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Remembering M. Stanton Evans
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the King v. Burwell case last week. The decision, likely to appear in June, will determine in part whether regulatory…
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University of California Dean: Academic Freedom Makes Students “Feel Unsafe”
Recently, the dean of the School of Social Welfare at the University of California at Berkeley condemned a professor’s constitutionally protected remarks, including but not limited…
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Gov. Scott Walker Aims to Make Wisconsin 25th Right-to-Work State Monday
No individual should be forced to financially support an organization they disagree with or risk penalty. Thankfully, Governor Scott Walker is determined to ensure that…
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How Department of Labor’s “Fiduciary” Rule Could Cripple IRA Choices
Last week, President Obama called on the Department of Labor to “update the rules and requirements that retirement advisors put the best interests of their…
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U.S. Supreme Court Could Free Government Workers from Forced Union Dues
Public-sector workers could soon gain the freedom to decide whether or not to pay union dues if the U.S. Supreme Court hears the impending case,…
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
The FCC, inspired by a law passed in 1934, unveiled its controversial plan to regulate the Internet as a public utility. Beyond that it was…
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Another Illegal Rule from the Education Department
Recently, I wrote about a report to the Senate by a task force of college presidents, on how the Education Department is illegally dumping an avalanche of new…
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3 Things You Should Know About King v. Burwell
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Union Employees on Public Payroll Challenged in Pennsylvania Courts
A recent lawsuit filed by The Fairness Center, a public interest law firm, is challenging the Philadelphia School District's practice of allowing school employees perform…
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Net Neutrality Vote Shows Congress Must Rein In and Replace the FCC
The separation of powers doctrine demands that Congress not tolerate unelected federal agencies going it alone and making binding law. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC),…
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CEI Statement on Today’s Net Neutrality Vote
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Education Department Floods Schools with New Uncodified Bureaucratic Mandates
Recently, a task force of college presidents chronicled massive regulatory overreaching by the U.S. Department of Education, which, on a daily basis, floods the nation’s…
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Wisconsin Opponents of Right-to-Work Offer Weak Defense of Compulsory Dues Payments
Predictably, yesterday, labor unions and its supporters protested outside of the Wisconsin Capitol to voice their displeasure with the right-to-work (RTW) bill that is making…
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Capitalism Makes a Comeback on Campus
There’s exciting stuff going on in the world of higher education these days for fans of free markets. Just last week, the University of Arizona’s …
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There Are No “Neutral Taxes” in Politics
Those favoring larger government are finding it harder to finance them by raising taxes. Proponents have sought to reduce opposition by claiming that they’re not…
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
In a very cold, holiday-shortened week, federal agencies issued 40 final and 33 proposed regulations covering everything from lithium-ion batteries to small fish in Oregon.
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Brussels Meeting Ends with White Smoke
To surprise of many, Friday’s meeting in Brussels ended with white smoke, like Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis has hoped when he was referring to…
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How to Help Tesla and Taxpayers
Policies aimed at reducing auto emissions in California and 10 other states are having a troubling set of unintended consequences, according to a recent editorial at…
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When Kittens Explode
A fascinating Kickstarter funding campaign just ended yesterday, and it was a major one. A new card game with the alarming title of “Exploding…
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Vapes on a Plane: More on Why DOT’s Proposed In-Flight E-Cigarette Ban Is Fatally Flawed
Over at CNN.com, I have a piece arguing against the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) forthcoming rule aimed at outlawing “vapes on a plane.” I explain why…
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NLRB Ambush Election Rule Weakens Worker Privacy
Government should not have the power to force private-sector employers to disclose workers’ private contact information to a third party special-interest group for any cause.
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Does Regulation Hurt Innovation?
How much does regulation crimp innovation? Not very much, according to a new study from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Nathan Goldschlag and George Mason University’s Alex…
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Victory for “Caveman” Blogger and Free Speech in North Carolina
Many people associate professional licensing with consumer safety. For example, we wouldn’t want any schlub doing surgery. But where occupational licensing laws may have started…
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What the U.S. Can Learn from Canada on Aviation Innovation
As I continue to digest the sUAS NPRM, which is expected to be published in the Federal Register on Monday, I came across Canadian drone attorney Diana…
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
In a week like any other, regulatory agencies issued more than 50 new rules covering everything from from rockfish to wine. On to the data:…
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Missouri a Step Closer to Enacting Right to Work
Last Thursday, right-to-work passed the Missouri House. The bill, approved 91-64, makes union dues payments in the private-sector voluntary and now awaits a contentious political…
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First Thoughts on FAA’s Small Unmanned Aircraft System Proposed Rules
At 10am on Sunday, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced its draft rules to govern small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). The announcement is not particularly surprising,…
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Coming Up: King Plaintiffs’ Day in Court
Oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court in King v. Burwell will be held on March 4, 2015. The Competitive Enterprise Institute is coordinating this…
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Congress Takes First Shot at NLRB Ambush Election Rule
Congress established the National Labor Relations Board as a body made up of neutral arbiters to represent the public in labor disputes. Under the Obama…
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Ridesharing and Regulation
Earlier this week, I appeared on a Cato Institute panel organized by Cato’s Matthew Feeney, author of a new report on for-hire vehicle safety issues. Video…
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New U.S. Dietary Recommendations to Correct Misunderstanding about Cholesterol, Not Fat
Thomas Jefferson once said, “If people let the government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in…
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The $7 Billion Slowdown
The ongoing logjam at ports on the West Coast could cost American retailers around $7 billion this year, according to the consultancy Kurt Salmon. That’s a…
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NPR Wrongly Suggests Hate Speech and Blasphemy Are Unprotected by First Amendment
NPR gets a lot of taxpayer money based on a false pretense of objectivity and accuracy. Its departing ombudsman, Edward Schumacher-Matos, says that “as a public…
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Zenefits: A Disruptive Company Fights Back
Sometimes cronyism in the business world takes the form of a company receiving special government favors and subsidies—the now-infamous Solyndra, for example—but sometimes it takes…
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Congress Takes First Shot at NLRB Ambush Election Rule
Congress established the National Labor Relations Board as a body made up of neutral arbiters to represent the public in labor disputes. Under the Obama…
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Harvard Study Confirms Dodd-Frank’s Harm to Main Street
Literally since the day the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act was signed into law by President Obama, my Competitive Enterprise Institute colleagues…
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The Empire Strikes Back!
Right-of-center groups have for some time become a bit complacent. Sure the left had the universities, the media, and pop culture—but we had the think…
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Educating Tomorrow’s Business Leaders on Markets and Politics
This weekend I attended a fascinating event at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business on the subject of economic inequality. Prof. …
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
Last week’s batch of new rules covered everything from fluorescent lights to postage rates. On to the data: Last week, 59 new final regulations were…
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GOP Divided on Internet Gambling Ban
As expected, members of the GOP reintroduced a measure that would create a de facto prohibition on all Internet gambling. The effort, which was written by GOP mega-donor…
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Treasury Union President: IRS Needs More Money
As budget talks heat-up, union officials are making their presence known and that their agencies need more money.
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Tainted Claims about “Agglomerated” Corks
A recent article in Wine Industry Insight titled “Micro-Agglomerates: 350 Million Illegal Corks Per Year?” reports: “Agglomerated cork manufacturers and importers are facing scrutiny from two major…
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No Sprinkles in Obama’s America: Trans Fat, Hyperbole, and the Threat Nobody Is Talking about
“Say goodbye to your favorite sprinkled doughnuts,” warned Clayton Morris, guest host on Fox & Friends. “The [FDA] is now regulating Americans intake of trans fat…the…
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Congress Should Reject Obama Budget Increase for Education Department Office for Civil Rights
The Obama administration perversely rewards agencies that overstep their authority by giving them budget increases to handle the increased workload that results. A classic example…
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Transportation Roundup: Obama Budget, DOT 2045, and Sad Transcontinental Railroad Nostalgia
The President’s FY 2016 Budget On Monday, the White House released its DOA FY 2016 budget. Like President Obama’s previous budgets, this one has no…
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Greek Government’s Stance Suggests a Confrontation with the EU
The latest statements of the newly elected Greek government show that negotiations between Athens and the so-called “Troika” will not be easy. SYRIZA sent a strong…
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Premature Capitulation?
Over the decades I’ve spent in this Heart of Darkness (a.k.a., the bowels of American politics), I’ve learned two lessons that have encouraged the steady…
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Poll: 75% of Ohioans Disapprove of Using Taxpayer Funds to Collect Union Dues
Jason Hart, Watchdog.org labor reporter, recently published a story that highlights a new poll from the think tank Opportunity Ohio on Ohioans' opinions of labor…
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Obama Administration Learned Nothing from 2008 Financial Crisis, Mortgage Expert Says
Ed Pinto had a depressing and revealing op-ed in The Wall Street Journal Friday about how the Obama administration is artificially creating markets for risky mortgages, using…