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Exploiting the Poor: The Minimum Wage
Many people believe that the minimum wage is a major source of America’s prosperity. Actually as of 2009 only 4.9 percent of (employed) workers…
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Poker and Private Property in South Carolina
In South Carolina, the fate of five men has hung in the balance for the last four years. They crime they have been accused of…
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Rent Is Too Damn High
Not much to add to this brilliant insight: The rent is too damn high! Jimmy McMillan doesn’t get into details about what he intends…
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Malthusian Indoctrination of Children Funded with Your Tax Dollars
Many people are familiar with Annie Leonard, creator of “The Story of Stuff,” a factually inaccurate viral video being shown in classrooms throughout America. In…
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Say Goodbye to Free Checking
“Say goodbye to traditional free checking, as banks feel squeeze from new regulations,” reads the AP headline. “Free checking, a mainstay of American banking…
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Of Mice and Men and Christine O’Donnell
A recent exchange between Christine O’Donnell and Bill O’Reilly, with a lack of scientific information on both sides. O’REILLY: Everybody knows that scientists have…
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Morning Media Summar
Tech: Privacy vs. Profits: “The threat to privacy posed by digital technology is about to take a turn for the worse. At least,…
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Your Shriveling 401(K): Thank Financial Red Tape and the Foreclosure Furor
If your 401(K) has shrunken recently, it may be due to falling bank stocks, like Bank of America stock, which has fallen from over $19…
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Free Market Burns — Fire Department Doesn’t Help
This post was coauthored by Jered Piepenbrink and Alex Schibuola. On October 3, a home burned to the ground in Obion County, Tennessee, though it…
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China Might Halt Rare Earth Exports
The New York Times reports: “China Said to Halt Some Mineral Shipments.” HONG KONG — China, which has been blocking shipments of crucial minerals…
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Building Height Restrictions: Where I Agree with Matthew Yglesias
Matthew Yglesias of the Center for American Progress links to a Washington Post article that notes that office rents in downtown D.C. are now…
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Afternoon Links: October 19, 2010
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A Surge Toward a New “Scientific-Technological Elite”?
AEI’s Steve Hayward, in his article “Power Surge,” presents what he says is an innovative solution to foreign oil dependence and global warming: pump huge…
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Obama’s Nativist Scare Tactics May Backfire on Him
President Obama has made the baseless claim that the Chamber of Commerce is spending foreign money on political campaigns. This claim was widely disseminated…
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The East German Immigration Model
A U.S. Senate candidate in Alaska thinks that the U.S. should follow East Germany's example when it comes to immigration.
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Meager Part-Time Work Masks Unemployment
Unemployment is often masked by part-time work, since people who would prefer to work full-time are not treated as unemployed by government statistics if they…
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Morning Media Summary
Tech: The World is Full of Interesting Things: “That’s the name of a brilliant slideshow created by Google’s Creative Labs. You’ll find a…
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A Republican Sweep Might Not Stop Online Gambling
Many analysts and pollsters are predicting a Republican sweep of the coming midterm elections in the House. While Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) seems untouchable,…
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Video Killed the Radio Star: 2010 Telephony Edition
One hundred and twenty-six years after Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone, AT&T, America’s largest provider of fixed telephony (and third largest non-oil company in…
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The Huffington Post Report on Tax Liens and Banks May Miss the Point
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Ben Lieberman on Consumer Costs of Regulations
Watch the interview on YouTube. …
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Afternoon Links: October 18, 2010
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Killed by Pension Accounting
Think accounting rules are a boring topic? You wouldn’t if the fate of your business rested on it. Indeed, a rule change may be coming…
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Democrats Took the Most Foreign Money
It turns out that Democrats have taken twice as much foreign money in this election cycle as Republicans. They’ve taken “more than $1 million…
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“Livability” versus Mobility: TIGER II
Since the early 1990s when advocates of so-called Smart Growth took control of federal transportation infrastructure policy, we have increasingly heard transportation projects described as…
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China Mocks U.S. Over Subsidy Investigation
An update to Friday’s post: Bloomberg (and the The New York Times) reported this weekend on China’s response to U.S. accusations…
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Morning Media Summary
Tech: Facebook in Privacy Breach: “Many of the most popular applications, or “apps,” on the social-networking site Facebook Inc. have been transmitting…
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EPA Ozone Standard Would Destroy 7.3 Million Jobs, Study Estimates
A recent study by the Manufacturer’s Alliance/MAPI finds that EPA’s proposed revision of the “primary” (health-based) national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) for ozone (O3) would have…
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Restricting What People Eat, Based on the Ignorance of Food Snobs
There are increasing calls for the government to restrict salty food and fast-food restaurants, and tax fast food, to curb obesity. This is especially true…
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Obamacare Results in 47 Percent Premium Hike
Obamacare has just led to a 47 percent increase in some health insurance premium rates in Connecticut: The state’s largest insurer has been approved to…
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A Potentially Bold Fiscal Policy Experiment in U.K.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the Conservative government of Prime Minister David Cameron plans to cut 192 independent government agencies in an…
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Mackinac Appeals Court Decision that would Unionize Independent Home Daycare Workers
Yesterday, the Mackinac Institute of Michigan took another step in its lawsuit challenging the forced unionization of independent daycare workers. The litigation is in response…
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“Illegal” Green Energy Subsidies
In a move that surprised no one, The New York Times reported today that the U.S. agreed to go ahead and formally investigate…
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Bill Shock Shouldn’t Be A Federal Issue
The FCC proposed new rules today aimed at combating wireless “bill shock,” a term that describes mobile subscribers getting hit with overage charges they…
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Afternoon Links: October 15, 2010
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Obama Supports Giving $250 Checks to Seniors
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Food vs. Fuel? Part Deux
Last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture lowered its estimate on yields from 2010 corn crops to 12.7 billion bushels for 2010…
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Fun Fiscal Policy Fact
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Regulation of the Day 153: Pentagon Cybersecurity
The military’s cybersecurity experts are governed by 193 documents. They are all conveniently listed in a chart. It is two feet long.
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CEI Weekly: The Department of Energy is Invading Your Home
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Vincent Vernuccio on Public Sector Unions
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYSkSxWFWo8 285 234]…
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Judge Rejects Obama Administration’s Motion to Dismiss Challenge to Obamacare
A judge in Florida has rejected the Obama administration’s motion to dismiss challenges to Obamacare brought by 20 state attorneys general and the…
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Morning Media Summary
Tech: Putting the squeeze on the broadband copper robbers: “When we think of tech crime, we tend to imagine hackers cooking up exploits…
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Teacher Accountability in Public Schools
The second-largest teachers union in the country recently dropped its former president’s speeches from its website. Are they trying to hide the fact that their…
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Government Workers Oppose Cuts in Government Jobs…Really
It turns out that government workers have a vested interest in opposing cuts in government jobs. Who knew, right? The Washington Examiner today ran…
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The Problem with Stephen Menendian’s Libertarian Straw Man
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Top Scientist Calls “Scam” Geron Human ESC Experiment
To much celebration and media play, the first human trial of embryonic stem cells has begun. With a grand total so far of one…
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CEI Podcast — October 14, 2010: Antitrust Follies and Regulatory Reform
CEI Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews talks about why antitrust actually hurts competition, and offers some ideas for regulatory reform.
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New Jobless Claims Rise to 462,000
New applications for unemployment benefits rose last week to 462,000, and unemployment is at 9.6 percent. Employers are reluctant to hire because of…
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Salute to Capitalism — And the Miners’ Rescue
“Capitalism saved the miners” is the provocative title of Daniel Henninger’s article in today’s Wall Street Journal. And he makes his case quite clearly. …
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Afternoon Links: October 14, 2010
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Why Trade and War Are Different
Over at the American Spectator's AmspecBlog, I highlight why real wars and trade wars are very, very different…
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Stop Coddling Mortgage Deadbeats
Right now, there’s a big manufactured outrage over the fact that at a few banks, paperwork errors occurred in foreclosures. The Wall Street Journal…
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Oakley Marketing Helps Chilean Miners
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Ben Lieberman on Government Regulations
Watch the video on YouTube…
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$0 settlement in Breyers “Smooth & Dreamy” class action
Russell Jackson adds to my workload by drawing my attention to Ercoline v. Unilever United States, Inc., Civ. A. No. 2:10-cv-01747-SRC-MAS (D.N.J.), a…
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Morning Media Summary
The following is a roundup of the morning’s media. We hope you will make a daily stop at Open Market to read the latest updates.
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A Moment on the Lips; A Lifetime on Pay Slips
New studies suggest that very thin women earn proportionately more money than do average-sized women. Comprising only women within 25lbs of doctor-recommended weight, the…
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Status Quo Elitist Attacks Contrarians for Being Elitist Members of the Status Quo
Michael Lewyn, a law professor and anti-“sprawl” activist, has a post on Planetizen about how he and his ilk are supposedly unfairly maligned as…
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Foreign Money is Not the Problem
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McDonald’s 6-Month-Old Burger is a Triumph, Not a Terror
To prove a friend wrong, New York artist Sally Davies left a happy meal out on her counter for six months. Yesterday, several media…
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Pension Insanity in France
Many people in France are waking up to the reality that they cannot sustain the welfare state indefinitely. Apparently, it isn’t economically feasible to have…
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Regulation of the Day 152: Locking Your Car Door
The government of Bucks County, Pennsylvania plans to issue $25 fines to people who forget to lock their cars.
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Afternoon Links: October 13, 2010
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Moratorium Lifted, But Drilling Still Blocked
With much fanfare, the Obama administration has lifted its moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. But don’t expect much actual drilling any…
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Our Driverless Future?
Google has been making headlines after the company revealed over the weekend that its driverless cars have logged nearly 140,000 miles on public roads…
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Afternoon Links: October 12, 2010
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Wayne Crews in The Washington Times
Wayne Crews has an op-ed in today’s Washington Times titled, “The Tyranny of the Unelected.” He writes, The year’s Federal Register – the daily depository…
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Fox Business: Government Is Burning Our Money
Americans are peeved about the economy. Or, 85 percent of us are, according to an ABC News article. So, we need government to…
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Yes, Paul Krugman thinks Obama is a “Small Spender”
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Banksy on the Sweatshop of Western Civilization via The Simpsons
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Jobs: Created, Not Made
Welcome to October, the start of a new government fiscal year. 2010 was the year of “jobs created or saved.” Bank and business bailouts may…
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Appeal bond briefing in Dewey v. Volkswagen
Trial lawyers often say that they care about access to justice, but that principle seems to go out the window when it comes to objectors…
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Economic Illiteracy and Stopping Foreclosures
Express, a publication of The Washington Post, notes that as a result of a stoppage in mortgage foreclosures: “Prices might stabilize because so many homes…
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The Classmates.com class action settlement rip-off
You may have been one of the millions of people to receive a settlement notice regarding a class action against Classmates.com; the settlement notice…
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Obama Administration Slowed Response to BP Oil Spill By Keeping Public In the Dark
The Obama administration initially downplayed the seriousness of the Gulf oil spill, “slowing response efforts and keeping the American people in the dark…
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Betancourt: Revolutions Not So Nice
After six years in FARC captivity deep in Colombia’s jungle, Ingrid Betancourt is over revolution and ready for cake. From the NPR story…
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Ignorance at the New York Times: Kate Zernike and the “Rule of Law”
The New York Times doesn’t know what the “rule of law” means. In a story on the Tea Parties, reporter Kate Zernike claims that the…
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Afternoon Links: October 8, 2010
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Stimulus Money Went to Prisoners and Dead People
17,000 prison inmates received checks courtesy of the $800 billion stimulus package, notes the Associated Press. $18 million in checks went to dead…
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CEI Weekly: United Auto Workers Shut Down GM Plant
CEI Weekly is a compilation of articles and blogs from CEI staff. This week features Vincent Vernuccio's October 1st interview on Fox Business' Varney &…
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PayPal Founder Encourages Students to ‘Stop out of School’
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Morning Media Summary
The following is a roundup of the morning’s media. We hope you will make a daily stop at Open Market to read the latest updates.
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First, Try Getting the Little Things Right
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How Not to Tackle Congestion
The Transport Politic’s Yonah Freemark today posted an article praising the anti-automobile policies of Paris’ Socialist Mayor Bertrand Delanoë and delivering what he seems to believe…
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Bootleggers and Baptists Everywhere
Bruce Yandle’s insight of how erstwhile alliances of “Bootleggers and Baptists” help drive state intervention into economic matters is extremely useful when looking at…
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Misplaced Ire
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Afternoon Links: October 7, 2010
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CEI Podcast – October 7, 2010: Trade, Jobs, and Korea
CEI Adjunct Fellow Fran Smith talks about the EU-Korea free trade agreement that takes effect next year, and why the US-Korea FTA stalled, to the…
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Private Employers Cut 39,000 Jobs in September
The private sector shed 39,000 jobs in September. Liberal journalists claim this was “unexpected.” This reveals their shaky grasp of economics. If you…
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Sen. Baucus, I Salute You! OK, I Will Salute You If…
In a message titled, “EPA WILL REGULATE GLOBAL WARMING IN STATES WITH OR WITHOUT AUTHORITY,” the ever-vigilant Maryam Brown of the Senate Republican Policy Committee reports:…
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Gaga for Liberals? Liberal Women Crowd Forbes Top 100 List
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10:10 = Economic Illiteracy
10:10 Video: Blowing Up Children (Viewer Discretion Advised) What an inspiring film — people who refuse to cut their personal CO2 emissions are sentenced…
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Morning Media Summary
The following is a roundup of the morning's media. We hope you will make a daily stop at Open Market to read the latest updates.
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Vincent Vernuccio on Union Shutting Down GM Plant
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31i-rRUnMc8 285 234]…
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Is the Internet’s Future in Jeopardy?
Last week, I had the pleasure of discussing net neutrality with James Boyle, a Duke Law Professor and the co-founder of the…
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Obama’s Rooftop Solar Panel: Back to the Future Carter
Energy Secy. Steven Chu kicked off a three-day federal “sustainability” symposium today by announcing that the Department of Energy will install solar rooftop water-heating panels…
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Afternoon Links: October 6, 2010
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Timothy Geithner, Political Strategist
The TARP bank bailout program polls poorly. Timothy Geithner, in recent remarks, subtly reminded voters that the hated bailouts were originally a Republican proposal. It's…
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Skilled Immigrants: More, Please
For every H-1B position requested, U.S. technology firms increase their employment by five workers. The government's artificial limit on skilled immigration is prolonging the recession.