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New Schumpeter Book
In the tradition of the Reader’s Digest condensation of F.A. Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom, Joseph Schumpeter’s Can Capitalism Survive? is coming out on September…
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Cash for Clunkers Sputters to an End
The Transportation Department announced today that it will wind down the Cash for Clunkers program, which the Obama administration promoted as a way to both…
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Policy Peril Segment 9: Big Business
Today’s excerpt from CEI’s film, Policy Peril: Why Global Warming Policies Are More Dangerous Than Global Warming Itself, rebuts the argument that regulatory climate policies can’t…
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Land Grabbers Attack Free Speech
In this morning’s Washington Post, columnist George Will brings to light a particularly egregious example of politically-connected developers abusing the legal system to silence…
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FDA Regulation of Internet Drug Advertising
Today, CEI filed comments on a draft FDA guidance document advising prescription drug manufacturers on how to comply with regulations requiring the presentation of risk…
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Bank Robbers for Transparency!
The news that the Federal Government has forced UBS to give up the details of 4000 of its customers’ transactions has other financial institutions…
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Regulation of the Day 36: Buying American
The $787,000,000,000 stimulus contains a provision requiring the Department of Homeland Security to buy american textiles. Basically, that means TSA uniforms will go up in…
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“ObamaCare Is All About Rationing” and Tax Increases, Obama Adviser Says
“ObamaCare is all about rationing,” says one of Obama’s own advisers, Martin Feldstein. Feldstein earlier noted that Obama’s health-care plan would…
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Former ACORN Las Vegas Director to Testify against Organization
The former director of the Las Vegas chapter of the far-left advocacy group ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) has agreed to…
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UBS Deal Only a Partial Victory for the Feds
Today, after a long and protracted battle between the U.S. and Swiss government, Swiss bank UBS AG agreed to turn over the names of at…
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Milton and Rose Friedman, Partners in Liberty
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Regulation of the Day 35: Doctors with Borders
In 49 states, it is illegal to practice medicine outside of the state in which you are certified. Tennessee is the lone state with an…
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Policy Peril Segment 8: Coal (updated 08/26/2009)
Today’s excerpt from CEI’s film, Policy Peril: Why Global Warming Policies Are More Dangerous Than Global Warming Itself, is on the global warming movement’s anti-coal…
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A Not-So-Surprising “Clunklusion”
CEI Editorial Director Ivan Osorio discussed the true economic costs of the Obama administration’s “Cash for Clunkers” program, calling it “a costly boondoggle that…
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Rose Friedman, 1910-2009
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Robert Novak (1931-2009)
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Legal Experts and Civil Rights Commission Attack Obama Health-Care Plan As Unconstitutional
Constitutional law professor Rob Natelson argues that Obama’s health-care plan is unconstitutional in four different ways. The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights…
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Robert Novak, RIP
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R.I.P. Bob Novak: 1931-2009
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Regulation of the Day 34: Diabetic Truckers
It is a violation of federal regulations to “operate a commercial vehicle in interstate commerce” if you have insulin-treated diabetes.
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CEI Weekly: Berlau on “Government Motors”
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LibertyWeek 56: On the Waterfront
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Freegom Isn’t Free
Waste: Uncovering the Global Food Scandal, a new book by British author Tristram Stuart, will soon be hitting shelves in the UK and…
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OSHA Nominee Is Anti-Gun Ideologue and Junk Science Peddler
Obama has nominated David Michaels, an anti-gun activist, to head the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), a powerful agency that regulates real…
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Hurricane Activity Increase Due to Better Monitoring
The potential threat from more frequent and stronger hurricanes is a favorite scare scenario of climate alarmists. They point to disasters like Hurricane Katrina as…
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The Long Odds of Voting
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Regulation of the Day 33: Pressure-Sensitive Plastic Tape
Ending the levy would “likely to lead to continuation or recurrence of dumping,” so it’s here to stay. Domestic tape producers must be pleased. Consumers,…
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Obama Backs Costly Health-Care Status Quo, and Limits on Choice and Competition
Germany is a lot smaller than the U.S., but it has a lot more health insurers to choose from, and cheaper health-care costs. One reason…
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Now might just be the best time to shop at Whole Foods
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Tim Carney on State-Level Insurance Protectionism
In one regulated area of the economy after another, it’s exasperating to hear journalists and pundits claim that, “The market has failed,” when in fact…
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Federal Budget Deficit Hits $1,270,000,000,000
Federal spending is going up. Tax receipts are going down. 2009's federal budget deficit is now up to $1.27 trillion as a result. That's about…
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Tech Liberation Front Celebrates 5 Years Today
The Technology Liberation Front group blog started five years ago today, offering free minds, free markets, free speech perspectives from technology policy…
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Don’t Forget Cap and Trade!
Even though 4 Democratic Senators are so nervous about the electricity tax called cap-and-trade they are urging their leadership to drop it from the…
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Regulation of the Day 32: Migratory Birds
If you’re planning on hunting migratory birds this year, be sure to read all 14 subparts and 61 sections in Title 50 of the Code…
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TARP Transparency: A Good Start, but Not Enough
More transparency would alleviate some of TARP’s symptoms. But TARP itself is a disease. The sooner Congress gains the political will to recover from its…
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Money Is Not Wealth
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RIP Les Paul, Legendary Guitarist & Inventor
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Recession Ends in France, Without Massive and Costly U.S.-Style Stimulus Package
The recession has ended in France, which avoided adopting a massive stimulus package like Obama's $800 billion stimulus package.
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Sugar on the table again
Sugar got front-page notice from the Wall Street Journal today. The article focused on a letter sent to the Secretary of Agriculture to increase the…
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Democratic Senator Blasts Union Boss
It’s not every day that a Democratic Senator blasts a labor union, which is why the recent mini-controversy surrounding the nomination of United Transportation Union…
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UBS and IRS reach an “agreement”
Yesterday my colleague at CEI, John Berlau, released a statement about the recently announced deal between Swiss bank UBS and the…
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Regulation of the Day 31: Fraud in Wholesale Oil Markets
If you’re a wholesaler of crude oil or gasoline, a new FTC rule makes it illegal to engage in any business practice that“operates or would…
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Media Bias: The More, the Better
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Fact Checkers: Obama Is Lying About Health Care
USA Today caught Obama telling three fibs about health care, such as falsely claiming that “under the reform we’re proposing, if you like your…
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Civil Rights Commission Criticizes Obama Health-Care Plan’s Racially-Discriminatory Affirmative Action
The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights says Obama’s health-care plan is racially discriminatory. The House health-care bill backed by Obama is filled with “sections…
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More alternatives to Obamacare
Lots of commonsense suggestions to rein in health care costs that won’t bankrupt the country in John Mackey’s op-ed in the Wall…
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Neutering the Net
The Washington Examiner has published my op-ed on net neutrality: A war is waging over the future of the Internet. On one…
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UBS-IRS deal — U.S. Constitutional liberties, privacy rights at risk after Obama bullies the Swiss
Lawyers for the U.S. government and the Swiss bank UBS AG have announced that they have reached a deal…
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Smart Is As Smart Does
This picture accompanying this post is doing the rounds on the internet. The commentary normally reads: Below is a…
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As Long As It’s Free
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Regulation of the Day 30: Labeling Mustard
If your company makes mustard bottles that are reusable as beer mugs, you are specifically required to put a country-of-origin label on your product.
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John Berlau on the future of GM
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Policy Peril Segment 7: Fuel economy standards
Today’s excerpt from CEI’s film, Policy Peril: Why Global Warming Policies Are More Dangerous Than Global Warming Itself, is on two global warming policies Congress…
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NCAA V. Delaware Sports Gambling
Over the past few months the NCAA, along with the four major pro-sports leagues, has been a vocal opponent of Delaware’s attempts to legalize per-game…
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Trustbusters should call off fishing expedition in Microsoft-Yahoo deal
In today’s Seattle Times, CEI Information Policy Analyst Ryan Radia and CEI Policy Fellow Jonathan Hillel talk…
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The Truth About Town Hall Meetings
Yesterday, the Obama administration distanced itself from some of the more outrageous comments made by congressional Democrats, including one made by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi…
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“Join Your Fellow Pervs for Some Explicit, Twisted Fun” Courtesy of Obama’s Stimulus Package
“Join your fellow pervs for some explicit, twisted fun,” urged a recipient of more than $25,000 from Obama’s $800 billion stimulus package, which…
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LibertyWeek 55: The Health Care Mob Is Coming!
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Mr. President, Time to call out the National Guard!
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They Can’t Even Keep Drugs Out of Prison?
Armed guards. All the bad guys behind bars. Under constant supervision. And Mexico still can’t keep drugs and drug dealing out of its prisons.
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Child Killer Escapes Punishment: “Mom of starved Md. child to be released after plea”
A Baltimore mother who deliberately starved her one-year-old son to death will soon be released after pleading guilty, reports the Associated Press in the…
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All Community Organizing Is Astroturfing – And That’s Fine!
The fact that members of Congress extolling the president’s plan are attacking astroturfers while leaving their arguments alone says to me that the Congressmen believe…
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Why Intel’s Billion Dollar Fine Violates Human Rights Convention
Intel alleges that its due process rights were violated by a massive $1.45 billion fine recently imposed as a result of a one-sided antitrust investigation…
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Deceptive Obama Health-Care Plan Worsens the Status Quo, Explodes Costs, Say Washington Post Columnists
The Washington Post endorsed Obama — indeed, it hasn’t endorsed a Republican for president since 1952 — but a lot of Washington Post columnists are…
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“Millions of jobs are at stake on both sides of the border”
So says British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell. At a meeting of Canada’s provincial premiers held in Regina, Saskatchewan, last week, slapping retaliatory tariffs on…
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Regulation of the Day 29: Protecting Us from Cheap Foreign Goods
Sometimes (but not always), when a foreign producer sells goods to U.S. consumers cheaply, the U.S. government takes action to put a stop to it.
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Hate Crime in St. Louis? Obama Backers Beat Up Black Critic of Health-Care “Reform,” Use Racial Slurs
Kenneth Gladney, a black critic of Obama’s health-care plan, was beaten, kicked, and called racist names by members of the SEIU, a…
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Deficit Rises $880 Billion to Record $1.3 Trillion, Due to Massive, Unprecedented Government Spending
The federal budget deficit has already risen by $880 billion to an unprecedented $1.3 trillion. Most of the increase is attributable to recent…
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Inconvenient Evidence Suppressed in EU-Intel Antitrust Case
The EU’s top antitrust regulator intentionally suppressed “potentially exculpatory" evidence in its case against Intel. This is the rule of men, not law.
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Policy Translated: Health Care Reform
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Bvnay1DhYM 285 234]…
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We’re All Children Now
I propose the following rule: “Think of the children” rhetoric shall be reserved for those situations in which the author is not, in…
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Policy Peril Segment 6: Cap and Trade (Updated August 25, 2009)
Today’s excerpt from CEI’s film, Policy Peril: Why Global Warming Policies Are More Dangerous Than Global Warming Itself, is on cap-and-trade.  What is cap and trade? Cap-and-trade…
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Krugman: Town Hall mobsters are probably racists and “birthers”
“The Town Hall Mob.” That’s the title of Paul Krugman’s opinion piece in the New York Times today – and it’s a doozy. In…
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Back to Basics: the Future of Air Travel
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Regulation of the Day 28: Urine Trouble Now
Want to work for HHS? You’ll have to comply with approximately 32,463 words worth of regulations in the Mandatory Guidelines for Federal Workplace Drug Testing…
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APA: If You’re Not Green, See A Shrink
The American Psychological Association’s “Task Force on the Interface Between Psychology and Global Climate Change” published its report this week: Many people are taking…
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Reporting the Hidden Costs of Stimulus
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Dissent Is Still the Highest Form of Patriotism, Right?
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Liberal Congressional Leaders Buy Luxury Jets, Trash the Environment
Congress plans to spend $200 million on luxury jets for liberal House leaders, even though it earlier denounced the automakers for having corporate…
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“Markets fail. Use markets.”
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Microsoft, Yahoo, and Antitrust
If regulations are to be effective, they must be either clear or silent; antitrust statutes are neither. That alone is reason enough to urge trustbusters…
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Regulation of the Day 27: Beekeeping in South Dakota
Beekeeping in South Dakota is illegal without a license.
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Policy Peril Segment 5: Is the Science Debate “Over”? Updated 08/17/09
Today’s post in my series of commentaries on excerpts from CEI’s film, Policy Peril: Why Global Warming Policies Are More Dangerous Than Global Warming Itself,…
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A Poster too Important to Leave to the Market
The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is giving away copies of a poster (pictured right) of Barack Obama, which it describes as “an original…
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DE on Defense against Sports Leagues
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Policy Translated: Corporate Social Responsibility
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The Truth About Global Warming: Feedbacks
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dZtbz2U9-c 285 234]…
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Brooklyn Land Grab Opponents Allege Government Corruption
Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn (DDDB), a group opposed to the taxpayer-financed development project Atlantic Yards, filed a motion with the New York Court of…
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Obama Health-Care Plan Contains Affirmative-Action and Subsidies for Left-Wing Community Organizers Like ACORN
The massively-costly health-care reform bills backed by Obama are riddled with provisions mandating “preference” for organizations that exhibit “cultural competency,” a politically-correct…
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Carney on Cash for Clunkers
Former CEI Warren Brookes Fellow Tim Carney, highlights the high cost of the Cash for Clunkers program, which I wrote about here…
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Today’s Unintentionally Funny Headline
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The return of Grand Theft Auto: Class Action
With a million dollars of attorneys’ fees at stake, the trial lawyers in the infamous Grand Theft Auto case appealed the lower…
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Regulation of the Day 26: Fortune Telling in Maryland
You need a license to tell fortunes in Annapolis, Maryland.
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Health-Care “Reform” Always Costs More Than Promised
The depressing truth, as told by former Congressman Tim Penny (D-MN) and former Senator Rudy Boschwitz (R-MN).
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Union Bosses Say the Darndest Things
As described in an OpenMarket post by CEI’s Ivan Osorio a couple weeks ago, the Teamsters union and UPS are currently lobbying Congress to…
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Cash for Clunkers’ Real Cost
As Frederic Bastiat succinctly noted long ago, when determining the effects of a specific action, it is necessary to consider not only “what is…
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Chuck Schumer: “We’ve Got to Stand Still”
High-frequency stock trading — the markets where sophisticated algorithms running on bleeding edge hardware trade assets using information only fractions of a second old —…
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Freedom Anniversary: The Acquittal of John Peter Zenger
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Regulation of the Day 25: Cattle with Scabies
If you own cattle and they are at risk of catching scabies, you may want to read up on the pertinent federal regulations. There are…
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The Environment’s “Odd Couple”: Sustainable Use and Private Management
Chaffee County, Colorado currently has the opportunity to engage in an advantageous business partnership, but environmental groups are attempting to derail this proposition that…