolis, Maryland.
Washington Examiner
Trustbusters Should Lay Off Microsoft and Yahoo
Yahoo and Microsoft are going to join forces – that is, if regulators let them. But will their much-vaunted search partnership succeed? Both firms certainly…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 25: Cattle with Scabies
If you own cattle and they are at risk of catching scabies, you may want to read up on the pertinent federal regulations. There are…
Blog
The Antitrust Religion still Has Many Adherents
Why bother with the ongoing challenge of competing in the marketplace if one can merely go to Brussels or Washington?…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 24: The Width of Ladders
It is illegal for a portable metal ladder to have steps narrower than 12 inches.
Eweek
Microsoft-Yahoo Search Partnership
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In Which Greed Is Good
The great economist Joseph Schumpeter wrote that "[F]ree trade is the cement that holds together the idea of peace." His logic is sound. Commerce gives…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 23: Texting While Driving
Texting while driving is both dumb and dangerous. But making it a crime won’t make people stop doing it. It will merely make more people…
Eweek
Microsoft-Yahoo Search Partnership
Yahoo! Finance
Microsoft-Yahoo Search Partnership
SC Magazine
Microsoft-Yahoo Search Partnership
News Release
Justice Department Should Leave the Microsoft-Yahoo Search Deal Alone
Today, Microsoft and Yahoo announced a ten-year partnership of their search businesses in order to better compete against Google. The Department of Justice, citing antitrust…
Opposing Views
Justice Dept. Should Leave Microsoft-Yahoo Search Deal Alone
Today, Microsoft and Yahoo announced a ten-year partnership of their search businesses in order to better compete against Google. The Department of Justice, citing antitrust…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 22: Rhinestones
The Consumer Product Safety Commission, after much deliberation, has banned crystal rhinestones from children's products, despite no evidence of harm.
Blog
How to End the War over Antitrust
If the executive branch is not going to consistently enforce antitrust laws -- and they shouldn't -- they should be repealed.
Blog
Regulation of the Day 21: Potato Research and Promotion
The Agricultural Marketing Service has a potato research and marketing plan, pursuant to the Potato Research and Marketing Act.
Blog
Regulation of the Day 20: Anti-Flatulence Medication
The U.S. Code contains an entire section on over-the-counter anti-flatulence medication. There are rules for permitted active ingredients, maximum dosage, and label text.
Blog
Exploiting the Minimum Wage
Young people with little or no work experience may not be able to offer $7.25 per hour worth of productivity; small wonder so many of…
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Leave it to the Experts
Send your used light bulbs to Washington! They're the experts. They'll know what to do.
Blog
Regulation of the Day 19: Fospropofol
The Drug Enforcement Administration, would like to schedule fospropofol, approved by the FDA last year for use as an anesthetic, as a Schedule IV controlled…
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Regulation of the Day 18: Shipping Live Animals
If you ship live animals via the USPS’s Express Mail Service and it takes three days or more, you may be eligible for a refund,…
Blog
Policies to Promote Competition often Stifle it Instead
Chairman Genachowski is right that the Internet has been “the most successful driver of economic growth” in recent years. Why, then, pursue an agenda that…
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Regulation of the Day: Sliding Car Doors
A new set of rules for sliding car doors will come into effect on September 1, 2010.
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Subsidize Cheese to Stimulate?
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In Which the Case for Antitrust Action against Telecoms Weakens
New research finds that U.S. telecoms are charging, on average, ten cents less per minute than their counterparts around the world. Tell me again why…
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Keynes Remains Popular with Politicians
"‘What are you talking about, Joe? You're telling me we have to go spend money to keep from going bankrupt?’ The answer is yes.” -…
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Regulation of the Day: Endangered Snails
The sixteenth in an occasional series that shines a bit of light on the regulatory state. Today’s Regulation of the Day comes to us from…
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The World’s Greatest Deliberative Body
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Regulation of the Day: The Color of Stitches
The federal government regulates which colors may be used in surgical stitches.
Blog
Making Regulation Transparent
Overlawyered
Federal crimes go from 3 to 4,500
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Flying Is a Taxable Event
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Doing Business in DC
DC Progress notes that Washington, DC has ranked dead last in the annual Small Business Survival Index every year since the mid-1990s. One of the…
Blog
A Second Stimulus?
Any stimulus proposal is, by its very nature, less than a zero-sum proposition. Stimulus involves taking some money out of the economy, wasting some of…
Blog
Regulation of the Day: Asphalt Emissions
EPA is proposing national emission standards for asphalt processing and asphalt roofing manufacturing.
Blog
Antitrust Irony
Microsoft is having a tense antitrust discussion with the EU. Meanwhile, Google is readying an operating system to directly compete with Windows. Compare and contrast.
Blog
Antitrust Policy and Telecoms
It’s hard to make a case that a company is abusing market power if it doesn’t really have any. And Verizon and AT&T are not…
Blog
Regulation of the Day: The Size of Your Carry-On Bags
The Securing Cabin Baggage Act wouldn't add to security, wouldn't make flying more convenient, and may well be the result of rent-seeking.
American Spectator
Unnecessary Baggage
Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.) thinks that your carry-on bags are a threat to national security. To address this grave threat, he has introduced the Securing…
Blog
Regulation of the Day: The Price of Shrimp
The ITA has been upset for some time that a Thai shrimp exporter is selling shrimp cheaply; hungry consumers have had no complaints.
Blog
Regulation of the Day: Saving the Children from Durable Products
How much safer will this rule make our children? How much more expensive will the affected goods be? How many people actually bother to send…
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Regulation of the Day: Cap and Trade
The Waxman-Markey cap and trade bill that passed the House last week contains 397 new regulations.
Blog
Regulation of the Day: School Buses
Because of overwhelmingly negative comments, DOT has decided not to go forward with a proposed change to federal school bus policy (isn’t education supposed to…
Blog
Regulation of the Day: Solid Waste
When an agency screws up really badly, political leaders will sometimes change the agency's name. The EPA’s Office of Solid Waste is now called the…
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Regulation of the Day: Rice Inspection Certificates
Our rice is in crisis. Inspection certificates currently contain some data in the grade line section that better belongs in the results section. Fortunately, the…