Blog
Long-Suspected TSA Abuse and Incompetence Confirmed by Former TSA Employee
Politico Magazine has a disturbing article by former transportation security officer Jason Edward Harrington. At least it would be disturbing if it wasn’t largely just a confirmation…
Blog
Reforming Air Traffic Control Is Key to the Future Health of American Aviation
When we travel by air, the hassles of getting through airport security and delayed flights tend to weigh most on our minds. Few of us…
Mass Live
Increased Boston-To-Springfield Passenger Rail Service May One Day Become A Reality
Marc Scribner, a research fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, thinks investment by the state on a primarily private rail line is unnecessary because private…
USA Today
GOP fighting cellphone freedom
Should the federal government outlaw rudeness? Some senior Republican lawmakers seem to think so. Since 1991, the Federal Communications Commission has barred cellphone use on…
News Release
Senators Cite CEI Research in Supreme Court Amicus Brief
Washington, D.C., Dec. 18, 2013 – An amicus brief filed to the U.S. Supreme Court, on behalf of five U.S. Senators, argues that Congress…
Washington Examiner
Not-so-friendly skies: Deregulation didn’t fail, it was never really tried
Anderson said that, although the 1978 Airline Deregulation Act eliminated the Civilian Aeronautics Board, the DOJ attorneys to this day use the old CAB antitrust…
Politico
Anthony Foxx: DOT will consider banning cell phone calls on planes
The Competitive Enterprise Institute, a libertarian group, questioned the grounds for DOT’s move. CEI fellow Marc Scribner said the move “runs counter to legislative intent…
Blog
Busybodies in Congress Prepared to Re-Prohibit Voice Communications During Flight
After two decades with a ban on the books, the Federal Communications Commission is set to consider allowing transmitting mobile devices on aircraft. On…
Blog
Hypocritical New Yorkers Whine about High Housing Prices while Supporting High-Price Policies
The New York Post today has a story on what it describes as "new hipsters fight[ing] old hipsters in Brooklyn." The gist of it…
Entrepreneur
The Ridiculous Thing One Congressman Said About Self-Driving Cars
Forbes
The American/US Airways Case Highlights The Absurdity Of Antitrust Regulation
“If the airlines have a history of anti-competitive behavior, they are the least able practitioners of the art in the history of mankind.” This was…
Blog
Dumbest Reason to Be Skeptical of Autonomous Vehicles: They Might Cost Auto Mechanics Their Jobs
Today, the House Subcommittee on Highways and Transit of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee held a hearing on “How Autonomous Vehicles Will Shape the Future…
Blog
Watch the Live Stream of The New York Meeting @ 6pm
Blog
Memo to Road Socialists: There Is Nothing Unlibertarian about Road Pricing
Virginia just elected Democrat Terry McAuliffe as governor, as had been predicted by every poll conducted during the past few months -- although at a…
Blog
Happy Halloween! FAA to Allow Portable Electronic Devices During All Flight Phases
A month ago, a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC) recommended that the agency drop its ban on portable electronic device (PED)…
Blog
Jane Brody’s Uninformed Attack on Cars and Suburbia
While at a conference where participants discussed the wannabe social engineers cum urbanists' war on automobility and housing affordability, Jane Brody's broadside against Americans'…
Blog
More Bipartisan Opposition to Obama Administration’s Move to Block Airline Merger (Including Rahm Emanuel)
Another day, another round of public bipartisan opposition to the Obama Department of Justice’s lawsuit to block the pending American Airlines and US Airways merger.
Letters
Coalition Letter Opposing Reform-Less Water Resources Reform and Development Act
Full Document Available in PDF Coalition Letter Opposing Reform-Less Water Resources Reform and Development Act We understand that H.R. 3080, the…
The American Spectator
BART’s Bogus Ride
It was the 1970s and Britain was the “sick man of Europe.” Labor unions had toppled one Conservative government and were bullying the existing Labour…
Blog
More than a Third of House Dems Oppose Obama’s American-US Airways Merger Lawsuit; What Real Pro-Competition Policy Looks Like
Bipartisan opposition to the Obama administration’s reckless assault on the pending merger of American Airlines and US Airways is growing. While the end of the…
The American Spectator
Raising the Federal Gas Tax
Marc Scribner Discusses the Fuel Tax on Fox Business…
Investor's Business Daily
Shutdown Grounds Lawyers In US Air, American Case
Marc Scribner, analyst at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a libertarian think tank, earlier said: "American, if it isn't able to merge with US Air, is…
Blog
A Victory for Property Rights in Virginia
Over a year ago, I highlighted an eminent domain abuse case in Virginia. To recap: The Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority and Old Dominion…
Blog
Update on American Airlines-US Airways Merger: Judge Approves American’s Bankruptcy Plan
Today, Judge Sean Lane of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York approved American Airlines’s reorganization plan to exit bankruptcy protection,…
Blog
By Opposing Airline Merger, Obama Risks Wrath of Powerful Unions
When the Department of Justice unexpectedly filed suit to block the merger between US Airways and American Airlines, I noted that unions representing various workers…
Fox News
DOJ Suits Against Airline Merger Further Alienates Unions
“It’s going further than just a few unions that really don’t represent a lot of people,” Marc Scribner, a transportation policy expert with Washington-based Competitive…
Blog
Labor Unions Blast Obama’s American Airlines-US Airways Merger Lawsuit
Last Tuesday, the Department of Justice and six state attorneys general filed suit to block the planned merger of American Airlines and US Airways. I…
Blog
3 Things You May Not Know about the US Airways-American Airlines Merger Lawsuit
On Tuesday, August 13, the Department of Justice, six states, and the District of Columbia filed suit to block the planned $11 billion merger…
Investor's Business Daily
US Air, AMR Vow To Fight DOJ Lawsuit To Block Merger
"This administration's Department of Justice has a different posture than past DOJs, which had a more conservative approach to antitrust measures," said Marc Scribner, transportation…
Las Vegas Review Journal
Government moves to block airline merger, warns of higher fares, fees
But the open-market-leaning Competitive Enterprise Institute called the Department of Justice action “deeply misguided.” “On the heels of the successful Delta-Northwest and United-Continental mergers,…
Blog
DHS Secretary Napolitano Resigns, TSA Body Scanner Scandal Remains Unresolved
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is resigning to become president of the University of California system. Republican politicians such as Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.)…
Blog
Zoning, Property Rights, and the Myth of Benevolent Planners
Dartmouth economics professor Bill Fischel has posted “Fiscal Zoning and Economists’ Views of the Property Tax,” which will be a chapter in a revised…
Comment
Comments to the TSA Regarding the Deployment of AIT
Full Document Available in PDF On March 26, 2013, TSA proposed a rule regarding passenger screening using advanced imaging technology after a…
Letters
Coalition Letter to Congress Opposing “Buy America” Provisions for Government Infrastructure Projects
Full Document Available in PDF TO THE MEMBERS OF THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS Do you want to artificially increase the cost of…
Las Vegas Review Journal
A Recipe for More Coastal Republicans
Josh Barro points us to a new report from David Edmondson and Marc Scribner on one of my favorite subjects — the fact that FRA…
Study
Reducing Passenger Train Procurement Costs
Full Document Available in PDF Interest in passenger rail around the United States has increased in recent years. With their ability to…
Journal of Commerce
Mandatory Switching Proposal for Class I Railroads Draws Fire
“NITL and supporters of its flawed proposal ignore the underlying economics of network industries and seek to require the board to make arbitrary and capricious…
Comment
Reply Comments before the STB in EP 711
Full Document Available in PDF On behalf of the Competitive Enterprise…
Blog
Correcting Misconceptions about Autonomous Vehicles: Reason Magazine Edition
In the June issue of Reason, one of my favorite publications, Greg Beato has an article discussing the public policy implications of autonomous vehicles, such…
Blog
Government’s Chinatown Bus Shutdowns Based on “Statistical Malpractice”
Reason’s Jim Epstein has an article up that does a nice job debunking a National Transportation Safety Board study, prompted by a 2011…
Townhall
Libertarians (And Fiscal Conservatives) Should Oppose Road Socialism
Libertarians and transport economists for decades have advocated tolling as an alternative to fuel taxes, which have…
National Review
The Surge in Freight Rail Investment
Marc Scribner of the regulation-averse Competitive Enterprise Institute has more recently argued that it is unlikely that cost-based rate ceiling would prove beneficial, as…
Red Alert Politics
TSA finally agrees to comply with 2011 court order requiring them to take comments on use of full body scanners
“I wouldn’t applaud TSA for doing this since they were required by the D.C. Circuit to open this proceeding by the end of the month,”…
Blog
Sorry, Progressives, But The ASCE Infrastructure Grade Boost Wasn’t The Result Of Obama’s “Stimulus”
I am generally very skeptical of the American Society of Civil Engineers' (ASCE) "Report Card for America's Infrastructure," as this self-interested group 1) gives…
Blog
Will Regulators Fail To Learn From The Past Mistakes Of U.S. Railroad Regulation?
The history of U.S. railroads provides an interesting case study on federal regulation. They were the first sector of the economy to come under heavy…
Study
Slow Train Coming?
After a century of severe regulation nearly brought the United States railroad industry to ruin, policy makers in the 1970s began a process that ultimately…
Washington Post
In Virginia and Washington, Republicans back tax hikes
Marc Scribner, a fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, was especially harsh toward the governor. “McDonnell is fast proving himself to be the Charlie Crist…
Watchdog
Lawmakers bypass Medicaid on way to tax-laden transportation bill
“Gov. McDonnell is fast proving himself to be the Charlie Crist of the Mid-Atlantic,” Competitive Enterprise Institute transportation fellow Marc Scribner said in a disparaging…
Blog
The Case Against The McDonnell Transportation Plan
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell’s transportation plan is on life support after two proposed alternatives died yesterday in the Senate. Only McDonnell’s plan, slightly modified…
Richmond Times-Dispatch
McDonnell’s transportation plan veers off-course
Gov. Bob McDonnell’s transportation plan has earned critics on both the left and right. On the left, many are upset the governor’s plan would transfer…
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Gov. McDonnell’s Transportation Plan
One News Now
Politics in Transportation
So far, the list of potential replacements includes Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and National Transportation Safety Board chairman Deborah Hersman. Regardless, Marc Scribner of…
Blog
LaHood Out At DOT, But Is There Hope For A Qualified Transportation Secretary?
After months of confusing double-talk on whether or not he would stay on in a second Obama term, Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood announced he…
Blog
TSA’s Body Scanner Shuffle Continues, Agency Still Flouts The Law On Body Scanners
A great deal of news coverage today has been given to the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) decision to remove backscatter X-ray strip-search machines from U.S.
Politico
TSA pulls plug on ‘naked’ body scanners
The Competitive Enterprise Institute has questioned how TSA got the scanners in the first place — and if they even work. “Public and expert comments…
Blog
Virginia’s Uranium Mining Moratorium Should Be Buried, But What About Property Rights?
The earth below the United States contains 5 percent of the world’s known recoverable uranium deposits. More than a quarter of U.S. uranium is…
Washington Post
Sales Tax, Gas Tax, Mileage Tax: How To Pay For America’s Roads?
On the right, many groups take issue with McDonnell's plan to rely on sales taxes for roadway funds. The Competitive Enterprise Institute, a libertarian think…
Blog
Feds Say Hybrid Electric Vehicles Too Quiet, Noisemakers Should Be Mandated
Green paternalists often gush about the great potential for hybrid electric automobiles to reduce negative externalities, or social costs, such as local air pollution and…
Blog
Update On D.C.’s Driverless Car Legalization Legislation
In November, I noted in The Washington Post and here on Open Market that a bill introduced in the D.C. Council contained two dangerously flawed provisions and…
Blog
Sierra Club Transportation Report Unsurprisingly Trashes (Some Bad) Road Projects, Praises Transit And Bike Waste
The Sierra Club's Beyond Oil Campaign recently released a report [PDF] highlighting what the environmentalist group claims to be the 50 best and worst…
Project M
Great lowered expectations
The final bill would in turn be partially funded by the $7 billion in federal tax revenues gained as a result of corporations’ reduced tax-deductible…
Blog
New I-495 Express Lanes Present Challenges, But Remain Best Option
This past Saturday, the innovative I-495 Express Lanes opened on the Washington Beltway. The 14-mile high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes — which were built and are…
Blog
D.C. Councilmember Mary Cheh Still Doesn’t Understand Driverless Cars
Last Sunday, The Washington Post published my op-ed criticizing the approach taken by Councilmember Mary Cheh's introduced legislation to legalize driverless cars in Washington,…
Washington Post
Driverless Cars Are On the Way. Here’s How Not to Regulate Them.
Nevada, Florida and California have all legalized driverless cars, and the District is considering whether to follow suit. The goal is worthwhile, and the potential…
Blog
Fred Weekly: Rent-Seeking Vs. Advancing Capitalism
In this latest episode of “Fred Weekly,” CEI President and Founder Fred L. Smith, Jr., discusses advancing free markets in an increasingly politicized world. Watch…
Blog
Devolve Infrastructure Decision-Making To Promote Efficiency, Foster Innovation
Last week, Walter Russell Mead had an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal arguing that traditional infrastructure spending will no longer provide the services…
Wall Street Journal
Letter to the Editor: ‘Infostructure’ Is Fine but Roads Are Still Essential
Mr. Mead correctly identifies three major problems facing infrastructure funding: nimbyism, cronyism and an outdated vision of what infrastructure ought to be. However, there is…
Blog
China’s High-Speed Rail Disaster Is Not A Model For The U.S.
After taking office in 2009, President Obama aggressively marketed high-speed rail in the United States. (I noted at the time that most of what…
Blog
In Rejecting EPIC’s Petition On TSA’s Strip-Search Machines, Court Effectively Orders Rulemaking Timetable
This afternoon, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the Electronic Privacy Information Center’s (EPIC) petition for writ of mandamus, which called on the court…
Blog
Driverless Cars Legalized In California
Just after 1pm PDT, California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law SB 1298, which explicitly legalizes the use and testing of driverless cars in the…
Blog
Can We Please Have A Grownup Discussion About Distracted Driving?
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has released a new study on distracted driving [PDF]. According to the agency, 9 percent of total…
Blog
The Sad, Early History Of Railroad Regulation: From Subsidies To Nationalization
CEI has long made it its mission to highlight to downsides and dangers of economic regulation. One classic example is the experience with America's railroads…
Blog
Modernizing Air Traffic Control In The United States
In The Washington Examiner, a story citing me provides an overview of where the United States is in modernizing its air traffic control system.
Washington Examiner
How did the U.S. fall behind Canada in air traffic safety?
From Sean Higgins article in The Washington Examiner: We wouldn't have to run a lot of these risks in the first place if the United…
Blog
Tampa Express Lanes Planning Director Corrects Record Distorted By Honolulu City Planner
Over at Peter Samuel’s invaluable TOLLROADSnews, we learn that Marty Stone, director of planning for Tampa’s successful all-electronic reversible tolled Lee Roy Selmon Expressway,…
Blog
Fred Weekly: Assaults On Capitalism
The American Spectator
Worst Congress Ever?
It's no surprise that 60 percent of Americans, according to a new poll from Public Policy Polling for the leftist Daily Kos website, think that…
Blog
What The New York Times’ Ron Nixon Doesn’t Understand About Northeast Corridor Travel
In today's New York Times, reporter Ron Nixon has a remarkably misleading article on travel in the Northeast corridor (NEC). Three major distortions stick out:…
QC Online
Editorial: Naked truth about TSA
From an editorial in The Dispatch and The Rock Island Argus: The fact that TSA is pursuing the case is no surprise given…
Blog
Update On TSA’s Lawlessness Over Body Scanners
As I noted previously, the Transportation Security Administration has failed to comply with a court order demanding that they initiate a notice-and-comment rulemaking regarding…
McClatchy DC
TSA Flouts the Law on Body Scanners
Also appeared in: The Charlotte Observer, Tulsa World, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Press of Atlantic City, and Juneau Empire. For more than…
Blog
CEI Files Amicus Brief In Support Of EPIC’s Petition To Force A TSA Rulemaking On Strip-Search Machines
Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) filed a brief of amici curiae in support of the Electronic Privacy Information Center's (EPIC) petition for writ…
Legal Brief
Brief of Amici Curiae Supporting EPIC’s Petition for Writ of Mandamus (EPIC v. DHS)
In the last half decade, as millions of Americans have undergone AIT screening by the TSA, none have been afforded an opportunity to comment on…
Heartland Institute
Enviro Groups Rally Against Fast-Tracking California High-Speed Rail
From Kenneth Artz's article on Heartlander Digital Magazine: Marc Scribner, the land-use and transportation policy analyst for the Competitive Enterprise Institute, agrees, saying,…
One News Now
Roads funding at dispute, new options exist
From Chris Woodward's column in OneNewsNow: Marc Scribner, land-use and transportation policy analyst for the Competitive Enterprise Institute, believes things will reach a…
Blog
Sign A Petition Requiring The Transportation Security Administration To Follow The Law!
Over at the White House’s “We the People” site, a petition rapidly gathering signatures that demands that the Transportation Security Administration abide by a…
Daily Caller
Senate highway bill contains ‘smoothing’ pension gimmick
From Angela Malik's article on The Daily Caller: Marc Scribner, a transportation analyst at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, explained that smoothing “in theory…
Blog
Highway Bill Passes Congress, WSJ Blasts “Fiscal Accounting Hocus Pocus”
This afternoon, both the House and Senate approved the conference report of the largely Senate-crafted MAP-21 surface transportation reauthorization. The bill, which is expected…
Wall Street Journal
The Road to Fiscal Hell
From Stephen Moore's column in The Wall Street Journal: Without the drilling money the bill elevates fiscal accounting hocus pocus to new heights.
Politico
Transpo Bill Briefings Go Late
From Adam Snider and Burgess Everett's post in Politico's Morning Transportation: The Competitive Enterprise Institute isn’t exactly heartened that pension smoothing is going…
Blog
The Highway Bill’s Sleeper Funding Provision: Pension Smoothing
Things appear to have turned around for the stalled surface transportation reauthorization talks. Conference committee members worked over the weekend trying to come to a…
Cato At Liberty
Taking a Stand against Nanny Grants
From Walter Olson's post at Cato @ Liberty: As The Hill reports, and Marc Scribner relates in more detail at CEI “Open Market,”…
Blog
Support Rep. Diane Black’s MTI to Halt Misguided Federal Support for “Distracted Driving” Laws
Today, Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.) issued a notice of her intent to offer a motion to instruct (MTI) [PDF] highway bill conferees to oppose…
Blog
Norfolk, Virginia, While Abusing Eminent Domain To Seize 78-Year-Old Business, Attempts To Silence Free Speech
I’m a month behind on this story, but something terrible is underway in Norfolk, Virginia, that should disturb all Americans who value property rights…
Blog
Sen. Rand Paul Introduces Bills to Dramatically Rein in TSA
Yesterday, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) introduced two bills aimed at reducing the power of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). S.3303 would end the TSA’s…
Study
Fixing Surface Transportation in Massachusetts
If all highway funding responsibility were to be devolved to the states, additional revenue must be found. Innovative financing, modern electronic tolling, and new roadway…
Letters
Coalition Letter to Surface Transportation Bill Conferees Supporting Public-Private Partnerships
Blog
Support the Broun Motion to Instruct; Oppose Future Highway Trust Fund Bailouts
Letters
CEI Coalition Letter to Surface Transportation Reauthorization Conferees Supporting the Broun Motion to Instruct
Full Document Available in PDF Dear Member of…
Blog
Long Commutes Will Kill You? A Brief Response to Matt Yglesias’s Post
Slate blogger Matthew Yglesias, a center-left economics writer whose work I generally enjoy reading, has a new post up with the title, "Long Commutes…