Blog

Baptists and Bootleggers in the Tropics

Authoritarian thugs are often puritanical and self-righteous, and Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez is earning his place in the pantheon of dictatorial killjoys, by limiting alcohol…

Blog

PLA = Union Ripoff

Today’s Washington Examiner features a very good editorial on the District of Columbia’s consideration of Public Labor Agreements in its proposed $2.3 billion…

Blog

Before Che, there was Leon

Slate features a great essay on Leon Trotsky by British critic Clive James, excerpted from his volume, Cultural Amnesia: Necessary Memories from History…

Blog

More from Gore on the Hill

Keep up with Al Gore’s Capitol Hill appearance with Iain Murray, live blogging on Planet Gore. His latest entry follows: Al…

Blog

No Cletus Left Behind

Last night’s new episode of “The Simpsons” skewers the No Child Left Behind Act’s testing requirements — in only a few seconds. School district…

Blog

Rewind to the future

Over at Planet Gore, Iain and our former colleague Peter Suderman have some further commentary on the silly Washington Post article by…

Blog

The Nanny State’s Next Frontier

Many libertarian economists and commentators have long criticized professional licensing as a protectionist scheme that restricts competition to the benefit of some (licensed) producers and to the…

Blog

WSJ on Rent Seeking to Save the Planet

Today’s weekend Wall Street Journal‘s lead editorial (available free online at OpinionJournal.com) addresses the Climate Action Partnership, reitarating some of CEI’s arguments against this…

Blog

Yet More on Card Check

I noted yesterday that vetoing the Employee Free Choice Act, the mandatory card check bill that the House passed yesterday, would provide President George…

Blog

Free Choice for Whom?

The misleadingly named "Employee Free Choice Act" (H.R 800) reaches the House floor today. This bill would essentially do away with secret ballot elections in…

Blog

Fred Smith on Antiquities

Fred Smith’s presentation at Guatemala’s Universidad Francisco Marroquin on how markets can help protect antiquities is now available online.

Blog

More on Unions, in IBD

I’m quoted in today’s Investor’s Business Daily on organized labor’s struggle to remain relevant in the private sector, where its numbers have been declining…

Blog

Mises on Labor

A relatively flexible labor market has long been one of America’s great economic strengths — as well as of Great Britain relative to Continental Europe.

Blog

Chambers of Rent Seeking

In the weekend Wall Street Journal, Stephen Moore, quotes former CEI Warren Brookes Fellow Tim Carney from his book The Big Ripoff: How…

Blog

Radicals on TV

My good friend and fellow radical for capitalism — and former Warren Brookes Fellow — Brian Doherty (now with Reason magazine) will discuss his new…

Blog

High Corn Prices Flattening the Poor

Deroy Murdock writes about ethanol in National Review Online today, specifically on the effect on food prices, as the Mexican tortilla crisis illustrates: Existing…

Blog

2 + 2 = 5; Coercion = Choice

After much anticipation, Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, has introduced the Orwellian-monikered Employee Free Choice Act (H.R.800).

Blog

“Political Science”

Also worth reading in the weekend Journal is an article by Philip Stott, professor emeritus of biogeography at the University of London, in which…

Blog

Smoking ban in France, Yes France

Pubs in Ireland, pubs in Great Britain, bard in New York — in recent years, long-established smoking traditions have been snuffed out in the unlikeliest places — and the country whose…

Blog

Risky Academic Business

The management of risk has long been an area of interest at CEI, so we will be watching with interest the development of a…

Blog

Let 1,000 Starbucks Bloom

It had to happen. Jokes about Starbucks’ ubiquity have become, well, ubiquitous, much like the coffee chain itself — so it was only a…

Blog

Making Job Losses Bad Politics

Yesterday, President Bush announced that he may go along with Congressional Democrats’ proposal for an increase in the federal minimum wage, in exchange for…

Blog

Ahmet Ertegun, RIP

The intersection between commerce and culture is a space that few people have occupied as successfully as Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun, who passed away…

Blog

Radicals for Capitalism

CEI and Fred Smith make appearances in Radicals for Capitalism, the upcoming history of the modern American libertarian movement by Reason Senior Editor and…

Blog

Oprah Viewers Respond

Some Oprah viewers are posting their thoughts on Al Gore’s appearance on “Oprah” today — and CEI’s Marlo Lewis’s response — and the comments exhibit…

Blog

CEI’s Marlo Lewis on Oprah

CEI’s Marlo Lewis will be appearing on “Oprah” this afternoon, answering Al Gore’s claims of impending global warming catastrophe, as seen…

Blog

Hungary Goes Hollywood

Earlier this evening, I attended the Washington premiere of Freedom’s Fury, a new documentary about the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. The film…

Blog

The Unions Like Puppies, Too

“Organized Labor Pushes Pro-Worker Agenda,” reads the headline of a November 14 Associated Press news story. It is safe to assume…

Blog

In Vino Veritas

Researchers have found resveratrol, a substance found in red wine and other foods, to help fight obesity and diabetes in laboratory…

Blog

More on Milton Friedman

It speaks volumes of a man — and of his career — when people don’t wait until he’s passed away to pay him tribute. That’s…

Blog

Capitalism and Freedom

The title says it all. Unlike many libertarians, for me it didn’t begin with Ayn Rand, but with Milton Friedman, specifically his classic manifesto,…

Blog

Saving Antiquities by Selling Them

This weekend, CEI co-hosted the conference, “Empowering Green Bureaucrats: How Global Environmental Treaties Threaten National Sovereignty and Hurt the World’s Poor,” with Universidad Francisco…

Blog

Empowering Green Bureaucrats

This morning, CEI co-hosted the conference, “Empowering Green Bureaucrats: How Global Environmental Treaties Threaten National Sovereignty and Hurt the World’s Poor,” with Universidad Francisco…

Blog

Bastiat Lives!

It’s not every day that an award competition ends in a tie, but that’s what happened last night at this year’s International Policy Network‘s…

Blog

Bootsy Collins He Ain’t

If, as Saul Alinsky, said, “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon,” then it’s effective against even hiding foes, like Iraq’s violent insurgents—and especially when the…

Blog

Going Wobbly at Starbucks

Ever feel like you’re aiding the oppression of workers every time you order a mocha latte at Starbucks? According to the Industrial Workers of…

Blog

Hugo Nowhere

The deadlocked fight between Guatemala and Venezuela over the United Nations Security Council’s rotating Latin America seat is being reported as the latest setback…

Blog

Haymarket Laugh Riot

I don’t know how on in the world I end up on some loony email lists, but they’re at least good for the occasional chuckle.

Blog

Is Hugo Boss?

Tonight in D.C., I will be moderating an America’s Future Foundation panel on Latin America in the age of Chavez. At issue: For the region’s…

Blog

Osorio Takes on Latin America

This Tuesday, September 12, I will be moderating an America’s Future Foundation panel on Latin America, here in D.C. At issue: Is the region turning…

Op-Eds

Speaking in Tongues

In Monty Python’s classic "Hungarian Phrasebook" sketch, a Hungarian tourist walks into a British tobacconist’s shop, and, consulting a faulty phrasebook, tells…

Antitrust