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Federal Government Granted $157 Million Subsidy to Government Unions in FY 2012
When someone is paid to perform services, it should not be considered volunteer work.
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Must Every Product in the World Be Safe Enough for Children?
The New York Times reported Friday on the David-and-Goliath battle of businessman Shihan Qu, the last of the rare earth magnet renegades. Mr. Qu’s…
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
The Federal Register topped the 60,000-page mark on Friday, and is on pace for the 6th-highest page count in its 79-year history. Along the way,…
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Journalists Called Out for Bad Reporting on Consumption Data
Being a journalist is not an easy job; it demands fast paced and high volume production. For those “wonk” journalists tasked with analyzing data-heavy reports…
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Opening Brief in Gascho v. Global Fitness Holdings
Candy corn, pumpkin pie, egg nog . . . no wonder that three months from now we’ll all be joining gyms. So let’s inaugurate the…
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Is Driving to Work in Decline?
Over at The Washington Post's Wonkblog, urban affairs reporter Emily Badger has a post up on the recently released U.S. Census Bureau American Community…
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Moody’s $2 Trillion Public Pension Shortfall Estimate Highlights Need for Better Pension Accounting Practices
In a new report, Moody’s estimates the nation’s largest pension funds face a $2 trillion taken together. That’s a lot of money. But as significant…
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Cyanide, Tylenol and How Free Markets Make You Safer
Today is the anniversary of one of the most significant food and drug related events in recent memory. Often discussed in college business classes these…
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
A busy week ended with a flourish, with Friday’s Federal Register alone containing 28 final regulations and 542 pages.
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Study on Artificial Sweeteners Interesting But Flawed
A new study out of Israel on the possible effects of artificial sweeteners is making a lot of headlines this week. Unfortunately (and as usual)…
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Are Consumers Smart Enough to Understand Airline Ancillary Fees?
In May, I criticized the Department of Transportation’s opening of a rulemaking on airline ancillary fees (baggage, seat assignments, etc.), noting that the primary…
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The NLRB Forces CNN to Rehire Workers Terminated Over a Decade Ago
CNN is appealing a recent ruling from the National Labor Relations Board which forces CNN to hire back workers from a temp agency known as…
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CalPERS Abandons “Hail Mary” Investment Strategy – About Time
CalPERS knows when to fold ‘em. The California Public Employee Retirement System, the nation’s largest public pension fund (and one of the world’s largest), announced…
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For Fannie and Freddie Reform, Transparency Is a Must
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
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Victory! Redman v. Radioshack
CCAF won a tremendous victory for class members in Redman v. Radioshack, just eleven days after oral argument! Judge Richard Posner, a legal authority renowned…
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Billionaire Diversity: Foreign vs. Domestic
Brookings Institution scholar Darrell West, whose new book Billionaires: Reflections on the Upper Crust is being released later this week, has another intriguing graphic…
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Lesson from Ex-Im Fight: More Agencies Should Have Sunsets
Congress hasn’t voted just yet on the Continuing Resolution that includes the Export-Import Bank’s reauthorization. But we already know that it will pass this week,…
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STB Reauthorization Bill Threatens Rail Investment
The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation has scheduled a markup for tomorrow afternoon of the Surface Transportation Board (STB) Reauthorization Act (S.2777). If…
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In Memoriam: Elizabeth Whelan
I was very sad to hear last week that Elizabeth Whelan, founder and president of the American Council on Science and Health, had passed…
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Regulator: True Ridesharing Illegal in California
In the past, I’ve noted that carve-outs for ridesharing providers leaves more innovative and disruptive business models—particularly future automated services—illegal. While self-driving on-demand transportation…
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Will the NLRB’s McDonald’s Decision Destroy Franchise System or Make Companies More Accountable?
That was the question at the center of a September 9 House Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee hearing, which was held in response to…
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New Mexico Workers and Industry Would Benefit from Right to Work
Albuquerque Business First reports that New Mexico could become one of the next right-to-work (RTW) battlegrounds depending on upcoming election results, where Republicans could reclaim…
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
The number of new regulations topped 2,500 on the year, while the Federal Register added 1,853 pages to end the week just shy of the…
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Celebrate Billionaire Diversity
Darrell West, a Vice President at the Brookings Institution, has a new book coming out next week on the political influence of the very wealthy,…
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CDC Study: Kids Eat Same Amount of Sodium as Worldwide Average
It’s not exactly a blood-pressure raising headline, which is probably why the new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is actually…
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CEI Awards Pro-Worker Legislators
As we did last Congress, the Competitive Enterprise Institute has produced our Labor and Employment Policy Scorecard for this 113th Congress on our labor website,…
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Dueling Ex-Im Commentary
A vote on the Continuing Resolution, which includes the controversial Export-Import Bank reauthorization was originally scheduled for today, but has been pushed back to next…
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Federal Obamacare Officials Once Recognized the Falsity of Their Current Argument about Tax Credits
The Obama administration has claimed that despite recurring language in the Obamacare law limiting tax credits to people who buy insurance on an “exchange established…
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User Fees Are Not Taxes: The Case for PFCs
I've noted in the past the natural appeal passenger facility charges (PFCs) should have with fiscal conservatives. These are the user fees airports…
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Don’t Tie Ex-Im Renewal to Government Shutdown
It appears Congress will decide the Export-Import Bank’s short-term fate this week. There are several bills with different reauthorization terms, and Rep. Justin Amash and…
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Nationalizing Bitcoin?
The phrase “if you can’t beat them, join them” seems so applicable in light of the Commonwealth of Dominica announcing plans…
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Western Water and California Drought, Part 2: No Need for Malthusian Despair
Well, some good news—it’s raining in Los Angeles. Western droughts combined with questionable water access policies spawn water crises that unfortunately are not unique…
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Redman v. RadioShack, Inc. / oral argument today
As we discussed earlier, class counsel agreed to a settlement over RadioShack credit-card receipt legality that would have paid themselves $1 million, but the…
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
It was a short week due to the Labor Day holiday, but agencies still managed to issue more than 60 new regulations and push the…
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IRS Plays Favorites
The Daily Caller News Foundation has found an email from Lois Lerner which contrasts her apathy towards misreported political spending by labor unions with her…
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Ted Frank speaking in Trenton September 16
The New Jersey Civil Justice Institute is saying really nice things about my scheduled luncheon talk September 16 in Trenton. Come say hi if…
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You’re a SIFI, Charlie Brown
“Good grief!” That’s what the Charlie Brown, star of comic strip Peanuts and cartoon spokesman for the MetLife insurance firm, might say about the government’s…
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Feds Apply Double Standards against Private Employers
Government contractors could face a financial death sentence over labor law, civil-rights law, or wage-and-hour law violations under a recent Obama executive order I discussed…
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Ex-Im Update
Congress comes back from its annual August recess next week. One of the top items on its agenda is deciding the Export-Import Bank’s fate. Ex-Im…
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Oetting v. Green Jacobson / Oral argument September 10 in 8th Circuit on cy pres
Bank of America settled a nationwide securities class action in the E.D. Mo. for hundreds of millions of dollars. For some reason, the district court…
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Strengthening Executive Branch Review of Federal Regulations
This week marks the due date of public comments on the 2014 edition of the Draft Report to Congress on the Benefits and Costs of…
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
In a week like any other, federal agencies issued regulations for everything from dairy farmers’ profit margins to Canadian apple exports.
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Laguna v. Coverall N.A.
Coverall N.A. settled a class action over janitorial franchises by paying a $1M attorney fee and setting up…
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Professional Associations Raise Workers’ Wages More than Unions
Almost every American knows the feelings of excitement and relief that come from getting that brand new job.
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How to Raise All Worker Wages
With Labor Day approaching, it is a suitable time to examine which public policies promote economic growth that leads to job creation and wage increases.
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Judge: NLRB Acting as “Litigation Arm” of SEIU
A federal judge in Pittsburgh has reprimanded the National Labor Relations Board for its heavy-handed and questionable treatment of University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) in…
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Taxpayers to Subsidize “Ministry of Truthiness”
The Washington Free Beacon reports: The federal government is spending nearly $1 million to create an online database that will track “misinformation” and…
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Obama “Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces” Executive Order Will Punish Firms in Pro-Worker States
Earlier, we discussed President Obama’s recent Executive Order 13,673, which “will allow trial lawyers to extort larger settlements from companies, and enable bureaucratic agencies to extract …
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
The Federal Register burst past the 50,000-page mark with Friday’s 878-page effort, which also contained 21 final regulations and four “significant” documents.