Blog
Billboard to Nowhere
Blog
Halloween Roundup
Silly string forbidden in Hollywood on Halloween, man arrested for wearing a mask, plus more.
Blog
Administration Allies Float Trillion Dollar Bailout to Offset Rising Savings Rate
Alarmed by the rising savings rate, which liberal Keynesian economic theory views as potentially bad in a weak economy, intellectuals with close ties to…
Blog
Afternoon Links: November 1, 2010
Blog
Hugo Chavez Plans to Steal Golf Courses
I wrote recently how Hugo Chavez is stealing productive sectors of the Venezuela economy on its ‘Road to Serfdom.’ Now, Chavez has developed a…
Blog
Should Geoengineering be Banned?
Since one day the sun will expand into a red-giant star, humans in the distant multi-millennial future will either have to leave the Earth, geoengineer…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 155: Miniskirts
Police officers would be tasked with paying close attention to women’s hemlines; no doubt many already do. Women who catch an officer’s eye could be…
Blog
Beach House Bummer: State-Run Insurance Fuels Risky Coastal Development
Wouldn’t we all like to have a beach house? A large number of Americans have a dream of living near the sea, but few of…
Blog
Morning Media Summary
Tech: Captcha adverts capture your attention: “IT IS an online advertiser’s dream. Some ads on the websites you visit could soon be impossible…
Blog
Harvard’s Jeffrey Miron Explains Why the Stimulus Package Failed
Blog
Civil Rights Commission: Administration Lied About Who Dropped Voter Intimidation Case
The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has found that political appointees, not career Justice Department lawyers, made the decision to drop a voter intimidation…
Blog
Washington State Ballot: Cracking Open the Wine and Spirits Market
This election day, Washington State voters will have to decide on two different ballot initiatives dealing with alcohol regulation (#1100 and #1105). The first will…
Blog
On Google: If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It!
Scores.org has a post suggesting that Google is a monopoly because its “tentacles tap into sizable market shares” referring to the search engine, map services,…
Blog
The Rise of Negative Campaigning?
Blog
Afternoon Links: October 29, 2010
Blog
Hospital Cost-Shifting Leads to More Expensive Car Insurance
Lawmakers’ policies are making your car insurance higher than it should be. Rather than solving the problems that government intervention is causing, however, politicians would…
Blog
Obamacare to Wipe Out 800,000 Jobs Through Work Disincentives
Obamacare is going to wipe out 800,000 jobs through its disincentives to work. That contrasts sharply with false claims by House Speaker Nancy…
Blog
The Stealthy Public Pension Time Bomb
As state and local government budgets have come under increasing stress, greater public attention has come to focus on government employees’ compensation. This greater scrutiny…
Blog
Angela Logomasini On The Risk of BPA
Blog
Ignorant Food Snobbery: Judge Orders McDonald’s to Pay Obese Employee $17,500
From The New York Times: A Brazilian court ruled this week that McDonald’s must pay a former franchise manager $17,500 because he gained 65…
Blog
CEI Weekly: The Free Checking Restoration Act
Blog
Butcher’s Bill for Texting While Driving
In my LA Times piece “Texters, You’d Be Better off Driving Drunk,” Oct. 3, I stated “There are no reliable studies regarding deaths associated…
Blog
Morning Media Summary
Tech: Privacy Commissioner slams data retention: “The Australian Privacy Commissioner Timothy Pilgrim has slammed the Federal Government’s proposed data retention law and called…
Blog
D.C. Minimum Wage Contributes to Decade of Heightened Unemployment
In a daring new approach to employment analysis, a report out today from the DC Fiscal Policy Institute advises implementing a higher minimum…
Blog
Washington Subway Terrorist Bomb Plot Leads to Arrest
Federal authorities arrested Farooque Ahmed for plotting to bomb the Washington Metro subway system. Ahmed, who immigrated from Pakistan, “conspired with people he thought…
Blog
2010’s Record Election Spending Is Surprisingly Small
Blog
Rare Earths — Not So Rare?
What do yttrium, ytterbium, erbium and terbium have in common? They are rare earth elements first found in the Swedish town of Ytterby between 1828…
Blog
Afternoon Links: October 28, 2010
Blog
Marlo Lewis on Hyundai’s Zero Emission Advertisment
Hyundai’s newest advertisement features their attempts at producing a “green” commercial. One of Hyundai’s slogans is “Prepare to want one,” yet as Marlo Lewis notes…
Blog
Common Sense Fact of the Day: Only 5 Countries Have Pension Systems That Can Survive (Hint: Not the USA)
This issue keeps showing up over the Internet, so it makes it an easy story to address: Most government pension programs are unsustainable. As…
Blog
Great Letter in Today’s Wall Street Journal
Blog
An Alcohol-Caffeine Ban Won’t Work
The genie is out of the bottle. Mixing energy drinks and distilled spirits has become a popular trend in the U.S., particularly, among college age…
Blog
Obama Pumps More Money into “High-Speed Rail” Boondoggles
The Department of Transportation announced today that another $2.4 billion is being doled out to high-speed rail projects around the country. This is on…
Blog
Sen. Grassley’s Selective Crusade Against Conflicts of Interest
Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Ia.) has been on a tear lately, badgering the Food and Drug Administration about whether it's doing enough to crack down on…
Blog
CBO: Obamacare Discourages Work
Even the Congressional Budget Office, which allowed supporters of Obamacare to hide its costs through gimmicks and dodges, admitted last “Friday that…
Blog
Morning Media Summary
Tech: Are texting and Facebook worse for teens than TV?: “Which raises an interesting question: Is Facebook really worse for teenagers’ brains than…
Blog
Supreme Court Case May Wipe Out Vaccine Industry
Back when Congress knew how to pass good legislation, in this case in the mid-1980s, it took most cases involving vaccine liability out of the…
Blog
Increase in American Corruption May Have Been Understated
Earlier, I wrote about how America had slipped to a historic low on the Global Corruption Index, becoming more corrupt. In retrospect, I think…
Blog
Afternoon Links: October 27, 2010
Blog
My Role Model, Jenna Jameson
As a self-made business mogul, a mother and wife, and a cancer survivor, there are many aspects of Jenna Jameson to admire and emulate.
Blog
Ethanol Shills Never Tire
This time it’s retired general Wesley Clark. The language is anything but honest, and unfortunately very convincing to the average reader. It’s an $821-million-a-day…
Blog
Clarity Regarding What the Left Believes
Recently, I wrote about french protesters shutting down France and destroying Paris. This is all due to the fact that Sarkozy is asking citizens…
Blog
Foreclosure Moratorium Would Impose Huge Losses on Taxpayers
“Taxpayers and the federal government would be among the biggest losers if officials heed calls from some legislators and homeowners rights groups to stop millions…
Blog
“Cy Pres: A Not So Charitable Contribution to Class Action Practice”
I’m honored that Skadden’s John Beisner, one of the world’s leading class action attorneys, Jessica Miller, and Jordan Schwartz today released a new paper…
Blog
Morning Media Summary
Tech: Free E-Books, With a Catch – Advertising: “Barnes & Noble may kick off a fresh price war today…
Blog
Dear Mr. Biden: Vice Presidents Were Meant to Be Seen, Not Heard
Blog
U.S. Slips to Historic Low in Global Corruption Index
America has slipped to a historic low in the global corruption index, Reuters reports, and it is no longer one of the 20 least…
Blog
Afternoon Links: October 26, 2010
Blog
Soda Regulations for Everyone!
2010 hasn’t been a good year for soda. As Americans tune in to reality TV shows like The Biggest Loser and Too Fat for Fifteen,…
Blog
Global Food Crisis Forecast; Aggravated by Biofuels and Global Warming Legislation
A global food crisis is “forecast as prices reach record highs.” “Rising food prices and shortages could cause instability in many countries as the…
Blog
Ethanol in The Wall Street Journal
The editorial staff at The Wall Street Journal have not been kind to ethanol over the past months. They ran two editorials (one in July…
Blog
Hugo Chavez Steals More Productive Sectors of the Venezuelan Economy
CBS is reporting today that Hugo Chavez “ordered the expropriation of U.S.-based glass maker Owens-Illinois Inc.’s unit in the South American country.” This is…
Blog
Stalled Korea FTA May Get a Boost
U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk is scheduled to meet today with Korean Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon in San Francisco to discuss the pending U.S.-Korea…
Blog
Something (Useful) for the FTC to Do
I took a class at George Mason University with economist Tyler Cowen on industrial organization (IO).1 My apologies to Dr. Cowen…
Blog
The Nobel Case for Immigration
In today's American Spectator, my colleague Alex Nowrasteh and I make the case for expanding skilled immigration.
Blog
Another Reason Why Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Need to Go
The monthly payments a home mortgage has depend on two variables (among others): the initial down payment and interest rates. A larger down payment means…
Blog
Morning Media Summary
Tech: “Fabric” To Weave Security Into Code: “As we become increasingly dependent on computers to manage our lives and businesses, our money…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 154: Potatoes in School Lunches
The children are not pleased. One child told the Associated Press, "That would be so not cool. I love tater tots."…
Blog
Most Important Brands for Women: Marketing Works!
Blog
Insurance Lessons from Alabama
While Alabama certainly has some ambiguous laws and archaic regulations, the federal government ought to take a lesson from Alabama when it comes…
Blog
60 Minutes Reports Enormous Real Unemployment
Blog
Afternoon Links: October 25, 2010
Blog
William Lind’s Absurd “Conservative Case” for More Transit [Waste]
Over at enviro-blog Grist, conservative William Lind is interviewed on the subject of transit. Lind is an anomaly of sorts in the center-right transportation camp in…
Blog
Mysteries of the Liberal Mind: Inmate Voting Good, Soldiers Voting Bad
Liberal judges insist that it’s racist to keep prison inmates from voting, because inmates are disproportionately members of minority groups. See the dissents of liberal…
Blog
Unemployment Jumps Under Obama, Pelosi, and Reid
Unemployment averaged about 5.2 percent under both Clinton and Bush, but rose to an average of 9.43 percent under Obama (the current rate…
Blog
Government Unions Buying More Power
Yesterday The Washington Examiner showed how public sector unions are buying their power though campaign donations. In their excellent editorial “Public employee unions…
Blog
Morning Media Summary
Tech: Bees’ tiny brains beat computers, study finds: “Bees can solve complex mathematical problems which keep computers busy for days, research has…
Blog
New CEI Podcast — October 25, 2010: Regulating Every Room
CEI's Senior Fellow in Environmental Studies Ben Lieberman explains how new energy regulations affect every room in your house, from the basement to the bathroom…
Blog
Porn Stars Get Behind Personal Choice by Opposing Condom Mandates
The most recent case of porn actor testing positive for HIV has renewed calls (or at least media attention to the calls) for a…
Blog
Boom and Bust — Different Ideas Why…
Blog
PETA vs. CEI: A Surprisingly Amiable Exchange of Ideas
Yesterday, the DCist reported that PETA planned a protest outside of the Capital Grille, a meat-centric restaurant here in the nation’s capital. The…
Blog
Union Infringes on Freedom of Speech and Disses Military
While setting up for an Obama rally in California, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) Local 33 fired, Duane Hammet, a stagehand union member for…
Blog
The Chevy Volt: Just Another Hybrid
It turns out GM wasn’t being completely honest when they touted the Chevy Volt as an all electric vehicle. From Edmunds: GM Lied: Chevy…
Blog
Starbucks Slowdown
Proof that inefficiency is not only for government: Starbucks ordered baristas to slow down this month, capping coffee production at 2 drinks at a time.
Blog
Afternoon Links: October 22, 2010
Blog
Obamacare: More Broken Promises, More Premium Hikes, More Lost Health Insurance
In The Washington Times, Dr. Milton R. Wolf debunks six “unkeepable Obamacare promises” that have already been shown to be false. For example, President…
Blog
“The Cluster of Errors” — The Austrian Theory of Boom and Bust (Part III of III)
“Econ Stories” is back at it again with a new video. This time they explain the Austrian theory of the business cycle. What I like…
Blog
Over-indulging Alcohol Regulators
A new study on alcohol consumption raises questions about government attempts to protect adults from “over-drinking.” It is particularly relevant as citizens debate privatization…
Blog
Bureaucrats Disenfranchise Overseas Troops
Illinois officials missed the deadline to mail ballots to U.S. troops overseas, but they hand-delivered ballots to inmates, without even waiting for inmates…
Blog
Bailout of Fannie and Freddie Will Cost Double Earlier Estimates
The bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will cost double earlier estimates, and could cost $363 billion over the next three years, report…
Blog
CEI Weekly: Ethanol Tax Credit Set to Expire
CEI Weekly is a compilation of articles and blog posts from CEI’s fellows and associates sent out via e-mail every Friday. This week features CEI…
Blog
Mayo, Mustard, or Communism? Radical Union Tries to Organize Minneapolis Sandwich Shop
This morning voting started at nine Jimmy John’s restaurants in the Minneapolis area. The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) is attempting…
Blog
Morning Media Summary
Tech: Google in new partnership with the Post: “We live in an evolving market and is going from being a letter to the…
Blog
Ethanol and Energy Efficiency
The U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack spoke today at the National Press Club on the future of biofuels in the United States. His…
Blog
New CEI Podcast — October 21, 2010: Relic of Prohibition
CEI Director of Insurance Studies Michelle Minton analyzes proposals to privatize Virginia's liquor stores.
Blog
General Motors’ Losses Hidden by Deferral of Union Pension Obligations
Any General Motors bonds issued this year will be classified as junk by a key ratings agency. Why? There’s some risk GM will go…
Blog
Ray LaHood’s Smoke and Mirrors
This morning, The Wall Street Journal‘s Washington Wire quoted me “disapproving” of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood’s TIGER II grant picks. LaHood “countered” critics of…
Blog
Afternoon Links: October 21, 2010
Blog
Sex in the Board Room!
Blog
The Free Checking Restoration Act of 2011
“Free checking as we know it is ending,” says the lead paragraph of a widely-read and tweeted story this week from the Associated Press.
Blog
More Stimulus Money Wasted
A lot of money was wasted in weatherization projects paid for by the stimulus package, note The New York Times Green Blog and Professor…
Blog
More Support for Privatization of Virginia Liquor Sales
Yesterday, the Virginia Retail Federation (the advocacy arm of the Retail Alliance and the Retail Merchants Association) came out in support of privatizing liquor…
Blog
Morning Media Summary
Tech: Canada Says Google Wi-Fi Sniffing Collected Personal Data: “Canada’s privacy commissioner said Tuesday that Google’s recent Wi-Fi sniffing was a serious violation…
Blog
Medical Trial and Error
The Atlantic has an interesting profile of medical researcher John Ioannidis, who famously concluded in a groundbreaking 2005 study that the scientific conclusions of most…
Blog
The illegal Apple backdating class action settlement
Did you buy Apple stock between 2001 and 2006? Ira Stoll and Jim Copland have discussed the outrageous Apple backdating lawsuit resulting…
Blog
“Rent Is Too Damn High” Candidate’s Rent is Actually Quite Low
Oh look, a politician building a campaign on the premise that he understands his constituents’ plight is actually…very far removed from the issues that are…
Blog
Exploiting the Poor: International Trade
On last week’s Stossel (no video available yet), was mentioned that rich countries gain their wealth through the exploitation of poor countries. Professor Marc Hill of Columbia University…
Blog
Obamacare Will Spawn Crowded Waiting Rooms and Pointless Busywork for Doctors
Health care costs will go up under Obamacare for many reasons, such as the wasteful red tape it imposes on health savings accounts (HSAs). Max…
Blog
Afternoon Links: October 20, 2010
Blog
Rent Control: Why Is It So Bad?
When rent is “too damn high,” people move. Yet many cities still impose rotating rent controls, in a misguided attempt to make housing more…