Blog
CEI’s Coalition Letter to Prevent New Bailouts of Fannie and Freddie
As the Dodd-Frank “financial reform” celebrated its fifth anniversary this summer, just about every financial business—as well as many nonfinancial firms—have come under its thumb.
Blog
Savers Oppose “Fiduciary Rule” Sold by Labor Department as “Protecting” Them
“A fundamental shift in Wall Street culture” is what the Department of Labor is aiming for with the “fiduciary rule.” That’s what DOL Deputy Assistant…
Blog
Mount Vernon Cheers: A Song to Commemorate “I, Whiskey”
Our Indiegogo campaign for CEI’s new documentary “I Whiskey” is closing soon. So far, we have raised almost $75,000, but it’s not over yet.
Blog
Democratic Judges Green-Light CEI’s Challenge to Dodd-Frank
Just days after President Obama touted the supposed achievements of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law on its fifth birthday, a unanimous judicial panel—including an Obama…
Blog
Not Dodd-Frank, Not Glass-Steagall, But Real Competition to End TBTF
Progressives cheered Hillary Clinton last week when she said policy makers need to “go beyond Dodd-Frank.” She didn’t rule out repeal of some sections, but most…
Study
A Bird in the Hand and No Banks in the Bush
Full Document Available in PDF Radio Shack. Borders Books and Music. Blockbuster Video. Eastman Kodak. These are the names of…
Fox News
Don’t let Team Obama ‘protect’ your retirement account they way it has ‘protected’ your health care
Taking a victory lap as the Supreme Court vindicated ObamaCare, the Obama administration is busy preparing to apply the paternalistic precepts of the health care…
Heartland
Department of Education Presses for New Authority Over Banks
The Heartland cites CEi`s John Berlau on the new rule on student loans proposed by the Department of Education: Under the proposed rule, banks…
Products
Controversy builds at U.S. consumer protection bureau
The Human Events quotes CEI`s John Berlau on the Consumer Protection Bureau office renovations:…
News Release
Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. The Inclusive Communities Project
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled today on a case involving what constitutes housing discrimination, deciding in Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v.
News Release
Statement on Obama “Fiduciary Rule” Vote Today
Today, a House committee is poised to mark up a plan to block the Obama administration's so-called "fiduciary rule," which would restrict the investment choices…
Blog
The Right to Choose Your Investment Partner
The following is an abridged and revised version of my keynote address to the FinTech Global Expo at the San Diego Convention Center on May 29,…
POLITICO
Conservative Group Opposes Part of Shelby Bill
Blog
Johnson-Crapo’s Reemergence Ruins Reg Relief Bill
Last year, an overhaul of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac called Johnson-Crapo—named after then Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) and Ranking Member Mike…
Blog
Dodd-Frank’s Thousands of Commandments and Near-Zero Benefits
Newsmax
‘Fiduciary Rule’ Takes Aim at Retirement Plans
Three years ago, President Barack Obama signed into law the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act, modestly but significantly liberalizing securities markets for investors…
Blog
Labor Department “Fiduciary Rule” Threatens to Eviscerate JOBS Act Gains for Investors, Entrepreneurs
Three years ago, President Barack Obama signed into law the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act, modestly but significantly liberalizing securities markets for investors and…
National Review
Obamacare for your IRA
Is Jonathan Gruber — the MIT economist who seemingly dropped out of public view after he was…
Blog
Gruber’s Disciples Gunning for Your IRA and 401(k)
Is Jonathan Gruber, the MIT economist who seemingly dropped out of public view after he was caught on camera bragging how he and other Obamacare…
Illinois Policy
Illinois House passes nation’s most competitive crowdfunding rules
Illinois Policy quotes CEI`s John Berlau on the proposed bill on crowdfunding by Illinois House: This innovative form of funding is described by…
The Daily Caller
Obama’s Bizarre Executive Privilege Claim Over Fannie And Freddie
Blog
Least Transparent Administration Closes Records on Fannie and Freddie
This Sunshine Week, the administration that swept into office promising to be the “most transparent” in history was just judged by a major news service…
Newsmax
Obama Plan Could Cripple IRA Choices
Last week, President Obama called on the Department of Labor (DOL) to "update the rules and requirements that retirement advisers put the best interests of…
Blog
Remembering M. Stanton Evans
Carolina Journal
Quietly, Government Stops Counting ‘Green’ Jobs
Carolina Journal quotes CEI`s John Berlau on the federal government`s `green job` promotion: John Berlau, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute…
Blog
How Department of Labor’s “Fiduciary” Rule Could Cripple IRA Choices
Last week, President Obama called on the Department of Labor to “update the rules and requirements that retirement advisors put the best interests of their…
Blog
Harvard Study Confirms Dodd-Frank’s Harm to Main Street
Literally since the day the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act was signed into law by President Obama, my Competitive Enterprise Institute colleagues…
The American Spectator
Main Street Challenges Dodd-Frank’s Chipping Away at the Constitution
"Wall Street Chips Away at Dodd-Frank,” blared a recent front-page headline in the New York Times about bipartisan measures that have passed the U.S. House…
Blog
Main Street Fights Dodd-Frank’s Chipping Away at the Constitution
“Wall Street Chips Away at Dodd-Frank,” blared a recent front-page headline in The New York Times about bipartisan measures that have passed the U.S. House of Representatives…
Blog
Supreme Court Refuses to Make Dodd-Frank More Draconian
Today, the Supreme Court lifted a cloud of uncertainty that had been hanging over consumers, community banks, and credit unions by refusing to take…
The Daily Signal
Government Agency Under Scrutiny for $215 Million Building Renovation
The Dialy Signal quotes CEI`s John Berlau on the Consumer Protection Bureau office renovations: Costly building renovations at the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection…
The Daily Caller
Dodd-Frank Relief Is A Better Deal For Homeowners Than Obama’s FHA Folly
“If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.” So said Ronald Reagan in 1986. Reagan was describing the unintended…
Blog
Obama Should Help Borrowers by Shedding Dodd-Frank, Not Pumping FHA
“If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.” So said Ronald Reagan in 1986. Reagan was describing the unintended effects of…
Investor's Business Daily
Marketplace Fairness Act: Back Door To New Tax
House Speaker John Boehner blocked passage of the Marketplace Fairness Act (MFA) in the lame-duck congressional session. So consumers were able to shop online this…
Blog
Lame Duck Quacks Needed Dodd-Frank Relief
Waaaah! That’s the sound of former House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) crying about stinging, bipartisan rebukes to his legacy of the Dodd-Frank…
Real Clear Markets
Entrepreneurs Want Capital, But Not Bank Capital
The Real Clear Markets cites CEi`s John Berlau on the investment regulations: The solution is to unleash capital from the bottom-up and where…
Library of Law and Liberty
The Surprising Economics of Consumer Credit
In the past few years, popular books about economics, such as Freakonomics and The Undercover Economist, have become surprise best-sellers, wowing readers by showing how…
The Washington Post
John Berlau Reviews “Consumer Credit and the American Economy”
The Washington Post cites CEI`s John Berlau on Consumer Credit and American Economy: John Berlau of the Competitive…
Statesman
John Berlau Reviews “Consumer Credit and the American Economy”
The Statesman cites CEI`s John Berlau on Consumer Credit and American Economy: John Berlau of the Competitive Enterprise…
Newsmax
Cut the Red Tape on Crowdfunding
In America and around the world, aspiring entrepreneurs are meeting their colleagues and their mentors in official and unofficial sessions of Global Entrepreneurship Week. Created…
Blog
Liberals and Conservatives Challenge Overreach of Dodd-Frank’s FSOC on MetLife
As CEI brings suit before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals tomorrow challenging the constitutionality of unaccountable bureaucracies created by the Dodd-Frank “financial reform” law…
Blog
Crowdfunding Is Entrepreneurship’s History and its Future
In America and around the world, aspiring entrepreneurs are meeting their colleagues and their mentors in official and unofficial sessions of Global Entrepreneurship Week. Created…
Study
Declaration of Crowdfunding Independence
Crowdfunding regulation threatens entrepreneurs and their ability to start businesses, create jobs and bring innovative products to the market.
Blog
Gruber’s “Speakola” Virus and Pelosi’s Selective Memory
Obamacare supporters say that when deciding King v. Burwell and the related Halbig v. Burwell, challenges to the law that the Competitive Enterprise Institute helped fund and coordinate,…
The Washington Examiner
Federal Judge Tells CFPB it Must Give Depositions Even if Doing So ‘Annoys’
The Washington Examiner asks CEI's John Berlau about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's reluctance to participate in depositions: "John Berlau, a senior fellow at the…
Washington Examiner
Federal judge tells CFPB it must give depositions even if doing so ‘annoys’
The Washington Examiner quotes CEI`s John Berlau on the CFPB`s claim of excempt from depositions: John Berlau, a senior fellow at the Competitive…
Blog
CFPBs Prepaid Debit Card Rules Will Harm Low-Income Consumers
Today’s action by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to issue unprecedented burdens on providers of prepaid debit cards shows why the bureau needs to be held…
National Review
Obama’s Peanut-Brained Attack on MetLife
This article was originally published at the National Review on November 6, 2014. One day while sitting on the roof of his doghouse, Snoopy supposedly…
Forbes
Regulatory Barriers Are Holding Back Investing And Lending Opportunities For Crowdfunding
This article was originally published at Forbes on October 24, 2014 In a recent Forbes column on the costs of regulation, my Competitive…
Blog
The Economist: Interchange Fee Caps Benefit Large Retailers at Consumer Expense
Surprise! Price controls lead to unintended consequences—including transfers of wealth to parties who lobbied for those controls. That’s the actual – and unsurprising – result…
Blog
See Me at San Francisco Crowdfund Banking and Lending Summit
My colleague Wayne Crews’ Forbes column Monday explained “How Entrepreneurs Can Speak Out About the Cost of Regulation,” but noted sadly that “businesses that never form…
Washington Examiner
Fannie, Freddie Investors Undaunted by Court Loss
A representative of Fairholme Funds, one of the activist hedge funds that brought the lawsuits in both the District and Federal Claims courts, told the…
One News Now
Mobile Checking a “Scheme” or Good for Competition?
John Berlau discusses mobile checking with One News Now: "This week, an article in Salon calls it a scheme to prey on America's…
Blog
For Fannie and Freddie Reform, Transparency Is a Must
National Review
Dodd-Frank Will Cripple American Energy
The two recent federal court decisions on Obamacare subsidies — one for, one against — prompted fevered reactions and discussion. By contrast, two recent rulings…
Providence Journal
Disastrous Application of Dodd-Frank Law to Insurance Company
The Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC), an unaccountable, secretive task force of financial bureaucrats created by the Dodd-Frank “financial reform” act of 2010, has decided…
Letters
Letter to House Financial Services Subcommittee on Rights of Private Shareholders
View the Full Letter Here The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), in a coalition of 17 conservative and free-market public policy leaders, sent…
Blog
You’re a SIFI, Charlie Brown
“Good grief!” That’s what the Charlie Brown, star of comic strip Peanuts and cartoon spokesman for the MetLife insurance firm, might say about the government’s…
Newsmax
Oversight Council Declares MetLife Too Big to Fail
“Good grief!” That’s what Charlie Brown, star of comic strip Peanuts and cartoon spokesman for the MetLife insurance firm, might say about the government’s actions…
Products
Eric Holder Avenges Investor Fraud by Taking from Victimized Investors
The Daily Caller
Eric Holder Avenges Investor Fraud By Taking From Victimized Investors
“Bank of America failed to make accurate and complete disclosure to investors and its illegal conduct kept investors in the dark,” declared a government official…
Blog
Eric Holder Avenges Investor Fraud by Taking from Defrauded Investors
“Bank of America failed to make accurate and complete disclosure to investors and its illegal conduct kept investors in the dark,” declared a government official…
Newsmax
Govt Meddling Creates Auto Loan Mess
Should we worry about a crisis in subprime auto loans? That question has been asked in the financial media lately. As I said recently…
Forbes
SEC Crowdfunding Barriers At South By Southwest
In mid-July, South by Southwest (SXSW) – the Austin-based yearly festival that brings together the creators of film, music and technology every March – trekked…
Products
Dodd-Frank is the new ObamaCare
“If you like your life, home, and auto insurance, you can keep them.” No, President Obama didn’t utter those words when he signed the Dodd-Frank…
Blog
Subprime Auto Concerns Caused by Government Intervention
Should we worry about a crisis in subprime auto loans? That question has been asked in the financial media lately. My answer is yes, with…
The Washington Examiner
Big Ideas: On Dodd-Frank,
As with Obamacare, unintended consequences of [the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform law] almost immediately began to surface. First, there was a sharp reduction in free…
The National Review
Dodd-Frank Is Like Obamacare
"If you like your life, home, and auto insurance, you can keep them.” President Obama didn’t make this promise when he signed into law the…
Blog
Dodd-Frank Is Obamacare for Non-Health Insurance
“If you like your life, home, and auto insurance, you can keep them.” President Obama didn’t make this promise when he signed into law the…
Blog
Alito’s Excellent Defense of “Corporate Personhood” in Hobby Lobby
The groundbreaking decision today in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, in which the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that Obamacare’s contraception mandate violates the religious freedom of two closely…
The Blaze
Obama Admin. Is Getting Grilled About a Massive Mortgage Database That Could Be Used for Criminal Investigations
Defying conventional wisdom as he often does, Pulitzer Prize-winning pundit (and fellow Newsmax Insider) George F. Will disputed the notion that in the wake of…
Blog
Cantor’s Loss a Warning Shot to Supporters of Ex-Im Bank and Johnson-Crapo
Defying conventional wisdom as he often does, Pulitzer prize-winning pundit George F. Will disputed the notion that in the wake of the shocking primary loss…
Newsmax
CEI’s John Berlau: US Needs ‘Rational’ Immigration Program
Newsmax insider John Berlau, Newsmax insider and senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, told Newsmax on Monday he feels the wave of undocumented children…
Newsmax
In Honor of Maya Angelou, Herb Jeffries
Blog
Maya Angelou, Herb Jeffries, and the Freedom to Prosper
Competitive Enterprise Institute President Lawson Bader has said, "What CEI does, on a daily basis and at its core, is to celebrate and defend…
Blog
Dodd-Frank’s Durbin Amendment Drives Up Costs on Memorial Day and Every Day
Over the Memorial Day weekend, the Big Retail lobby created a dubious driving distraction. The Merchants Payments Coalition, whose members include retail giants like Walmart and…
News Busters
Google Honors Radical Environmentalist Rachel Carson on Her Birthday
John Berlau, senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, explained DDT was actually used to preserve lives. He outlined in his book “Eco-Freaks” several positive…
One News Now
GM In Heavy Case Over Faulty Ignition Switches
Earlier this year, Toyota agreed to a $1.2 billion settlement with the Justice Department in a criminal probe over the company's recall of Toyota…
Money News
Johnson-Crapo Bill Furthers Govt Housing Mess
Yesterday, after delays and much opposition from many quarters on different grounds, the Johnson-Crapo housing finance overhaul cleared the Senate Banking Committee. The vote was…
Blog
Johnson-Crapo Is Fannie and Freddie on Steroids
Today, after delays and much opposition from many quarters on different grounds, the Johnson-Crapo housing finance overhaul is set to be voted on by the…
Blog
Johnson-Crapo Delayed; CEI-Coordinated Coalition Letter Cited as a Factor
Today, in a surprise move, the Senate Banking Committee postponed the vote it had been set to mark up for Johnson-Crapo. Reports vary as…
The National Review
Fannie and Freddie on Steroids
A corollary to Shakespeare’s adage “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet” is that “garbage by any other name would smell as…
Letters
Johnson-Crapo Coalition Letter
Politico
White House Calls in the Deans — China Growth Slows — Bloomberg Says He’s Going to Heaven
COURT MOVES AGAINST PART OF DODD-FRANK — CEI’s John Berlau: “[The recent] ruling of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals that Dodd-Frank’s ‘conflict minerals’ disclosure…
Blog
First Ever Constitutional Ruling against Dodd-Frank Voids Destructive “Conflict Minerals” Section
Today’s ruling of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals that Dodd-Frank’s "conflict minerals" disclosure mandate violates the First Amendment is the first time ever a court has…
The American Spectator
Praying for an Obamacare Escape
Matt Drudge’s widely discussed mid-March tweet that he has already paid Obamacare’s “liberty tax” highlights the uncertainties the self-employed face both from the health care…
Newsmax
Dodd-Frank Reined In by Democratic Judges
As the late March weather alternates between winter and spring, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals today blew a nice cool breeze of common sense.
Blog
How Matt Drudge (and Other Obamacare Victims) Can Escape the “Liberty Tax”
Former Competitive Enterprise Institute Research Associate Michael Mayfield provided invaluable assistance with this post. Matt Drudge's widely discussed…
Blog
Draconian Dodd-Frank Durbin Debit Controls Need Not Be More Destructive, Court Rules
As the weather finally turns to spring, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals today blew a nice cool breeze of common sense. A bipartisan three-judge…
Blog
Johnson-Crapo Is Phony Fannie-Freddie Reform
Ever since the phrase appeared in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet," and its variations, have…
Newsmax
George Washington Was a Founding CEO
Blog
Obama and Camp’s “Carried Interest” Canard Adds Cost and Complexity to Code
Once again, according to a White House summary of his 2015 budget to be unveiled later today, President Obama will call for "closing loopholes"…
National Review
Postal Service Banking
Blog
GW’s Entrepreneurship and Crowdfunding Barriers to Today’s Revolutionary Entrepreneurs
Happy Washington’s birthday, everyone! Although the holiday was on Monday, George Washington’s actual date of birth is tomorrow, February 22, in the year 1732. And…
National Review
Birthday of an Entrepreneur
New York Post
Obama Makes Up His Own Rules
Blog
No Obamaloans at the Post Office!
While Sen. Elizabeth Warren may proudly brand herself a populist, in her latest crusade, she is casting her lot with fat cats. Warren wants to…
Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal
Proposed SEC Rules On Crowdfunding Threaten Access To Capital By Locking Out Ordinary Investors
In submitted comments, John Berlau of the Competitive Enterprise Institute argued that the proposed rules could result in “costly, paternalistic requirements on crowdfunding that have…
Crowdfund Insider
Troops Rallying For Smarter Rules Around Equity Crowdfunding
Comment
Comments to the SEC by John Berlau on Crowdfunding
In comments submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), CEI Senior Fellow John Berlau warns that new SEC rules impacting crowdfunding could…