Blog
The TrumpRx medicine will prove worse than the disease
On September 30, President Trump, standing alongside the CEO of Pfizer, announced a multifaceted deal wherein Pfizer would inoculate itself from new regulations and…
News Release
Inflation increased 0.3 percent in September, higher prices still sticking around: CEI analysis
September saw an inflation increase of 0.3 percent across all sectors, in line with economists’ predictions. CEI senior economist Ryan Young says today’s…
Blog
CFPB must withdraw open banking rule to protect innovation and consumer choice
On October 21, John Berlau, senior fellow and director of finance policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, submitted a comment letter to the Consumer…
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: Obamacare problems with Jeremy Nighohossian
In this week’s episode we talk about the unintended consequences of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, decarbonization of economic growth, and resources…
Blog
Exposing America’s hidden judiciary
I have a new paper published with the Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF), How Interagency Borrowing of Administrative Law Judges Circumvents the Rule of Law.
Blog
The war on gas stoves is not over – but the Trump administration is fighting back
The Department of Energy (DOE) recently announced that it is rescinding federal grants for changes to state and local building codes that would discourage the…
Forbes
$1 Trillion And Counting: Do Federal Grants Sabotage Regulatory Reform?
There’s been much attention to Donald Trump’s streamlining and “deconstruction” of conventional notice-and-comment regulation this year – a campaign that includes…
Blog
Has Washington bought off the deregulatory movement?
Back during the Biden administration, I noted how rising federal spending and regulation seemed to swap unfunded mandates for funded ones – turning what should…
Blog
In absence of federal action, states begin challenging the proxy duopoly
The two largest proxy advisors, Glass Lewis and Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), have dominated the proxy voting market for the past 22 years. Following the…
Blog
FTC’s Strategic Plan needs better strategy, more plans for Hart-Scott-Rodino
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has taken a positive step by restoring the language “without unduly burdening legitimate business activity” to its mission statement, as…
The Washington Examiner
Soybean farmers twisting in the wind during US-China talks
The Washington Examiner cited CEI’s expert on trade Accordingly, the timeline for the U.S. and China to come to an agreement over soybeans is…
Comment
Comments urging withdrawal of Chopra CFPB open banking mandate
Dear Acting Director Vought: On behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, I appreciate the opportunity to submit comments on RIN 3170-AB39, CFPB’s reconsideration of issues…
Blog
Free Speech Week: The speech that ignited a revolution — and still speaks to us today
A Richmond story, a Virginia legacy, and the American ethos Richmond is my home city. My family has lived in Virginia for generations, and our…
Blog
The week in regulations, shutdown edition: Mackerel and helicopters
The continuing shutdown made for another slow week in the Federal Register. The four-day week’s total of five proposed regulations, six proposed regulations, and 131…
Comment
CEI Comments on the FTC’s Draft Strategic Plan for FY 2026–2030: Supporting Balanced Enforcement, Evidence-Based Policymaking, and Regulatory Predictability
RE: Draft FTC Strategic Plan for FY 2026-2030 Docket No.: FTC-2025-0660 On behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), I would like to thank the…
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: Energy diversity and abundance with Stephen Perkins
In this week’s episode we talk about the 2025 Nobel Prize in Economics, eliminating the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, why we…
Letters
CEI joins coalition Letter against caps on stablecoin rewards
RE: Coalition in Support of Preserving Consumer Rewards and Competition in Digital Asset Legislation Dear Chairmen Scott and Boozman, Ranking Members Warren and Klobuchar, and…
Blog
Report highlights the environmental costs of wind and solar
A Center of the American Experiment report, authored by Sarah Montalbano, explores the environmental costs of wind, solar, and battery storage technologies. These “green”…
Blog
A Nobel for human progress
This year’s economics Nobel Prize went to three students of the two most important questions in economics: Why have living standards in rich countries improved…
Blog
Katie Porter’s exchange with CFPB’s Kraninger revisited amid new revelations
A recently surfaced clip of former Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) has sparked a firestorm online. In a newly revealed 2021 video revealed published by…
Independent Institute
Report Highlights the Environmental Costs of Wind and Solar
A Center of the American Experiment, authored by Sarah Montalbano, explores the environmental costs of wind, solar, and battery storage technologies. These “green” technologies are…
Blog
The hidden growth of government in an age of less red tape
Recent editions of Ten Thousand Commandments detail how regulatory red tape mushroomed under Biden. For vulnerable small business, the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council…
The Daily Signal
Is a Leftist-Created Corner of the Bureaucracy Defying the Government Shutdown?
The Daily Signal cited CEI’s expert on the CFPB Despite limits, with Vought at the helm, the CFPB has been headed in a more positive…
Forbes
Small Business Regulation Is Cratering – Here’s The Hidden Catch
But during the Biden administration, red tape proliferated. The Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council noted, for example, the toll from credit card…
Blog
Senate’s turn to pass the Fix Our Forests Act
It’s not often that legislation has as much bipartisan support as H.R. 471, the Fix Our Forests Act (FOFA) does. On January 23, FOFA…
Blog
The week in regulations, shutdown edition: Pot gear and hot air fuel
Venezuelan democracy activist Maria Corina Machado won the Nobel Peace Prize. The partial federal shutdown meant there were no proposed regulations and five new regulations…
Blog
The problem with Obamacare is Obamacare
This year, the COVID-induced expansion of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will expire. Extending the expanded subsidies has become a point of contention between Republicans…
Blog
Impasse over NLRB nominee may be just what unions want
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee yesterday approved one of President Trump’s nominees to serve on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the main…
Letters
CEI Joins ATR in Urging Commerce to Reject Patent Tax Proposal Undermining OBBBA Success
Dear Secretary Lutnick: The undersigned organizations represent millions of Americans for whom efforts alongside the Trump administration on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA)…
DC Journal
Counterpoint: Single-Use Plastic Bans Make No Sense
Nobody wants plastic pollution. That doesn’t mean poorly considered and heavy-handed governmental actions are the solution. This includes misguided single-use plastic bans (e.g., bans on…
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: Celebrating human achievement with Ed Hudgins
In this week’s episode we talk about the need to build more infrastructure in the UK, an award for public finance leadership…
Letters
CEI joins a coalition in Protecting Consumer Data: Why the CFPB Must Abandon Biden’s Flawed Open Banking Rule
Dear Acting Director Vought: We commend the bureau for acknowledging the flaws in the Personal Financial Data Rights rule promulgated under the Biden administration. We…
The American Spectator
Trump Topples the Regulatory Tower
The American Spectator cited CEI’s 10kc The federal government collected $4.9 trillion in taxes in 2024. The Competitive Enterprise Institute, founded by the late Fred Smith, calculates that in 2025…
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition with Center for Individual Freedom in Strong Support of Charter–Cox Merger to Advance Free-Market Innovation and Consumer Benefits
Dear Secretary Dortch: The undersigned organizations submit this letter to the Federal Communications Commission (hereinafter FCC) in support of the proposed combination of Charter Communications,…
National Review
Time to Spring Trump’s Tariff Trap
H.L. Mencken, the Sage of Baltimore, grounded American democracy in the notion that the “common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and…
Trib Live
‘We’re stretching’: As grocery prices continue to climb, shoppers redefine their staples
Trib Live cited CEI’s expert on Tariffs “Tomatoes from Mexico are being hit with a 17% tariff,” Ortega said. “In the cold months, we’ll…
Civitas Institute
The First Amendment Vise
It’s been a rough ride for freedom of speech lately. The reads, “Congress shall make no law…prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of…
Blog
The week in regulations: Poultry improvement and painful scars
The federal government shut down on Wednesday. Thursday’s Federal Register had 60 final regulations; normal is about 10. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth flew in hundreds…
Blog
EPA proposed rule cools down costly air conditioner regulation
The Biden administration inflicted many bad appliance regulations on homeowners, but the costliest of them all was an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule requiring…
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: Reforming Social Security with Romina Boccia
In this week’s episode we cover a new study on pharmaceutical tariffs, whether to expect a new Great Depression (via Phil…
Blog
Next BLS head needs be an innovator, not a loyalist
President Trump nominated E.J. Antoni to head the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) because he wanted someone to modernize and update the agency’s methodology.
Forbes
Turn Shutdown Theater Into A Slim-Down: Cut Spending And Regulation At Once
Looming federal government shutdowns should be treated as opportunities to cut both spending and regulation. So as we barrel toward a potential…
Blog
Shutdown? Take the win
Last-ditch negotiations are underway as another fiscal year comes to a close on October 1. It’s that familiar crossroads: a threatened shutdown if a funding…
Wall Street Journal
“FTC Sues Zillow, Redfin Alleging They Suppress Rental Advertising Competition”
The Wall Street Journal reports on the FTC’s recent antitrust suit against Zillow and Redfin.
News Release
Report: Pharmaceutical tariffs will upend prices, supply
A new CEI report takes a close look at the complex, worldwide pharmaceutical supply chain to anticipate how forthcoming Trump tariffs might increase prices and…
Study
I, Pharmaceutical
The global pharmaceutical industry is complex. This is true not only in the number of countries involved but the range of products, the sets of…
Blog
National Public Lands Day shines light on reasonable entrance fees
September 27 was National Public Lands Day. To celebrate, the National Park Service (NPS) advertised free admission to national parks that normally…
Citation
Unknowns cloud economy’s future despite return to growth and rate cut
The National News Desk cited CEI’s expert on tariffs “Both consumers and businesses in a rush to beat tariffs have been stockpiling as many goods…
Blog
The week in regulations: Airplane seats and Irish potatoes
President Trump signed an executive order to effectively end the H-1B visa category for high-skilled immigrants. He also raised tariffs on pharmaceuticals, argued without evidence…
Truth on the Market
“The Iliad, the Odyssey, and the Amazon”
Dan Gilman with the International Center for Law & Economics discusses the FTC’s $2.5 billion settlement with Amazon.