Blog
Why are America’s insurance commissioners trying to import harmful European rules?
With high prices and the threat of recession looming over America’s economy, another threat is emerging. Influential policymakers overseeing the U.S. insurance industry are…
Washington Examiner
Cryptocurrency back in spotlight in legislative push from Congress
John Berlau, a senior fellow and director of finance policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, told the Washington Examiner that Congress should tread lightly in granting…
News Release
Court Ruling on Ripple Cryptocurrency Case Curbs SEC Powers
A federal court has weighed in on whether a prominent cryptocurrency can be regulated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as a…
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…
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…
Fox Business
Banking industry pushes back on CFPB’s warning over use of AI chatbots
Fox Business quotes CEI’s John Berlau on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s recent advisory: John Berlau, the Competitive Enterprise…
Fox News
Banking industry pushes back on CFPB’s warning over use of AI chatbots
Fox News quotes CEI’s John Berlau on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s recent advisory regarding artificial intelligence in customer service:…
News Release
SEC’s Case Against Coinbase Threatens All U.S. Entrepreneurs
John Berlau, CEI Director of Finance Policy, today criticized the SEC for its ill-founded lawsuit targeting Coinbase: “The Securities…
Blog
SPPI-TV hit: How price controls endanger small dollar loans, boost loan sharks
In my first media appearance from the sleek new CEI studios at our offices in Washington, DC, I joined a great panel on the…
Blog
New credit card late fee rule hurts folks who pay their bills on time
There has rightly been an outcry after the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), which sets policy for the government-sponsored enterprises (GSE) Fannie Mae and…
Comment
CEI leads comments on CFPB’s $8 price controls on credit card late fees
In the matter of the proposed rule“Credit Card Penalty Fees (Regulation Z)”Consumer Financial Protection BureauDocket No. CFPB–2023–0010; RIN 3170–AB15 Prepared by: John…
News Release
Congress Must Examine First Republic’s Woke Financing and Risk Management Regulation
Regulators today seized the failed First Republic bank and sold its operations to JPMorgan Chase. CEI financial policy expert John Berlau reiterated the need…
Letters
CEI Co-Leads Coalition Letter Calling For External Audit of Fed on Bank Failures
As the Federal Reserve (Fed) readies its internal review of its actions leading up to the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) collapse, we the undersigned…
Wall Street Journal
CFPB Tries to Censor Speech on Chicago Crime
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a federal bureaucracy with a vast jurisdiction, is testing a novel approach to crime and punishment. In a lawsuit…
News Release
Supreme Court Ruling Ensures People Can Challenge Agency Authority in Court
The Supreme Court ruled today that regulatory agency tribunals do not have any special expertise in deciding constitutional law questions; therefore, district courts can…
Blog
FedNow Isn’t a CBDC, But Still Contains Many Dangers
Over the past few days, “FedNow” has been trending on Twitter in tweets that contain healthy doses of curiosity and skepticism, well-founded concerns about…
Blog
Finance Facts Trump Biden’s Blame Game on Banking Woes
Donald Trump dominated the news in more ways than one yesterday, as Biden officials attempted to place the Trump administration at the center of…
Blog
The Many Harms of Unlimited Deposit Insurance
Unlimited deposit insurance – the government guaranteeing that bank accounts of any size be made whole-in the event of a bank failure – would…
Blog
The Risks of Bailing Out Silicon Valley Bank’s Uninsured Depositors and How to Make the Banking System Resilient
On Sunday evening, the Biden administration decided that all customers of the failed Silicon Valley Bank will have their millions and possibly billions in…
News Release
Congress Shouldn’t Compound Silicon Valley Bank Collapse with Bailouts and Bad Ideas
The Silicon Valley Bank collapse has spurred some terrible policymaking ideas in Congress, exacerbating bad decisions by the bank that has led to its…
Bloomberg
Biden Vows to Hold Banks Accountable, Urges Stronger Rules (2)
John Berlau, director of finance policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, said “prudent banks suffering the fallout from SVB should…
News Release
Supreme Court Rightly to Review CFPB Funding Constitutionality
The Supreme Court today announced it will review the constitutionality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) funding, an unusual arrangement of unchecked funding…
Blog
Fed Economist: Study Shows Danger of Government-Mandated Financial Misinformation
Study from Fed Economist Shows Danger of Government-Mandated Financial Misinformation The “Twitter Files” have made some shocking revelations about…
Blog
Study from Fed Economist Shows Danger of Government-Mandated Financial Misinformation
The “Twitter Files” have made some shocking revelations about government entities muscling social media companies to deplatform people in the name of preventing…
Blog
Hearing Shows Bipartisan Momentum for Focused Financial Deregulation
Last week, I had the honor and pleasure of testifying at the first hearing of the newly constituted Financial Institutions and Monetary Policy…
Testimony
CEI’s John Berlau Testifies Before House Financial Services Committee: Hearing: “Revamping and Revitalizing Banking in the 21st Century”
Chairman Barr, Ranking Member Foster, and honorable members of this Subcommittee, thank you for this opportunity to present testimony on behalf of…
Crowd Fund Insider
House Subcommittee on Financial Institutions Schedules Hearing to Discuss Banking and Need to Update Regulations in Line with Emerging Technology
CEI’s John Berlau is cited on Crowd Fund Insider on banking regulations: The House Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Monetary Policy, part of…
News Release
CFPB Cap on Credit Card Late Fees = Price Controls that Raise Cost of Credit for Everyone
The Biden White House is touting a new proposed rule from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that would cap most credit card late…
Blog
Berlau Crypto Letter and Comments in Wall Street Journal and Washington Examiner
This week, I have had the honor of being quoted in a great article on cryptocurrency trends and regulation in the Washington Examiner and…
Forbes
Fed Economist’s Study Shows Harm Of Government-Spread Misinformation On Small Loans
The “Twitter Files” have made some shocking revelations about government entities muscling social media companies to de-platform people in the…
Blog
The Deregulatory Pony for Small Biz Buried in the Omnibus Pile
There’s not much good to say about an “omnibus” bill crammed in at the end-of-year lame duck session of Congress that contains a grab…
Wall Street Journal
The Meaning of the Bankman-Fried Indictment
The Wall Street Journal cites Senior Fellow John Berlau on the Sarbanes-Oxley law: “Earlier this year John Berlau and Josh Rutzick wrote in the Journal…
Blog
FTX Hearings Should Probe Fraud Charges and the SEC’s Misplaced Priorities
In the wake of the arrest of and charges of fraud against Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced founder and former CEO of the…
Blog
Why Choke Point Should Bar Gruenberg from Being FDIC Chair
Tomorrow morning, the Senate Banking Committee will hold a hearing on President Biden’s nomination of Marty Gruenberg to once again serve as Chair of…
Blog
Gensler Fiddled with ESG and Power Grabs while FTX Burned
When asked on CNBC about the implosion of crypto exchange FTX, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler turned the focus away from…
News Release
FTX Crypto Problems Reveal SEC Shortcomings, As Well: CEI Analysis
The current collapse of cryptocurrency company FTX has exposed another festering problem with how the industry is being regulated, says CEI Senior Fellow John…
Blog
Reining in Biden CFPB’s “Junk” Policies with Fifth Circuit Ruling
When the federal Fifth Circuit Court Appeals ruled last week, in Community Financial Services v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, that the funding structure…
News Release
Biden Wrong About “Junk Fees” in Sweeping Government Mandate
Today the Biden administration announced a new whole-of-government initiative against “junk fees” from airlines, banking, and other industries. But what he is calling junk fees…
News Release
Court Rules CFPB Funding Structure Unconstitutional: CEI Statements
A Fifth Circuit panel ruled Wednesday that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s unusual funding structure is unconstitutional, in a lawsuit brought by a small-dollar…
Blog
Excerpts from Austin Keynote: How CBDCs Could Be the New Operation Choke Point
This week, I attended the exciting INFiN MoneyTrends conference in Austin, where I gave the Regulatory Keynote address on Monday. The conference is…
Blog
FTC Goes Back to Bad ‘70s Policies in Motor Vehicle Dealer Rule
Last night at CEI’s annual Julian L. Simon Memorial Award Dinner, CEI celebrated the 1970s—both the fashions and the deregulation toward the end of…
Comment
Comments to the Federal Trade Commission Regarding the Motor Vehicle Dealers Trade Regulation Rule
Comment Submitted: September 12, 2022 Docket No. FTC-2022-0046-0001 On behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), I respectfully submit the following comments…
Blog
Paternalistic FTC Rule Would Stifle Consumer Choice in Auto Market
As if American drivers didn’t face enough headwinds with high gas prices, supply chain constraints, and state rules that may force them out…
Blog
Prominent Short Sellers Target ESG-themed Firms
For a long while, my CEI colleagues and I have touted the vital role that short sellers play in a free market economy. CEI…
Blog
Why Carried Interest Tax Hike Deserves to Die in IRA and Otherwise
The Inflation Reduction Act (referred to by critics such as Phil Kerpen as the Income Reduction Act) will likely be voted on in…
Wall Street Journal
The 20-Year Experiment Holding America Back
Many commentators these days, both progressive and conservative, decry a lack of opportunities for the American middle class, the concentration of certain industries under…
Law & Liberty
A Declaration of Independence from the Administrative State?
At gatherings this July 4, there will likely be impassioned conversations about recent Supreme Court decisions. But it’s a ruling a few weeks ago…
Blog
Defeat of Pot Banking Liberalization Will Lead to More Violent Crime and Reduced U.S. Competitiveness
It is beyond disappointing that Congress once again dropped the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act—bipartisan legislation that would prevent the federal government…
CrowdFund Insider
Competitive Enterprise Institute Securities Expert on Crypto Legislation: “It will have many positive effects”
CrowdFund Insider cites CEI Senior Fellow and Director of Finance Policy John Berlau on crypto: Berlau, a senior fellow…
InsideSources
Critics Get ‘Whiff of Racism’ in Progressive Attempts to Shut Down Tribal Lenders
InsideSources cites CEI Director of Financial Policy and Senior Fellow John Berlau on interest rates: John Berlau, Director of…