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Taking Private Land for Private Interests: The Agenda and Policies of the American Farmland Trust
Full Document Available in…
Newsletter
Vol. II, No. 11
Politics House Version of Ashcroft Drops On May 7 Rep. Joseph Knollenberg (R-MI) introduced a bill (H.R. 3807) that, like the Senate version introduced by…
News Release
Opposing Groups Offer Sincerity Test On Tobacco Tax
Washington, DC, May 26, 1998 — Two organizations which in the past disagreed on the issue of tobacco regulation today joined to propose a…
News Release
First Cooler Heads Lecture On Global Warming
Washington, DC, May 22, 1998 — The Cooler Heads Coalition, a working group chaired by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) within Consumer Alert’s broader…
Newsletter
Climate Change: Insights from Oceanography
Preface Full Briefing available in PDF format. Preface The global warming establishment asserts that…
Comment
Testimony Before the Subcommittee on the Census, Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, Hearings on the Census
Newsletter
Vol. II, No. 10
Politics UN Readies “Buenos Aires Mandate” The UN Conference on Trade and Development has developed recommendations for the proposed Buenos Aires Mandate to be completed…
News Release
Endangered Species Act Still A Failure
Washington, DC, May 6, 1998 — Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt’s announcement today that some two dozen species will be delisted under the Endangered Species…
News Release
Food Fight! Federal Organic Labeling – One Big Unadulterated Mistake
Washington, D.C., May 1, 1998 — “A government attempt to define organic food is no different than a government attempt to regulate religious doctrine…
News Release
Food Fight! Federal Organic Labeling – One Big Unadulterated Mistake
Washington, D.C., May 1, 1998 — “A government attempt to define organic food is no different than a government attempt to regulate religious doctrine…
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The Sand County Foundation
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The EPA’S Latest Injustice
Convent is a small, relatively poor town in St. James Parish, Louisiana, that lies along the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans.
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A Titanic Question of Public Policy
Ok, I’ll admit it. Last month I became perhaps the last human being in this section of the solar system to see the movie…
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The Mother of All Food Fights
Someone once commented that, if the federal government regulated restaurant fare, there’d be blood in the streets. Vegetarians would be fighting with meat-eaters, Jews…
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Rethinking Insurance Regulation–1998
NATURAL DISASTERS AND CATASTROPHIC INSURANCE The morning’s panel focused on the issue of natural disasters and catastrophic risks and the financing problems posed…
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The Promise of Private Conservation
Private individuals, groups, and associations provided conservation amenities long before the birth of the environmental movement, but today these efforts are often subsumed by…
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Rethinking Insurance Regulation–1998
NATURAL DISASTERS AND CATASTROPHIC…
Newsletter
Vol. II, No. 9
Politics Anti-Kyoto Science Petition Tops 17,000 Names A petition circulated to scientists urging lawmakers to reject the Kyoto…
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A Disaster Waiting to Happen: Why Washington Shouldn’t Subsidize Disaster Insurance
This Thursday, April 23, the House Banking and Financial Services Committee will examine H.R. 219, the Homeowners Insurance Availability Act sponsored by Rep. Rick…
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Why the UN Desertification Treaty is All Wet
After his recent visit to Africa’s Kalahari Desert, President Bill Clinton proclaimed himself “a greener person” and called for Senate ratification of the United…
News Release
Enlightened Green Alternative To Earth Day Blues
Washington, DC, April 17, 1998 —Saving the planet is a nice idea, but the focus on Earth Day has for too long been on…
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Conservation Through Commerce
Full Document Available in PDF To many people the words “conservation” and “commerce” are anathema. And…
Newsletter
Vol. II, No. 8
Politics Environmental Ministers Meet Environmental ministers from 29 member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the G-8 Ministers (“The Group of…
Study
Electric Avenues: Why “Open Access” Can’t Compete
Full Document Available in PDF The regulation of electricity markets…
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A Texas-Sized Land-Use Plan: The Central Texas Rare Species Conservation Plan
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPW) is developing a new program known as “the Central Texas Rare Species Conservation Plan.” The plan is…
News Release
Anti-Consumer Regulations Proposed By DOT
Washington, DC, April 6, 1998 — The Competitive Enterprise Institute today denounced proposed airline pricing guidelines released today by the U.S. Department of Transportation…
Study
EPA’s Asthma Miasma
Is the Environmental Protection Agency a friend or enemy of asthmatic children? It all depends on which issue the agency is peddling.
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Destroying Competition in Order to Save It: Predation Rules and the Airline Industry
“We had to destroy the village in order to save it.” According to legend, this rationale was once given by the U.S. army to…
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Flush With Anger: Should Washington Regulate Toilets?
One of Congress’ dumbest ideas was having federal bureaucrats redesign household appliances. Under the 1992 Energy Policy Act, several plumbing fixtures must now meet…
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How Green Was Common Law?
On December 17, the Center for Private Conservation hosted a roundtable on the Common Law Approach to Pollution Prevention to assess the extent…
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The Other Roosevelt Legacy
America’s current political dilemma the dominant progressive belief that government is a force for unlimited good — has many roots, but special honor goes…
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Derivatives Regulation: Problems and Prospects
Derivatives regulation in the United States is a jumble of legal fields, including banking, securities, commodities, and bankruptcy law. And any time multiple areas…
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Told Ya’ So: The Trojan Pony’s Revenge
On March 16, the General Accounting Office reported that people who exercised their rights under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996…
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Michigan’s Insurance Industry: New Directions
Full Document Available in PDF With the coming of the administration of Republican…
Newsletter
Vol. II, No. 7
Politics Electricity Deregulation On March 25 the Clinton Administration announced its Comprehensive Electricity Competition Plan. The plan, according to the Administration will save consumers $20…
News Release
No Implementation Without Ratification
WASHINGTON, DC, March 30, 1998 — “Every high school civics student knows that two-thirds of the Senate must approve a treaty before it becomes…
Comment
Testimony before the Subcommittee on Energy and Environment, House Committee on Science, Hearings on the Fiscal Year 1999 Budget
Comment
Testimony before the Subcommittee on Energy and Environment, House Committee on Science, Hearings on the Fiscal Year 1999 Budget
Good afternoon, my name is Fred Smith. As President of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, I welcome your invitation to discuss today federal science policy,…
News Release
Clinton Electricity “Deregulation” Re-Regulates Industry
Washington, DC, March 25, 1998 — “If the Clinton administration’s ‘Comprehensive Electricity Competition Plan’ is to deregulate electricity, government oversight of the power industry…
News Release
Institute President Attacks “Greenhouse Pork”
Washington, DC, March 25, 1998 — CEI President Fred L. Smith, Jr. today called for an end to federal subsidies for research and development…
News Release
Study Attacks Loophole For Municipalities
Washington, DC, March 20, 1998 — Exempting municipalities from Superfund liability will hinder real environmental reform according to a new study released by the…
Newsletter
Vol. II, No. 6
Politics Backdoor Implementation Some Senators fear that Undersecretary of State Stuart Eizenstat misled them when he told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that “We have…
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Common and Private Property Rights
News Release
Don’t Sign The Kyoto Protocol: Climate Treaty Is Dangerous to U.S., World
WASHINGTON, DC, March 16, 1998 — “The Kyoto Protocol is a dangerous treaty, and President Clinton should not sign it,” said Marlo Lewis, Jr.,…
Op-Eds
Large Vehicles Are The Solution, Not The Problem
Copyright 1998 Dow Jones Industrial, Inc. If you listen to journalists, you'd think sport-utility vehicles were more dangerous…
Newsletter
Vol. II, No. 5
Politics The Administration’s Negotiating Strategy On March 4, 1998, Undersecretary of State Stuart Eizenstat reassured the House Commerce Subcommittee that the U.S. was committed to…
News Release
Sugg Denounces Disinformation On ESA Reform
Washington, DC, March 4, 1998 — Today a prominent environmental expert denounced Republican Senators Dirk Kempthorne (ID) and John Chafee (RI) for waging a…
Op-Eds
Micro-managing Bill Gates
Full article available in pdf Republicans are known for praising markets and condemning overregulation of business. But oddly, they often conspicuously endorse…
Op-Eds
Book Review – The Suicidal Corporation
Full Document Available in PDF…
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Crying Silicon Tears
If one set out to design vicious special- interest legislation to loot productive companies and distribute the spoils to lesser competitors, one could scarcely do…
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Perry Mason Hearings
Blame it on inexperience, minority-itus, or El Niño, but some of our friends on Capitol Hill still imagine that the purpose of hearings is…
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Home Not Alone – Part Deux
On February 23 the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case of Ziman v. New York State, ending a regulatory saga so long-running…
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Flush With Anger
The federal government does a lot of dumb things. Perhaps the dumbest was Congress’ decision to have the federal government redesign household appliances. In…
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Fishing For Solutions
While dramatic stories of thedepletion of the world’s fish stocks frequently grab the spotlight in the popular press, reports of the death of fishing…
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Conservation Easements & Private Land Stewardship
Full Document Available in PDF “Conservation easements” are property rights created to…
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Privileged Polluters: The Case Against Exempting Municipalities From Superfund
Full Document Available in PDF Superfund is widely regarded as…
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The Common Law Approach to Pollution Prevention
Full Document Available in PDF The Cuyahoga River may not catch fire…
Op-Eds
Climate Care
<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> Full article available in pdf format …
Op-Eds
Climate Care
Full article available in pdf format ClintonCare—Bill and Hillary Clinton’s plan to nationalize…
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Bill, Bob, and Browsers: Why DOJ’s Case Against Microsoft is Flawed
While Microsoft has been pilloried by newspaper pundits, a trial court judge, and other alleged computer experts for not submitting to the federal government,…
Study
Network Effects: Does Luck or Talent Rule the High-Technology Market?
Does luck matter more than talent in the marketplace after all? Many of today’s calls for antitrust interference in the marketplace are rooted in a…
News Release
Supreme Court Turns Down Suit On New York Rent Control
Washington, DC, February 23, 1998 — The United States Supreme Court today declined to hear a constitutional attack on New York State’s restriction of…
Newsletter
Vol. II, No. 4
Politics Senator Inhofe Opposes Clinton’s Greenhouse Budget U.S. Senator James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.) has made it clear he will oppose the Clinton Administration’s $6.3 billion…
News Release
Free-Market Think Tank Enters Electric Power Business
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), a free market think tank, today announced its entry into the electric power market and demanded that utilities open…
Study
Ten Thousand Commandments: A Policymaker’s Snapshot of the Federal Regulatory State (1998 edition)
Newsletter
Vol. II, No. 3
Politics Clinton’s Multi-billion Dollar Plan On January 30, the Clinton administration announced a $6.3 billion emissions reduction plan. The budget for fiscal year 1999 will…
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The Roney Land and Cattle Company, Inc.
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We Luv Our Suvs
For a country so concerned about the well-being of soccer moms, it is hard to understand the recent verbal assault on their transportation of…
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Back to the Future
Over the past several years, America has faced a disturbing trend. It started with the disco revival and John Travolta’s return to the silver screen.
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Flirting With Disaster
Congress is again exploring new ways to undermine the private market for homeowners insurance in disaster-prone parts of the country. On February…
Op-Eds
Coveted Internet Cash Cow?
Published in the Washington Times <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> January 30, 1998 Excerpted in…
News Release
Grassroots ESA Coalition Warns Against Dangers of Species Bill
Washington, DC, January 29, 1998 — The Competitive Enterprise Institute announced today that it will be co-sponsoring a congressional and media briefing on S.1180…
News Release
CEI Blasts Big-Government Era State of Union Message
Washington DC, January 28 –”President Clinton’s State of the Union message makes it clear that the era of big government is not over,” said…
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Privacy As Censorship: A Skeptical View of Proposals to Regulate Privacy in the Private Sector
News Release
Hidden “Taxes” Cost Families 20 Percent of Income
Washington, DC, January 22, 1998 — Federal regulations cost taxpayers $688 billion in 1997, over 40 percent more than the size of the entire…
Newsletter
Vol. II, No. 2
Politics No Stealth Implementation Rep. David McIntosh, R-Ind., directed his Government Reform and Oversight regulatory subcommittee to send letters to the Environmental Protection Agency, the…
News Release
Institute Attacks Whitman Call For State Control of Open Space
Washington, DC, January 21, 1998 — The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) blasted Governor Christie Todd Whitman’s (R-NJ) plan to lock up one million acres…
News Release
Bi-Partisan Forum To Evaluate IMF
Washington, DC, January 12, 1998 – An unprecedented coalition of left and right-leaning organizations will conduct a forum on Capitol Hill to discuss the…
Newsletter
Vol. II, No. 1
Politics You Think One Kyoto is Bad? Try Thirty Jorge Sarmiento of Princeton University told Science (December 19, 1997) after the completion of the Kyoto…
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Who’ll “Manage” Managed Care?
Public anxieties over the quality and limitations of managed health care are fueling a new round of federal proposals to regulate the medical marketplace. The…
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Bail Out For The Foolish
My Daddy always said never get between a fool and his mistake – it would sacrifice the only good that might come from the…
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Free Market Mission to Kyoto
Japan’s Foreign Minister opened the United Nations climate conference in Kyoto by calling it "an event that could change the history of mankind." Hoping to…
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Farmland Everywhere
To just about anyone who has driven non-stop from St. Louis to Denver it is practically inconceivable that American is running out of farmland. Yet…
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What Makes for a Good Land Trust?
News Release
Institute Denounces Air Bag Deactivation Rule: Too Little, Too Late
WASHINGTON, DC, November 18, 1997 — The Competitive Enterprise Institute today charged that the U.S. Transportation Department's new air bag deactivation rule was a…
Newsletter
Vol. I, No. 12
Politics What Have We Done? In November the Clinton Administration announced its negotiating position for the upcoming Kyoto conference. It proposed stabilization of emissions at…
News Release
Kyoto Media Advisory: December 10, 1997
Industrialized nations have tentatively agreed to a global warming protocol covering six “greenhouse gases” — carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur…
News Release
Kyoto Media Advisory: December 8, 1997
Kyoto Gets Gored Al Gore flew into Kyoto this morning — allegedly not to solicit funds at the more than 100,000 Buddhist temples…
News Release
Kyoto Media Advisory: December 5, 1997
Third World Fumes COP-3 in Kyoto is the culmination of earlier summits — the Rio Conference in 1992, the implementation of energy curtailment…
News Release
Kyoto Media Advisory: December 4, 1997
Poor Countries Still Oppose Energy Starvation Diet Developing countries continue to signal their unwillingness to sign binding emissions reduction targets in Kyoto. The…
News Release
Will Gas Lines Come Back?
WASHINGTON, DC, December 3, 1997 — The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) began an ad campaign this morning attacking the proposed climate treaty being negotiated…
News Release
Kyoto Media Advisory: December 3, 1997
Many at COP-3 are behaving as if the Clinton-Gore administration speaks for the U.S — as if the eager quest for an aggressive global…
News Release
Kyoto Media Advisory: December 2, 1997
COP-3 opened as a Victorian drama, with the U.S. position in imminent peril as its prime defender, Undersecretary of State Tim Wirth, suddenly abandoned…
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The Economy of the Mind
Address to the Competitive Enterprise Institute ANA Hotel, Washington D.C. Tuesday, October 21, 1997 Thank you, Stan [Evans]. As Bill Clinton says…
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Deja Vu All Over Again
History doesn’t repeat itself, but the machinations of big-government politicians are vexingly repetitious. Perhaps nothing better illustrates the plus ca change, plus ca meme…
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Schell’s Game in Seattle
In November, Seattle voters elected Paul Schell mayor. Few were surprised. Schell was the anointed candidate, the establishment favorite. Populist challenger Charlie Chong, by contrast,…
News Release
Kyoto Media Advisory: December 1, 1997
(Kyoto, December 1, 1997) Japan’s Foreign Minister opened the UN climate conference, known as “COP-3,” by calling it “an event that could change the…
Newsletter
Vol. I, No. 11
Politics Europe May Compromise The European Union’s chief negotiator, Jorgen Henningsen, has conceded that the EU may be willing soften its stance on climate change.
News Release
Ralph Nader’s Anti-Microsoft Campaign Hurts Consumers
WASHINGTON, DC, November 12 , 1997 — The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) suspects that Ralph Nader does not speak for all consumers in his…
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