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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
Despite another 47 proposed regulations and 80 final regulations last week, 2014 remains on pace to have the smallest number of new regulations of any…
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The Case for Closing the Export-Import Bank
Over at American Banker’s BankThink blog, I have a piece making the case for closing the Export-Import Bank, mostly on corruption grounds: The…
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Red Tapeworm 2014: Small Businesses Beaten Down by Recordbreaking Federal Regulations
This is Part 23 of a series taking a walk through some sections of Ten Thousand Commandments: An Annual Snapshot of the Federal…
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Uber and Regulation: Pro-Business Is Not Pro-Market
“Republicans love Uber. Young urban voters love Uber. And Republicans hope that means young voters can learn to love the GOP.” That was the opening…
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Homecare Workers Freed from Big Labor’s Greed
Homecare workers in three states have finally been liberated from something they should never have experienced in the first place: paying dues to government unions…
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Red Tapeworm 2014: Completed Economically Significant Rules at Record Levels
This is Part 21 of a series taking a walk through some sections of Ten Thousand Commandments: An Annual Snapshot of the Federal…
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Public Still Favors Transportation User Fees over Tax Increases
Voters in Missouri yesterday rejected a proposed constitutional amendment that would have imposed a 0.75 percent sales tax to fund transportation, with nearly 60 percent opposing a…
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The Let Me Google That for You Act
When it comes to government transparency, more is better. As a general principle, the government should make public as many of its documents as possible…
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Jefferson Federation of Teachers Proposes Union-Friendly Contract
In the past two years, the Jefferson Federation of Teachers (JFT) and Jefferson Parish public school system have tried, unsuccessfully, to come to terms on…
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Red Tapeworm 2014: Big Dollar Federal Regulations in the Pipeline Highest under Obama
This is Part 21 of a series taking a walk through some sections of Ten Thousand Commandments: An Annual Snapshot of the Federal…
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
Ninety-eight new regulations, from Moroccan blueberries to home furnaces.
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NLRB McDonald’s Decision Hurts Small Businesses, Diminishes Opportunities for Everyday Americans
The NLRB’s General Counsel Richard F. Griffin Jr. found merit in 43 of 181 unfair labor practice complaints made against McDonald’s in the last 20…
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Wisconsin Supreme Court Upholds Gov. Scott Walker’s Collective Bargaining Reform
Since 2011, Governor Scott Walker’s signature public-sector collective bargaining reform has withstood venomous union protests at the state capitol, fleeing state legislators, and sparked a…
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GMO Row Comes to Kansas Congressional Race
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New Study Estimates around $70 billion in Financial Regulatory Costs
Complying with regulations is part of the cost of doing business. For bigger businesses that can absorb those costs (or rather, pass them on to…
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Federal Official Says Campus Speech Should Be Restricted to Protect Young People’s Brains
U.S. Civil Rights Commission member Michael Yaki says that speech on college campuses should be restricted to protect young people’s developing brains. This is yet…
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Federal Official Says Campus Speech Should Be Restricted to Protect Young People’s Brains
U.S. Civil Rights Commission member Michael Yaki says that speech on college campuses should be restricted to protect young people’s developing brains. This is yet…
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The Case for Repealing the Davis-Bacon Act
Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) is making the case for repealing the Depression-era Davis-Bacon Act. The law, passed in 1931, bars contractors and subcontractors from paying…
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Study Proves Economic Harm of Collective Bargaining
A new CEI study by economist Lowell Galloway and public policy expert Jonathan Robe demonstrates the harmful economic effects of unionization on a state-by-state basis. Among the…
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House Brings Transparency to Endangered Species Act, Still Needs to Protect Property Rights
Today the House passed H.R. 4315, the 21st Century Endangered Species Transparency Act. Unfortunately, it likely has no chance of passing in the Senate and word is…
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New Report Highlights Driverless Car Urban Impact; Takes Techno-Dystopian Stance
Earlier this month, Professor David Begg of Transport Times published a new report on automated transport technology focusing on the potential impacts on London. This is one of…
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Red Tapeworm 2014: Here Are the Federal Agencies that Issue the Most Regulations
This is Part 20 of a series taking a walk through some sections of Ten Thousand Commandments: An Annual Snapshot of the Federal Regulatory State (2014…
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Bitcoin’s Undiscovered Potential
A recent piece in American Banker magazine explores how Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies can help the underprivileged, particularly the millions of unbanked people who…
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Obama Claim Spurious; Labor Unions Furious; New Ranking Curious
Coauthored with Alex Bolt. President Barack Obama spuriously claimed, "These so-called right-to-work [RTW] laws, they don't have anything to do with economics," when he futilely…
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Kentucky Teachers Union Demands Pay Raise to Perform Union Business
Contract negotiations between Jefferson County Public Schools and its teachers union have hit an impasse. Union officials want more than the state-mandated 1-percent raise, which…
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
Seventy-four new regulations, from spearmint oil to insurance exchanges.
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Subprime Auto Concerns Caused by Government Intervention
Should we worry about a crisis in subprime auto loans? That question has been asked in the financial media lately. My answer is yes, with…
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House Hearing Highlights Problems in the Fair Labor Standards Act
The Subcommittee on Workforce Protections of the House Education and the Workforce Committee held a hearing yesterday that focused on the troubled regulatory structure of…
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Obamacare Architect Admitted in 2012 States without Exchanges Lose Subsidies
This week, an unprecedented circuit split emerged in Halbig v. Burwell and King v. Burwell over whether health insurance premium assistance is available in states…
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Allen v. Dairy Farmers of America
What happens when class counsel wants to settle and the class representatives do not? Rule 23(a)(4) and the Constitution require adequate class representation before individual…
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CEI Podcast for July 24, 2014: Victory in Halbig v. Burwell
General Counsel Sam Kazman talks about what the Halbig decision means for the Affordable Care Act, as well as broader principles such as taxation…
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Fraud Rampant and Unpoliced on Obamacare Health Insurance Exchanges
Almost anyone can fraudulently obtain taxpayer subsidies to cover most of the cost of their health insurance on the Obamacare health insurance exchanges. That’s the…
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Uber, Regulation, and Free Markets
Libertarians are justifiably excited about the prospects of ridesharing companies such as Uber and equally justified in their disgust of regulators intent on preventing the…
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America’s Energy Advantage Dodges the Question
America’s Energy Advantage has responded to my July 1 post criticizing its stance on the Domestic Prosperity and Global Freedom Act. That bill would liberalize…
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Risky Public Pension Plans Unsafe for Taxpayers, Bad for Business Growth
In new analysis published by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, economist Robert Sarvis ranks states based on the severity of their unfunded pension liabilities, and explains…
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Happy There’s-No-Such-Thing-as-Junk-Food Day!
Whomever it is that decides the dates for the ever multiplying obscure holidays apparently designated today, July 21, as “Junk Food Day.” While the origin and…
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Red Tapeworm 2014: Federal Regulatory Agenda Consistently Tops 3,000 Rules
This is Part 19 of a series taking a walk through some sections of Ten Thousand Commandments: An Annual Snapshot of the Federal…
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Did Former Labor Secretary Hilda Solis Violate the Hatch Act?
Sadly, but unsurprisingly, it appears that former Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis may have violated the Hatch Act—which prohibits federal employees from engaging in political…
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
In addition to 100 final regulations, 62 proposed regulations made their way to the Federal Register last week.
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The Future of the Internet in America
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Labor and Employment Scorecard: Pension Smoothing as a “Pay-For” in Highway and Transportation Funding Act
On July 15, 2014, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) scored U.S. House of Representatives Roll Call Vote #414 on final passage of the Highway and…
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Red Tapeworm 2014: Federal Regulatory Disclosure Becomes More Confused
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Labor and Employment Scorecard: Pension Smoothing as a “Pay-For” in Highway and Transportation Funding Act
On July 15, 2014, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) scored U.S. House of Representatives Roll Call Vote #414 on final passage of the Highway and…
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Your Tax Dollars at Work: Justice Department Investigates Anti-Obama Parade Float
The Justice Department has responded to an anti-Obama float in a parade by treating it as a “discrimination dispute” necessitating federal intervention. One more…
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Ten Reasons to Abolish the Export-Import Bank
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CEI Podcast for July 15, 2014: Time to Close the Export-Import Bank
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Red Tapeworm 2014: When Regulations Get Delayed
I tend to think bureaucratic regulation often creates tremendous harm, so it’s interesting when those who disagree decide to hold off on regulation when it…
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FDA’s Trans Fat “Ban” a First Foray into Controlling Americans’ Diets
Last November, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced its plan to revoke the “Generally Recognized As Safe” designation for partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs),…
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
63 new regulations, from poultry plans to headaches. …
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