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Will The Real Freaks Please Stand Up?
Thanks to everyone who made last night’s annual dinner and reception a great success. Our headliners Mick Mulvaney, Jonah Goldberg, and…
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Welcome to the CEI Annual Dinner
We’ve come to one of the most exciting times of the year—the week of the Competitive Enterprise Institute Annual Dinner and Reception. This year’s event,…
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Relearning Old Lessons about the Minimum Wage
The question of the minimum wage is a hot topic this week, as the voters of the District of Columbia just approved Initiative 77, …
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‘I, Whiskey’ Nominated for 2018 Reason Video Prize
Thanks to the great Nick Gillespie of Reason for Friday’s exciting announcement that the Competitive Enterprise Institute short film “I, Whiskey: The Human…
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Messages of Freedom and Hope from FEEcon
Last week I was in Atlanta enjoying the excitement and intellectual ferment of FEEcon, the annual conference held by the Foundation for Economic Education.
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Keep Entrepreneurs Free from Internet Sales Taxes
Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute released a new video on Internet sales taxes in which Center for Technology and Innovation Associate Director Jessica Melugin…
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Putting the Net Neutrality Scare Stories to Rest
Today is the first day of the Internet operating under the Federal Communications Commission’s Restoring Internet Freedom Order (RIFO), which was adopted last December but is…
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How Socialism Devastated Venezuela
I’m attending FEEcon, the annual conference held by the Foundation for Economic Education, this week, and there’s an overwhelming number of great speakers…
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Cato Institute Honors Human Rights Work of Cuba’s ‘Ladies in White’
Congratulations are in order to our friends at the Cato Institute on their recent big event in New York, the Friedman Prize Dinner. Every two…
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5 Advantages of Stepping away from the Paris Climate Treaty
This week marks the one-year anniversary of President Trump’s announcement that the United States would be withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement, the…
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Ship Has Sailed on U.S. Engagement with Paris Climate Treaty
My colleague Myron Ebell, in a nod to his collegiate years spent at the London School of Economics and Cambridge University, writes this month for…
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Despite Trump Repudiation, Paris Climate Treaty Still Needs a Senate Vote
This week will mark the one-year anniversary of President Trump’s speech announcing that the United States would be withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement,…
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Will Coffee Give You Cancer (in California)?
Our friends over at Reason TV have a new video asking the attention-grabbing headline “Will coffee give you cancer?” As it turns out, no (unless…
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Fraser Institute Confronts Changing Demographics of Entrepreneurship
As my colleague Christine Hall reported earlier this week, our Canadian think tank friends at the Fraser Institute have a new book out…
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Friendly Mentions for ‘10,000 Commandments’ Study
Here at the Competitive Enterprise Institute we’re happy to see the attention being received by the 25th anniversary edition of Wayne Crews’ popular study of…
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Supreme Court Sports Betting Decision Big Win for Consumers, Federalism
Today’s Supreme Court opinion in Murphy v. NCAA (formerly Christie v. NCAA) is a big win for consumers, states, and the constitutional principle…
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Charting the Telecom Future with Free State Foundation
Our friends at the Free State Foundation recently held their 10th Annual Telecom Policy Conference here in Washington, D.C., and the proceedings covered the…
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Big Senate Net Neutrality Vote Coming Soon
The debate over net neutrality is heating up again this week, as Democrats in the Senate attempt to overturn new rules adopted by the…
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‘10,000 Commandments’ in the News
The 25th anniversary edition of the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s regulatory reform study “10,000 Commandments” has received a warm welcome since it was released…
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Win for Government Accountability against New York Attorney General
When the law says that government officials are required to turn over documents to the public, it means that they’re actually required to turn over…
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Sen. Lankford Headlines Mercatus Event on Regulation and Opportunity
Recently the Mercatus Center hosted an excellent panel discussion on the effects of regulation on entrepreneurs and the poor. I was excited to see…
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Dueling Calculations for the Cost of Federal Regulation
Recently here at CEI, we’ve been celebrating the release of the 25th anniversary edition of our major report on the costs of government regulation,…
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Long History for ‘10,000 Commandments’ on Capitol Hill
The 25th anniversary of CEI’s flagship study on federal regulation, “10,000 Commandments”, has been getting a lot of attention recently. We’re always happy when…
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Cato Institute Experts on NAFTA and the Trump Tariffs
While the administration has made great progress on issues like regulatory reform and energy policy, the current White House has also embraced policies that—and…
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Visualizing the Burden of Federal Regulation
The Competitive Enterprise Institute recently released the 25th anniversary edition of Wayne Crews’ widely-cited study “10,000 Commandments: An Annual Snapshot of the Federal Regulatory State.”…
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The Changing Face of Selling Liberty Online
We’ve been publishing and promoting the study for many years, and our strategies and methods have changed as the years have gone by. When we…
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The Cost of Washington’s ‘10,000 Commandments’
Federal regulation cost Americans $1.9 trillion in 2017, or nearly $15,000 per U.S. household—more than Americans spend on any category in their family budget except…
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Prof. Rajshree Agarwal on the Rubin Report: The True Value of Free Enterprise
I’ve been interested over the last several years to see Dave Rubin’s metamorphosis from stand-up comedian to podcast co-host to serious public affairs…
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Zuckerberg Testimony Hints at Devil’s Bargain with Big Government
Much of the political class in Washington, D.C. is currently holding its breath for the big event of the week: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s long-awaited…
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Law Geeks Rejoice: Property Rights on the Big Screen in ‘Little Pink House’
John Stossel discusses the history of eminent domain—the legal power that allows local governments to seize property from owners for supposedly public purposes—and how…
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Track How Humans Are Making Progress around the World
For several years now, HumanProgress has been an excellent source of data and scholarship on major demographic trends around the word. As longtime fans know,…
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Chef Geoff Tracy Fights Virginia’s Happy Hour Ad Ban
Local D.C.-area chef Geoff Tracy is a bacon lover, popular food Instagrammer, and a budding legal activist. This week, aided by his attorneys at the…
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Tax Complexity a Major Headache for Small Businesses Online
For a lot of small businesses in America, taxes are not just an expensive hassle but a scary, anxiety-inducing ordeal. Taxes are the…
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Outlook for Economy’s ‘Master Resource’ Bright
Yesterday my colleague Marlo Lewis and I sat down for a Facebook Live interview (archived here) on this week’s big event, Human…
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Natural Isn’t Necessarily Better: Celebrating Human Achievement
Human Achievement Hour is the Competitive Enterprise’s Institute’s annual celebration of innovation and progress. During this hour, people around the world pay tribute to the advancements that inventors…
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Impressive Work on Display by Students for Liberty
Congratulations are in order to our friends at Students for Liberty and their CEO Wolf von Laer on a successfully annual conference recently held here…
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Happy Birthday to Adam Smith’s ‘Wealth of Nations’
Being able to make voluntary transactions with others while having redress in the case of fraud sets the stage for larger, more complex, and longer-term market…
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Seeing How People Really Live around the World
A recent TED Talk by Anna Rosling Rönnlund features images collected by photographers dispatched to 264 different homes in 50 countries around the world. They document the stoves, bed,…
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Exploring the Frontiers of Free Speech at Scalia Law School
Free speech fans were treated to a fascinating and informative day of discussion recently when the Center for the Study of the Administrative State presented…
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The Politics of Groundhog Day
In honor of the classic Bill Murray film “Groundhog Day,” Reason TV has released a “horrifyingly relevant” parody video about the seemingly endless national…
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Top Issues for Trump’s State of the Union 2018
For the State of the Union 2018, CEI presents a round-up of what Trump might say, what he should say, and how members of both…
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Understanding the Weird and Wonderful with Pete Leeson
Prof. Pete Leeson’s recent book teaches readers how to use economic thinking to reveal the hidden sense behind seemingly senseless human behavior.
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Here’s to the Side Hustlers
The rise of self-employment apps like Uber and TaskRabbit, where people decide when to work and how many jobs, rides, or gigs to take on,…
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Did the Food Pyramid Make Us Fat?
If the government is going to spend our tax money on lecturing us on what we’re supposed to be eating, we can ask that their…
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Federalist Society Documents ‘American Spirit’ of U.S. Distilling
The Federalist Society has produced an excellent new short film out about the history of alcohol regulation.
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Great Books on Politics and Public Policy from 2017
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Business World Lessons from the Silicon Valley International Film Festival
Business relationships are about serving the customer and creating win-win transactions.
Carolina Journal
Prohibition Ended with Repeal, but Efforts to Regulate and Restrict Alcohol Continue
Carolina Journal covers CEI and the John Locke Foundation’s Repeal Day Luncheon and screening of I, Whiskey: The Human Spirit. The misguided and ultimately…
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Preserving an Open Internet without the FCC
Brent Skorup and Chris Koopman of the Mercatus Center sat down earlier this summer and reviewed many of the questions relevant to the debate that’s reaching a fever-pitch…
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Melugin Takes on 3 Common Net Neutrality Myths
If we want real Internet neutrality, we need less government, not more. CEI's Jessica Melugin dispels three common myths about Net Neutrality.
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Raising a Glass to Repeal Day
This week we celebrated the 84th anniversary of the end of Prohibition with Repeal Day.
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Back to Basics after Bitcoin’s Wild Rise
The alternate currency known as Bitcoin has had a wild week, and its dramatic rise in value has meant that many Americans are hearing and…
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New Study Highlights Climate Science Uncertainty
This morning the Competitive Enterprise Institute released the new OnPoint issue brief “A Veneer of Certainty Stoking Climate Alarm: In Private, Climate Scientists Are Much…
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Economic Lessons of Thanksgiving
The history behind Thanksgiving can teach us valuable lessons about how we can and should live together with our fellow Americans.
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Introduction to ‘Reorganizing the Executive Branch’
We’re all sharpening our own vision of how the executive branch can be rationalized, right-sized, streamlined, and otherwise reformed.
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How to Reform the Executive Branch
President Trump’s March 13th executive order “Comprehensive Plan for Reorganizing the Executive Branch” set in motion a process that could yield dramatic changes to how…
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When Will Regulators Let the Benefits of Driverless Cars Be Realized?
Driverless cars show great promise in improving the way human beings get around, particularly in reducing injuries and deaths from accidents and increasing mobility options…
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Energy Company Efforts in Hurricane Harvey Recovery
Sometimes it's good to have an oil company for a neighbor.
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Fighting for Our Right to Party at WhiskeyFest
Don’t be afraid of sticking up for your favorite things – there’s always someone looking for the weakest target to tax, regulate, and restrict. If…
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Limiting Federal Control over State Policy: Christie v. N.C.A.A.
Our friend Damon Root over at Reason has a round-up of three important cases that will be decided in the Supreme Court’s upcoming term. One…
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Taxes, Welfare, and Economic Inequality
At a time when comprehensive tax reform is dominating news headlines, concerns about income inequality and the distributional effects of future tax changes are again…
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Shining a Light on Bureaucratic ‘Dark Matter’
Federal agencies produce guidance documents, proclamations, memoranda, bulletins, circulars, letters—all with the force of the law but with no oversight from Congress.
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Google Employees Hear Moral Case for Fossil Fuels
Everyone, especially Silicon Valley's tech elite, needs to understand the human value of fossil fuels.
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Is Global Warming Causing More Hurricanes?
Are this year’s round of hurricanes evidence that we’re entering an age of climate catastrophe? Recent commentary and analysis from CEI experts suggests not.
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Beacon Center Nominated for Templeton Freedom Award
Congrats to the hard-working folks of the Beacon Center of Tennessee for their “Tackle the Hall Tax” advocacy campaign…
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Ten Years of Analysis and Advocacy for Affordable Energy
Here’s to ten more years of expanding production and supplies of affordable energy for all.
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Happy 25th to the State Policy Network
The State Policy Network is an impressive organization that helps improve the effectiveness of nonprofit organizations and nonprofit leaders at the state level across the…
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New Film ‘Food Evolution’ Confronts Confusion on GMO Crops
Genetic modification of food crops is a valuable scientific process that has already helped feed countless millions of people around the world and provided breathtaking humanitarian…
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Occupational Licensing Reform in the Beehive State
Occupational licensing reform is a winner in terms of giving the working poor greater opportunities to earn a living…
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Understanding Spontaneous Order with ‘It’s a Wonderful Loaf’
Sound economic thinking combined with an artistic, poetic presentation can reach both the hearts and minds of people across the political spectrum.
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Happy India Independence Day
Today is the 70th anniversary of India’s independence from the United Kingdom, and the nation of 1.3 billion people has seen dramatic economic and social…
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TechFreedom Hosts Policy Summit on Future of Technology Regulation
Our friends at TechFreedom recently treated technology policy nerds in D.C. to a policy summit.
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Can You Make a Living without a Government License?
There is an expanding strange-bedfellows coalition that would like to see fewer professions for which people need a government-issued license.
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Anthem Film Festival Award Winners
In addition to dozens of panels, debates, and presentations over the four days of FreedomFest 2017, attendees were also treated to the movies presented at…
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FreedomFest Explores ‘New Frontiers’ in Liberty
CNN’s Chris Moody recently reported from FreedomFest, the pro-liberty political conference that’s been hosted for the last 10 years in Las Vegas.
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Campaigning for Free Speech at FreedomFest
Legal attacks on free speech and association rights have been increasing in recent years at an alarming rate.
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Online Sales Taxes in Congress’ Crosshairs
The No Regulation Without Representation Act would prevent states from imposing tax or regulatory obligations on businesses that lack a physical presence in that state.
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Don’t ‘Liberate’ Interns from Valuable Career Experience
In a diverse labor market in which college students can choose between many different combinations of work, recreation, study over the course of a summer,…
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Conservatives International Brings Pro-Liberty Activists Together
Our friends at Conservatives International published a great short video this week featuring CEI’s own Iain Murray.
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Fred Smith on Free Markets, Trump, and Climate Change
Fred Smith talks with the PanAm Post at a recent conference on international politics in Miami, Florida.
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Is Greed Really Good for Business?
Is the for-profit world only about making profits and nothing else?…
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Federal Government Finally Powers Down on Y2K Crisis
Regulating new technologies is especially risky. The high-tech sector is an evolving frontier. Frontiers are always a bit chaotic, and it is inherent in their…
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CEI in Wonderland: The 2017 CEI Dinner Movie
This year, inspired by Lewis Carroll's famous characters, our theme was “Through the Looking Glass: Washington Gets Curiouser and Curiouser.”…
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Roundup of Recent D.C. Telecom Events
Recent events aimed at restoring Internet freedom.
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How Flying Dog Brewery Fought Government Censors and Won
Jim Caruso, CEO of Flying Dog Brewery, sits down with Reason TV’s Nick Gillespie to discuss the brewing business, marketplace diversity, evolving consumer taste, and…
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Learn Liberty on Capitalism and Liberation
Learn Liberty’s recent video, featuring historian Thaddeus Russell, highlights how capitalism created an environment where women were increasingly free to make their own decisions and…
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Reason TV Interviews Ajit Pai on the Future of the Internet
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Big Changes to Banking and Finance Regulation on the Horizon
Major reform of banking and finance regulation could be coming soon to Washington, D.C.
Newsmax
Climate Accord Withdrawal Divides White House
Newsmax discusses the Paris Climate Treaty’s impact with Richard Morrison. As Richard Morrison at the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) warns, “The Paris Climate…
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Darcy’s Story: The Need for Donor Privacy Protections
When the government forces nonprofit groups to disclose their supporters to the public, they threaten the free speech and free association rights of those involved.
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How Payday Lenders & Check Cashers Help the Poor
Our friends at Reason TV have another fascinating video out on the ethics and politics of short-term financial services like payday lending and check cashing.
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Freethink Media on the Folly of the Overpopulation Panic
Freethink Media takes a look back on the overpopulation debate of the 1960s and 1970s, and work of one exceptional human being.
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Reason TV on the Future of Public Broadcasting
Public broadcasting should embrace the podcast and Netflix revolution for delivering content.
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A Blueprint for Reforming the Federal Government
This is a big week for reform of the federal government: yesterday, President Trump signed an executive order on reorganizing the executive branch, and this…
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On Tour with U.S. Chamber’s ‘Let’s Grow’ Campaign
While the policy landscape is far from perfect, we have the best opportunity in a long time to clear the field for growth and prosperity…
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Making the Case for a Free Market in Space
For commercialized space (and alas, for other sectors) we need a regulatory heatshield, a HOT Act (“Hands Off Technology”).
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Legalized Sports Betting a Sane Response to March Madness
Congress should combat fraud, blackmail, and organized crime with legalized sports betting.
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A Congressional Review Act ‘Game-Changer’ Steps into the Spotlight
A new interpretation of the Congressional Review Act would allow Congress to quickly repeal federal regulations from as far back as the mid-1990s.
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White House Bets on Regulatory Reform to Kickstart Job Growth
This afternoon President Trump signed a new executive order titled “Enforcing the Regulatory Reform Agenda” with the goal of spurring economic growth and job creation.
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