Blog
SPPI-TV hit: How price controls endanger small dollar loans, boost loan sharks
In my first media appearance from the sleek new CEI studios at our offices in Washington, DC, I joined a great panel on the May…
Blog
‘Passive-aggressive’ regulators are a growing headache for American business
“The Future of Independent Agencies: Fallout from Problems at the Federal Trade Commission,” was an event hosted by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) to alert…
Blog
Congress should stop the White House from rewriting ‘Circular A-4’
Barring an extension, next week (June 6) is the deadline for comments on the White House Office of Management and Budget’s …
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: Capitalists of the world unite! with Richard Salsman
In this week’s episode, we talk about conservatives defending the D.C. swamp, Andrew Stuttaford’s warning about green land grabs, a new Heartland Institute report…
Blog
Do more deregulation in debt limit deal
The internal GOP debate this week is over lower-case “d” default if a June 6 deadline for an increase in the debt limit is…
Blog
Moore good news? CEI responds to government in landmark tax case
Earlier today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute filed a reply brief in the Moores’ case. A few weeks ago, the government argued that the Supreme…
Blog
Debt deal’s PAYGO law won’t pay out. Here’s how to fix it.
In an effort to curb excessive government spending, a provision known as statutory administrative PAYGO (Pay-As-You-Go) has been introduced in the debt ceiling deal struck…
Blog
Why is the debt ceiling deal helping to ban gas stoves?
When Biden-appointed Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) commissioner Richard Trumka, Jr. announced last January that his agency was investigating gas stoves and that a…
Blog
McCarthy-Biden debt-ceiling deal fully funds the climate-industrial complex
The deal to raise the debt ceiling announced Saturday by the White House and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) drops the provisions in the…
Blog
Protecting private property in the Peach State
Institute for Justice communications manager Dan King brings us an infuriating but important story out of the state of Georgia. Property owners in the…
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: baby formula labels and room air conditioners
Happy Memorial Day, everyone. The Supreme Court upheld property rights in a 9-0 decision in Tyler v. Hennepin County, in which CEI joined…
Blog
Repealing green energy subsidies must come before permitting reform in debt ceiling package
There are reports that the debt ceiling negotiators are close to agreeing on permitting reform provisions as part of the final package. This may sound…
Blog
Supreme Court ruling restores property rights, closes spigot on Clean Water Act abuses
The U.S. Supreme Court in Sackett v. EPA has finally provided some clarity on one of the most basic questions in environmental law: what…
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: Transparency for government, privacy for people with Brian Hawkins
In this week’s episode we talk discuss Tim Carney’s view on why big government is good for big business, Stone Washington on the…
Blog
Supreme Court breathes new life into Takings Clause in Tyler v. Hennepin County
When you don’t pay property taxes, you run the risk of the government seizing and selling your property. That’s what happened to Geraldine Tyler, a…
Blog
Let’s get this huge ‘hidden tax’ of regulation out into the open
Smack dab in the middle of contentious debt limit negotiations, the House Budget Committee held another in its series of hearings on American economic growth,…
Blog
What happens if governments stop trying to make electric vehicles happen?
I recently spotted an interesting analysis of the market for electric vehicles and the prospect for them eventually replacing ones powered by internal combustion…
Blog
A remembrance: C. Boyden Gray, 1943-2023
We mourn the passing of C. Boyden Gray. He was a man of his family, the law, and his country. Boyden served in the highest…
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: lowfat yogurt and halibut sharing
Debt ceiling negotiations remain stalled, and will likely remain that way until the deadline draws nearer. The Supreme Court left Section 230 intact. A…
Blog
Bill targets ag department slush fund worth billions
The House Appropriations agriculture subcommittee favorably reported its spending bill along party lines Thursday. The bill’s next stop is the full House Appropriations…
Blog
EPA’s new coal rule: Still unlawful after all these years
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week posted the pre-publication draft of its proposed carbon dioxide (CO2) emission performance standards for fossil-fuel power plants…
Blog
Time to rip the veil of secrecy off government agencies’ in-house courts
In a previous piece, we explored some of the pros and cons of administrative law courts (ALCs). These are regulatory agencies’ special in-house courts,…
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: Letting people prosper with Vance Ginn
In this week’s episode we talk about Warren Buffet’s electric vehicle pessimism, sky-high school funding in New York City, a report…
Blog
Biden administration wants to make bad clothes washers even worse
The Biden administration started the year by targeting gas stoves and has followed it up with a flood of additional appliance regulations. This…
Blog
Robert Lucas, economist of possibilities, 1937-2023
Robert Lucas, 85, passed away this week. He was a prominent macroeconomist who won the 1995 economics Nobel. Others have remembered Lucas’s contributions to rationality…
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: toy guns and trophy fisheries
The 2023 Federal Register topped 30,000 pages on May 8. New inflation numbers looked better on the surface, but actually got worse. A new…
Blog
New credit card late fee rule hurts folks who pay their bills on time
There has rightly been an outcry after the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), which sets policy for the government-sponsored enterprises (GSE) Fannie Mae and Freddie…
Blog
What I told the EPA about its attack on Americans’ cars and mobility
The Biden administration is using the whole of government to stop Americans from driving gas-powered vehicles. This campaign began right at the start of the…
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: Freedom is intoxicating with Jacob Grier
In this week’s episode we talk about public opinion regarding capitalism, eliminating COVID relief slush funds, rolling back parking mandates, partisan…
Blog
Senate committee yells ‘all aboard!’ for controversial Railway Safety Act
The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee approved the Railway Safety Act this morning, with all Democrats and Republican Sens. J.D. Vance (OH) and Eric Schmitt…