News Release
July CPI report shows key inflation measure still too high
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its latest report on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) today, showing inflation up 3 percent from…
News Release
House Oversight and Accountability Committee unanimously advances regulatory reform legislation
Earlier today, the House Oversight and Accountability Committee advanced 41 to 0 the Guidance Out of Darkness (GOOD) Act from Rep. James Comer…
Fox Business
VIDEO: Ben Lieberman on Fox’s Varney & Company
CEI’s Ben Lieberman joined Varney & Company to discuss high gas prices and energy policy.
Letters
Letter of Support on H.R. 890 and H.R. 3230
Comment
Energy Conservation Program: Energy Conservation Standards for Dishwashers; Notice of proposed rulemaking and request for comment
Action Notice of proposed rulemaking and request for comment. Summary The Energy Policy and Conservation Act, as amended (“EPCA”), prescribes energy conservation standards…
News Release
Court dismisses meritless FTC case, allows Microsoft-Activision merger to go ahead for now
A federal judge ruled Tuesday that Microsoft could proceed with its acquisition of Activision-Blizzard, despite the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) efforts to stop…
Fox News
Washington State’s Nation-Leading Gasoline Prices Should Serve as a Warning
Vacationers hitting the highways currently face a nationwide average price of $3.52 per gallon of gasoline, according AAA. However, the price varies widely among states.
Blog
Regulatory reform in the 118th Congress: The Regulatory Transparency Act
The current regulatory approval process lacks transparency and objectivity. While past executive orders and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) directives require that…
Real Clear Markets
“Seeking Her (Whale) Bones, Lina Khan Aims to Kill Amazon in Its Present Form”
Robert Bork Jr. discusses Chair Khan’s plan to break up Amazon.
Washington Examiner
“Lina Khan Goes to Congress”
Carl Szabo from NetChoice describes several abuses by FTC Chair Lina Khan in anticipation of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee hearing on Thursday.
Wall Street Journal
“Antitrust Officials Pile on the Paperwork”
Attorneys for Perkins Coie, Christopher Williams and Henry Hauser, address the proposed overhaul of premerger notification filings by the FTC and the Department of…
Cato Institute
“Are the Latest FTC Cases Against Tech Good for Consumers?”
The Cato Institute’s Jennifer Huddleston discusses the FTC’s latest cases against “big tech” companies.
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: NASA designations and automatic braking
It was a four-day work week due to Independence Day. Meanwhile, agencies issued new regulations ranging from pot catchers to viticultural areas. On…
Blog
Don’t believe the ‘cost-of-thriving’ doom
There has been a lot of discussion in the last several years – and even more so in the last few weeks – about…
Study
Global Infrastructure Permitting
Executive Summary The construction of major infrastructure projects, such as power plants, highways, and ports, is heavily regulated. In major industrial economies, such projects…
News Release
Economy adds 209,000 jobs in June, fewer than expected: CEI analysis
The U.S. economy added just 209,000 jobs in June 2023, under-performing compared to expectations. CEI economy and labor experts offer analysis on what…
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: teaching capitalism with Allen Mendenhall
In this week’s episode we talk about the cost of thriving in America, the incredible expanding CHIPS Act, and occupational…
Blog
What I told the EPA about its illegal de facto electric vehicle mandates
Yesterday I submitted comments to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on its proposed greenhouse gas (GHG) emission standards for model years (MYs)…
Washington Post
How the Supreme Court could thwart Biden’s plan to electrify cars
The Washington Post cites attorney Devin Watkins on the EPA’s proposed rule on greenhouse gas emissions: Republican-led states and conservative groups, including the Competitive…
Blog
Biden admin plans to rig cost-benefit analysis, boosting federal regulations
When the Biden administration took office, one of its first actions was to order a series of updates to the federal rulemaking process, all…
Blog
Big tech firms pushing AI regulation are not seeking the public interest
Large Language Models (LLMs) have taken the internet by storm thanks to programs like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Microsoft’s new Bing chatbot. These are opening…
Forbes
Why The ‘Social Cost Of Carbon’ Can Not Be Used In Cost-Benefit Analysis
The social cost of carbon (SCC) quantifies the economic damage associated with emitting a ton of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Regulatory impact analyses…
National Review
“The FTC Continues to Prioritize Ideology over Consumers”
Rachel Chiu from the Committee for Justice argues that the FTC’s action against Illumina’s acquisition of Grail is driven by ideology.
Real Clear Markets
“The FTC Isn’t Just Blocking Mergers, It’s Playing Favorites”
Tirzah Duren from the American Consumer Institute argues that the FTC’s actions against big tech is the result of bias, not concern for the…
Truth on the Market
“The FTC Shouldn’t Try to Make Amazon Divest Its Logistics Service”
Alden Abbott, former FTC general counsel, discusses several problems with the FTC’s latest focus on Amazon.
Comment
Marlo Lewis CEI Comments on EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Motor Vehicle Standards
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) proposed greenhouse gas (GHG) emission standards for model years (MYs) 2027-2032…
Comment
Comment Extension Request, OMB-2022-0014
Dear Administrator Revesz:The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) respectfully requests that the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) extend the comment period by at…
Blog
Local zoning boards are not democracy
At the Competitive Enterprise Institute, we have often discussed the need to reform zoning, permitting, and building regulations, so I was…
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: historical captain permits and apricot marketing
The Supreme Court agreed to hear CEI’s Moore v. U.S. tax case in its upcoming term. It also handed down rulings in controversial…
New York Post
Memo to critics: Only folks who don’t qualify will lose their Medicaid
Medicaid advocates are demanding the federal government to stop states from removing people from the program after 25 states and the District of Columbia…
Daily Caller
Don’t Stop At College — End Race-Based Admissions In Public Schools
There’s an important battle brewing in our public schools between equity and treating students equally under the law. Equitable treatment of one class…
Blog
Adam Smith, George Washington, and the invisible hand in America
Although Adam Smith would have been 300 this year, his birth date is unknown, and his baptism date has shifted from different dates in…
Blog
Wall Street doesn’t want to come back to the office
The continuing saga of remote versus in-office work acquired a new data point recently when Bloomberg released its latest Markets Live Pulse survey,…
The Economic Standard
Adam Smith on how trade makes us better people
Economists love efficiency. That is why most of them love free trade. Countries with relatively free trade also tend to be …
Blog
Supreme Court’s Janus case 5 years later: Workers are invoking their rights
A common argument made by unions and their allies is that workers want to belong to unions but that big business uses all manner…
Blog
Regulatory reform in the 118th Congress: The Regulation Reduction Act of 2023
Federal regulations will continue to grow, if the Biden administration’s recently published Unified Agenda is any indication. It lists 3,666 new rules currently…
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: importing talent with Connor O’Brien
In this week’s episode we talk about the major income tax case going to the Supreme Court, the looming death of…
The Center Square
Data shows Florida’s electricity consumption increased as population grows
CEI’s Daren Bakst is cited in the Center Square in an article about Florida’s electricity consumption: Daren Bakst, Deputy Director and Senior…
Blog
Why Washington state has the highest gas prices
The price of gas in Washington State is currently the highest in the nation averaging $4.99 per gallon as of June 28, 2023.
Blog
Bidenomics? Here are the 297 costliest rules in the president’s Spring 2023 Unified Agenda
Federal agencies issue thousands of rules, regulations and guidance documents every year compared to the relative handful of laws enacted by…
Blog
Adam Smith on how trade makes us better people
2023 is the 300th anniversary of Adam Smith’s birth. This post is part of a series highlighting aspects of Smith’s thought that continue to…
D.C. Journal
FTC Lawsuit Against Amazon’s Prime Is Poor Use of Limited Resources
The Federal Trade Commission is suing Amazon for allegedly tricking customers into signing up for the company’s Prime membership and making it difficult to…
The Hill
“The Federal Trade Commission’s Embarrassing Antitrust Crusade”
Stephen Kent from Consumer Choice Center underscores Lina Khan’s ideological pursuits as Chair of the FTC.
Bloomberg
“US Merger Review Revamp Set to Delay Deals by Months”
Bloomberg‘s Leah Nylen explains how the FTC’s changes to merger-filing rules will add delays to merger approval.
Reason
“It Takes 6 Clicks to Cancel Amazon Prime and the FTC’s New Lawsuit Says That’s Too Many”
Eric Boehm from Reason discusses the FTC’s lawsuit against Amazon.
Blog
Allergy sufferers to Congress: Please stop trying to help!
The Law of Unintended Consequences gained another data point recently. A bipartisan bill requiring products with sesame to be specially labeled has resulted…
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Letter in Opposition of S. 1838 and H.R. 3881 Credit Card Competition Act (CCCA)
Dear Members of Congress: We, the undersigned organizations and individuals, oppose the inaccurately named Credit Card Competition Act of 2023 (S. 1838…
Blog
Adam Smith and the wealth of America
2023 is the 300th anniversary of Adam Smith’s birth. This post is part of a series highlighting aspects of Smith’s thought that continue to…
Blog
Hey Army Corps, stop delaying wetlands decisions!
Last month in Sackett v. EPA, the U.S. Supreme Court provided some much-needed clarity on what waters are regulated under the Clean…
Blog
Regulatory reform in the 118th Congress: The ERASER Act
Our current regulatory state suffocates Americans with high costs. On a micro level, research by CEI Fred L. Smith Fellow in Regulatory Studies…
Blog
No taming inflation without an independent Fed
Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell recently testified before Congress for the semi-annual Monetary Policy Report. The Fed has been under fire from both…
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Opposing the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act
Dear Chairman Sanders; Ranking Member Cassidy; and Members of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions – On behalf of the…
Forbes
“The FTC-Sony Case Against the Microsoft Activision Deal Is Very Bad”
Paul Tassi from Forbes discusses last week’s hearing in which the FTC is seeking a preliminary injunction.
Blog
Costlier cars help the poor, according to EPA
There is plenty of controversy surrounding EPA’s proposed new tailpipe and greenhouse gas emissions rules for model year 2027-2032 vehicles, ranging from whether…
Blog
The lethal impact of rising energy prices
Many of us are all too familiar with the grimace we make when we open our monthly utility bills. The soaring cost of energy…
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: reporting stolen drugs and nuclear tariffs
The 2023 Federal Register is on pace to be the third largest in its 86-year history, behind only Obama and Trump’s midnight rush years…
News Release
Supreme Court agrees to hear Moore v. U.S., consider constitutionality of tax on unrealized income
The Supreme Court announced today that it will hear arguments in Moore v. U.S., a challenge to a provision of the 2017 Tax…
Real Clear Markets
What Comes After An ESG Craze That’s Not Ready to Die?
Could this year be the end of the beginning for environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing? Buzz in the business press suggests …
Blog
Progress in Congress for real civil forfeiture reform
For the last couple of years, I’ve been monitoring every change in the law in the United States in the area of civil forfeiture.
Reason
“The Federal Trade Commission’s Latest Frivolous Antitrust Suit Takes Aim at Amazon”
Elizabeth Nolan Brown from Reason magazine details the shortcomings of the FTC’s latest action against Amazon.
Blog
Another sustainable energy company is failing to sustain itself
CNBC’s “Sustainable Future” page reports today that “Siemens Energy shares plunge more than 37% as wind turbine worries deepen.” A “sustainable energy” company…
Blog
House hearing warns of Biden’s admin’s ‘death by a thousand regulations’
The House Oversight and Accountability Committee held a hearing last week titled “Death by a Thousand Regulations: The Biden Administration’s Campaign to Bury…
Forbes
Will NAIC Insurance Regulators In U.S. Import Harmful European Rules?
My colleague Ari Patinkin, research associate at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, contributed to this post. Although the inflation rate may be slowing, the…
Forbes
How Regulating AI Could Empower Bad Actors
A bipartisan group of legislators in the House of Representatives has introduced a bill to establish a national commission on Artificial Intelligence…
Blog
Fed Chair Powell hearing: more to do on inflation
At his semiannual congressional testimony this week, Federal Reserve Chairman Powell hinted that the Fed likely is not done raising interest rates. This…
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: online trust with Taylor Barkley
In this week’s episode we talk about a survey on work trends for finance bros, Delta’s questionable bid to become the…
Blog
Elephant in the elevator: How government manipulates the social cost of carbon to justify regulations
Four CEI colleagues and I each submitted comments this month on the Office of Management and Budget’s proposed update of Circular…
News Release
New CEI report proposes bold reforms to restore Constitution’s constraints on government power
A new Competitive Enterprise Institute report proposes significant reforms aimed at restoring the U.S. Constitution’s separation and balance of powers that are vital…
Study
Constitutional Restoration: How to rebuild the separation of powers
Introduction A specter is haunting America—the specter of unlimited government. A central feature of our Constitution is that it restricts the federal…
Blog
European Union says phones and tablets must be easier to break by 2027
The European Parliament agreed on new rules last week that would require smartphone and tablet manufacturers to make it easier for users to…
Blog
Businesses flocking to states with lower taxes, better regulations
Experts on U.S. economic policy spend a lot of time looking at competition between states and how good tax and regulatory policy can…
National Review
Protectionism without Sugarcoating
National Review cites CEI’s Iain Murray about protectionism: Iain Murray of the Competitive Enterprise Institute describes the U.S. sugar quotas as the “platonic…
Blog
Younger workers don’t favor full-remote work
Among people who follow the news on workplace (and workforce) satisfaction, the opinions of younger workers are often considered especially relevant, because we assume…
Blog
Das Adam Smith problem? Nein!
2023 is the 300th anniversary of Adam Smith’s birth. This post is part of a series highlighting aspects of Smith’s thought that continue to…
Blog
America takes Entrepreneurship Index top spot, former Soviet bloc countries close behind
Retail software maker Shopify recently released its “Entrepreneurship Index,” a global ecosystem of entrepreneurial activity. Shopify ranks the top ten countries with economies…
Comment
CEI Comments on Proposed OMB Circular No. A-4
RE: Request for Comments on Proposed OMB Circular No. A-4, “Regulatory Analysis”, 88 FR 20915 (Apr. 7, 2023), Docket OMB-2022-0014 Dear Mr. Revesz,…
Wall Street Journal
“Lina Khan’s Recusal Coverup”
The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board contends that FTC Chair Lina Khan may have misled Congress regarding ethics compliance.
CSIS
“Noncompete Agreements, Innovation, and National Security”
Experts from the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) discuss problems with the FTC’s sweeping rule to ban noncompete agreements in employee contracts.
City Journal
Lab Leak: Likely
Three previously unreleased State Department cables, obtained by the public-health group U.S. Right to Know through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit,…
Comment
OMB’s Problematic Circular A-4 Rewrite
OUTLINE Discard the pro-regulatory bias of the federal government Restore regulatory streamlining prior to Circular A-4 rewrite Restore the $100 million threshold for…
Comment
CEI Comments on Proposed Circular A-4, Regulatory Analysis
Dear Administrator Revesz: I appreciate this opportunity to provide comments on the proposed Circular A-4, “Regulatory Analysis.”1 The focus of my comments is…
Comment
CEI Comments on OMB’s Revision of Circular A-4 Regulatory Accounting Guidelines
Thank you for the opportunity to submit comments on the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB’s) Draft for Public Review of its proposed update…
Forbes
Biden’s Top-Down Economy, Powered By Executive Action
Joe Biden didn’t take a Juneteenth break, instead heading to Palo Alto to tout “historic action to combat the climate…
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: tart cherry assessments and big cat safety
The House passed two regulatory reform bills, the REINS Act and the Separation of Powers Restoration Act. The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady.
Washington Examiner
The Biden administration shouldn’t waste more taxpayer dollars on COVID vaccines
A Food and Drug Administration advisory committee recently voted to recommend updating the COVID-19 vaccine. But important questions remain:…
National Review
FTC Continues War on Bigness by Opposing Microsoft Video-Game Acquisition
The FTC is doubling down on its opposition to Microsoft’s acquisition of video-game company Activision Blizzard by filing to block the merger in…
Blog
Here comes state capitalism. There go our liberties.
CEI’s own Wayne Crews told the Washington Examiner recently, “Everything from local tap water to space commercialization is being turned into a government…
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: growth and taxes with Alex Muresianu
In this week’s episode we talk about Gen Z and remote work, businesses moving between states, and inspiring evidence of…
Bob Harden
U.S. House Passes Legislation to Preserve Consumer Choice in Kitchen Appliances
We visit with Ben Lieberman, Senior Policy Analyst with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, about the Biden administrations war on gas…
Bloomberg
“FTC Rejected Ethics Advice for Khan Recusal on Meta Case”
Bloomberg’s Leah Nylen reveals newly unredacted memo showing that FTC Chair Lina Khan declined to recuse herself from the FTC’s case against Meta despite…
Washington Times
“Republicans Should Be Commended for Working to Rein in FTC”
Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform, discusses the importance of work done by congressional Republicans on holding the Federal Trade Commission accountable.
Blog
Market failure? Let’s talk about government failure
Government interventions in the market are often said to be justified by market failures, which prevent the free market from maximizing social welfare. What…
Blog
Adam Smith on how to love and be lovely
2023 is the 300th anniversary of Adam Smith’s birth. This post is part of a series highlighting aspects of Smith’s thought that continue to…
Blog
Is Biden admin disappearing a red flag for costly regulations?
Is the Biden administration trying to do away with the category of “economically significant” regulations altogether? Before this administration, an “economically significant” regulation…
Blog
Court punts to FTC, freezing Microsoft purchase of Activision Blizzard
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) took action Monday to stop Microsoft from purchasing the game developer Activision Blizzard. The FTC filed for both…
News Release
House passes sensible regulatory reform bills to shrink power of the administrative state
Earlier today, the House passed 220 to 211 the Separation of Powers Restoration Act (SOPRA) sponsored by Rep. Scott Fitzgerald…
News Release
CEI expert analyzes the permitting provisions in the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023
After several attempts to reform the United States’ broken permitting system for large infrastructure projects, major changes have finally made it to the president’s…
Study
Permitting reforms, finally
Introduction The United States has one of the world’s most burdensome, time-consuming, and unpredictable systems for authorizing major infrastructure projects. The centerpiece of…
Blog
Adam Smith’s ‘tolerable administration’ vs. America’s increasingly intolerable one
2023 is the 300th anniversary of Adam Smith’s birth. This post is part of a series highlighting aspects of Smith’s thought that continue to…
Blog
New Biden White House Agenda shows 3,666 rules in regulatory pipeline
The Spring 2023 Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions has been released. A fall version of this twice-yearly document will also contain…