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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.
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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If the executive branch is not going to consistently enforce antitrust laws -- and they shouldn't -- they should be repealed.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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,…
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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.
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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…
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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…
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Regulation of the Day: Asphalt Emissions
EPA is proposing national emission standards for asphalt processing and asphalt roofing manufacturing.
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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.
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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…
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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…
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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.
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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.
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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…
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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…
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Taxes without Borders
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Regulation of the Day: The Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission
The State Department has renewed its membership in the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission. This will cost taxpayers more than $2 million in annual membership dues.
Atlanta Journal Constitution
Federal Regulatory Burden Hits $1.17 Trillion by Bob Barr
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Regulation of the Day: Parole Rules for Federal Prisoners
Today’s Regulation of the Day comes to us from the Department of Justice ($26 billion 2009 budget, 112,000 employees). Parole rules for DC offenders and…
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Regulation of the Day: Clean Air in Columbus, OH
Today’s Regulation of the Day comes to us from the EPA. One would think that regulators, seeing heartening results, would pat themselves on the back…
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Regulation of the Day: Saving the Children
On June 26, the National Commission on Children and Disasters is having a meeting. They will be talking about another meeting from the day before.
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Danson in the Dark
Actor and noted intellectual Ted Danson has a piece on CNN.com entitled "World's Biggest Fish Are Dying." To his credit, it is not about whales.
Blog
Regulation of the Day: Drawbridge Schedules in Sturgeon Bay, WI
Today’s Regulation of the Day comes to us from the Department of Homeland Security (208,000 employees, $52 billion 2009 budget).
Washington Examiner
To Stimulate the Economy, Let it be Free
Lobbying is about the only sector of the economy experiencing a boom right now. This is a predictable effect of the tax-and-spend stimulus model favored…
Blog
Regulation of the Day: Taxpayer-Funded Advertising for Mushrooms
This is the first installment of an occasional series that shines a little light on what the regulatory state is up to. Today’s Regulation of…
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Twenty Years since Tiananmen Square
China is a very different place than it was twenty years ago. It was on this day in 1989 that one anonymous, brave soul halted…
Detroit News
Stimulate Economy Through Deregulation
The economy is contracting at a rate of more than 6 percent this year to date. This is hurting the country and especially Michigan, whose…
Cafe Hayek
A Tax By Any Other Name
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The Cost of Cybersecurity in Context
During his remarks, President Obama noted that "cyber crime has cost Americans more than $8 billion." He continued, "My presidency has so far cost Americans…
Investors' Business Daily
America’s Hidden Trillion-Dollar Tax
We need a breather to take it all in: TARP, a $787 billion stimulus bill and a projected $1.845 trillion budget deficit. But lost among…
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Lamb Roast: Mankind’s Doom
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Fulfilling Prophecies
CBO estimated today that unemployment will top out at around 10.5% before it recovers. Congress is doing its part to make CBO’s dire prophecy a…
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