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SOTU Watch: New Labor Secretary
The Senate confirmed Rep. Hilda Solis (D-Calif.) as Secretary of Labor this afternoon. It will be worth watching whether President Obama acknowledges her confirmation…
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SOTU Watch: Energy Prices & Hidden Taxes
While President Obama focuses on short-term economic recovery, he proposes long-term energy and global warming policies that will lead to economic decline. Federal subsidies for…
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When it Comes to Climate Change, Errors Abound
“A Matter of Fact,” a new report from the Center for American Progress Action Fund, challenges the Washington Post to correct George F.
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SOTU Watch: Energy Claims
The President might make various remarks relating to energy tonight. These are likely to center around grandiloquent claims as to the effectiveness of “green jobs”…
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SOTU Watch: Card Check
In President Obama’s State of the Union speech tonight, one thing to watch for is mention of the so-called Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) —…
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Despite lack of warming, alarmists predictably predict warming worse than predicted
As you may have heard, there has been no net warming of the planet since 2001, and no subsequent year was a warm as 1998…
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More Behavorial Advertising Adventures
Back in January I wrote about several advertising industry trade associations coming together to impose self-regulation in an attempt to deter…
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Coming Soon: A Predatory, Anti-Business Federal Trade Commission?
Even an economy in shambles shall not sway the elevation to Federal Trade Commission chairmanship of Jon Leibowitz, an interventionist-minded commissioner who, like all…
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More on Environmental Policies and Protectionism
Marlo made three interesting arguments yesterday contending that cap-and-trade would generate protectionist outcomes. I want to add another, pervasive, yet oft-neglected reason.
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Carney Takes on Stimulus on Liddy, Osorio Takes on Card Check
Today, I was on the G. Gordon Liddy Show, to discuss the current prospects of the misleadingly named Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), which, as…
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Next Internet Phenomena=lolprez
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Is cap-and-trade inherently protectionist?
Yes, for three reasons. (1) Companies in carbon-constrained countries will demand carbon tariffs to “level the playing field” vis-a-vis firms in non-carbon constrained countries. (2)…
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Will carbon market woes tilt U.S. pols towards carbon taxes, CAA regulation?
In today's Guardian, Juliana Glover reports that carbon permit prices in Europe's Emission Trading System (ETS) have crashed from €31 last summer to €8…
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LibertyWeek 31: What in Dodd’s Name?
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A Gamer Win For Parenting
If you’ve followed my posts here at OpenMarket.org or at my personal site, you’re well aware of the fact that I…
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End Run to a Regulatory Morass
In today's DC Examiner, former CEI Warren Brooks Fellow Jeremy Lott and Energy Policy Analyst William Yeatman explain a round-about route to a regulatory nightmare—the…
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Top Ten Federal Rules to Jettison — According to Small Businesses
The Small Business Administration’s Regulatory Review and Reform initiative (r3) has a new compilation of rules that need reform, according to small businesses across…
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Nationalizing the cars and bikes of rock collectors — Pending Omnibus land bill’s forfeiture provision has broad reach
At the same time there has been so much talk of government nationalization of troubled big banks, a bill quickly snaking through Congress would allow…
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Gold is King Among Investors
Gold prices are skyrocketing—recently closing at over $1,000 an ounce, the highest in almost a year—while inflation fears continue rising and the dollar weakens. This…
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TARP in Pictures
We've talked a lot about the TARP or Troubled Assets Relief Program over the past several months here on OpenMarket.org. But perhaps the entire…
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More Grand Theft Common Sense
I used to think that the groups and individuals that sat around eagerly anticipating the launch of a new Grand Theft Auto (GTA) game were…
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John Berlau on Obama’s Mortgage Rescue Plan
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So What Does He Think of Cap & Trade?
Good news and bad news for drivers from federal Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. The good news is: LaHood said he firmly opposes raising the…
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Some Interests Are More Special Than Others
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More protectionism on the horizon?
Good article today by Bloomberg columnist Michael Sesit, who lays out the protectionist actions many countries are taking in the midst of…
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The Auto Bailout We Need
The automakers have come back for more taxpayer money, which is exactly what we warned would happen when the first bailout was granted…
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UBS agrees to deal with the devil
I revoke my previous apology to the Swiss, and reiterate my previous disapproval. As evidenced by the…
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CNBC’s Rick Santelli on Obama’s Mortgage Plan
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To Know Card Check is to Hate it
A recent survey of 1,000 likely voters, conducted in January by the consultancy McLaughlin & Associates, finds an overwhelling majority opposed to the so-called…
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Obama in Canada — where U.S. protectionism is an issue
President Obama is in Canada today to meet with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper on a range of issues – chief among…
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Fraud in More Ways Than One
The news of the federal fraud charges against billionaire Texan financier Sir Allen Stanford (he got the knighthood from his dual citizenship from Antigua)…
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Will Lisa Jackson turn the Clean Air Act into a gigantic de-stimulus package?
Earlier this week, in a letter to Sierra Club climate council David Bookbinder, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said the Agency would reconsider, via…
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The Greens Can Take Away My Steak the Moment They Pry It from My Cold, Dead Hands
I have been a steak snob ever since I apprenticed under a master butcher in Ojai Valley, California a few years back. Indeed, I'm the…
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Michigan Steps Aside for Stimulus
Oregonian brewers looking for a new home may want to consider moving to Michigan where a state authority may just understand the principle…
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Inflation Fears Propel Gold Prices
As the Dow Jones Industrial Average approached record lows, gold prices shined on a seven-month peak, on Tuesday. Details of President Obama’s new stimulus package…
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Chapter 13 could be your lucky number
Today President Obama announced his homeowner bailout plan. While that plan will spend huge sums of money helping “renters” stay in homes…
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Obama, Waxman to Square Off on Free Speech
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Why Is HuffPo Pimping Ethanol?
Yesterday's edition of the internet news juggernaut ran an ethanol love song written by Bob Dinneen, who is identified in his Huff Po biography as…
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Obama’s Futile Attempts at Foreclosure Avoidance
If the government wants to spend $75 billion to help troubled homeowners, it would be better off giving a tax holiday to families subject to…
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Can prediction markets help value toxic assets?
Can prediction markets – virtual markets – play a role in valuing toxic assets? A critical obstacle in evaluating the health of financial institutions…
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Marlo Lewis on the Costs of Ethanol
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Flawed Plan Relies on Consumer Spending
After President Obama signs the controversial stimulus plan, which will add on average $8 per week to most paychecks, his administration will have to cross…
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Bad McCarty! Bad!
Will regulators never learn? You can’t force businesses to actively pursue a business model that is unprofitable. Florida’s Governor Charlie Crist and Insurance regulator Kevin…
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Craft Brewers leeched by Oregon Regulators
Why legislators think it is a good idea to put their heels on the neck of the most productive industries is beyond me. Perhaps following…
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Null Government
Well, the Spendulus/Stimulus will be signed into law within minutes. We’ll soon learn that even this Leviathan-In-A-Box is only the beginning of the Age…
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Drill, Baby, Drill! (To Save the Environment)
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LibertyWeek 30: Whole Lott-a Love
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What would it mean to have no “environmental footprint”?
Maybe to have no life. As this article over at the Ayn Rand Institute points out, the more “eco-friendly” you try to live, the…
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More Libertarian Lolcats!
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NADA report proves California waiver would create regulatory patchwork
A front-burner issue facing Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson is whether to grant a waiver under the Clean Air Act allowing the California…
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Chairman Tom Price with 1,073-page Non-Stimulus Text
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“Spendulus” conference report has passed the House
But thought you might be interested in one congressman’s last-minute appeal to sanity. You, dear reader, are a person things are done to.
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The Juche Weather Idea
North Korea’s official propaganda organ, the Korea Central News Agency, reveals the real cause of global warming: The snow in the area of Jong…
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Who Cares About the Consumer?
Electricity consumers beware! The so-called-stimulus bill includes provision for something called “decoupling.” E&E Daily reports: Also included in the final version is a requirement that…
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Wyeth v. Levine: Policy Arguments Regarding Preemption
The Wyeth v. Levine case presents a narrow set of facts in which the Food and Drug Administration had, for many years, known about the…
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Has anybody read the text?
There ain’t no way any of the lawmakers voting for the $790 billion stimulus package today could have read, comprehended, and analyzed the…
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Preemption in Wyeth v. Levine: Broader Implications
The legal arguments of the parties, and the incremental approach typical of the Supreme Court, strongly suggest that the Court will issue a narrow legal…
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Uber-Attorney Bert Rein to Guest Blog on Federal Preemption Case
Back in November, I wrote about the pending Supreme Court case Wyeth v. Levine, the decision in which will have a huge impact on the…
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The Birthday of an Entrepreneur
February is an important month in the history of American commerce. In a few days will be the birthday of one of the country’s earliest…
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What unlimited government means to you.
Ran across this excerpt from a Wall Street Journal piece that I thought I’d pass along. And this was before the Anti-Stimulus added…
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The “Stimulus” and the Broken Window Fallacy
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Just How Much is $13 Trillion?
The magnitude of the growing stimulus package and continuing bank bailouts is truly amazing. Add those amounts to the already huge national debt and you…
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CEI Commends Sen. Judd Gregg
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Bottled Water “Myth Buster” Ill Informed
A piece in the LA Examiner online shows how incredibly misinformed the bottled water debate has become. The report is called “A Few Facts…
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A matter of principle — Commerce nominee steps down
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Cheers to the B.E.E.R. Act
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Travesty–Rep. Inslee’s behavior at Energy & Commerce hearing
I just watched the Energy & Commerce Subcommittee hearing on “The Climate Crisis: National Security, Public Health, and Economic Threats.” Committee rules allow the…
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Stimulus Guts Welfare Reform, Is Deceptive
The stimulus package will gut welfare reform even more than previously feared. That’s the conclusion of Mickey Kaus, a moderate Democrat who now…
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Coming to a Pharmacy Near You: One Size Fits All
Tucked away in the stimulus bill is $1.1 billion to fund a new agency modeled after the UK’s NICE, which has repeatedly denied Brits access…
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“Porkulus” has no relation to economic recovery; But other reforms do.
Today CEI and other free-enterprise analysts and advocates are making one last pitch to stop the anti-stimulus package that President Obama is likely to…
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Iain Murray on the Anti-Stimulus
On behalf of my distinguished colleague Iain Murray, who is busy speaking at a very important press conference this morning, let me present his…
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State AGs Give EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson (recycled) bum advice
In a letter dated 5 February 2009, 17 state attorneys general (AGs) plus three other non-federal officials urge EPA Administrator…
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OJ Bigger Villian than Fiji Water!
Environmentalist activists must certainly mean well. But, at times, some are so silly that all you can do is laugh. Consider a recent Tree…
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European Environment Agency–stuck in a mental rut
In a report titled “Beyond Transport Policy,” the European Environment Agency (EEA) bemoans the fact that European transport sector CO2 emissions increased by 26% during…
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Bottled Water Helps Wildlife Too!
We know that bottled water is helpful to humans during a natural disaster, but did you know it’s an aid to wildlife? Today’s Washington Express…
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USDA Pushing EPA for More Ethanol in Gasoline
On Tuesday (Feb. 10), USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack urged EPA to increase the quantity of ethanol blended into gasoline from the current amount–10% ethanol per…
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“Regulatory forbearance” in today’s context
Harking back to the much-maligned concept of “regulatory forbearance” that was a hallmark of the S&L debacle, Holman W. Jenkins Jr writes in…
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Environmental Policies Kill – Again!
One of the main themes of my book, The Really Inconvenient Truths, is that misguided environmental policies often lead to humanitarian and environmental disaster.
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Sirius XM Bankruptcy: Thank Washington for the Delay
Sirius XM Satellite Radio—the company born from the merger of Sirius Satelllite Radio and XM Satellite Radio—has “been working with advisers to prepare for a…
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Stimulus Package Shrinks Economy, Expands Welfare Rolls
The Stimulus Package passed by the Senate will encourage people to stop working and go on welfare, undermining the 1996 welfare reform…
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Championing Economic Liberty in a Time of Crisis
From CEI’s Agenda for Congress: Fred Smith, President and Founder of CEI on the economic crisis, the threat of bad policies, and the real change…
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Geithner’s “bad bank” is a big bad idea: fix bad mark-to-market accounting instead
The Obama’s administration $1 trillion plus bank bailout plan — on top of the $800 billion stimulus that just passed the Senate — will explode…
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Everything I Know About Construction I Learned In Business School
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No Florida Insurance Bailout
It seems that the state of Florida has overpromised insurance coverage to its citizens in the case of a catastrophic storm, and now is…
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Book-Banning, 21st Century Style
Remember the fuss when it was revealed that Sarah Palin had enquired about removing books from her town library? It would have been so much…
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Tucker 1 Lovins 0
Those who have been following the “alternative energy” fantasists for a while will recognize the name of Amory Lovins, the so-called “sage” (yet another pseudo-religious…
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UNITE-HERE to Disunite?
UNITE-HERE, the 450,000-member textile and hospitality union, is embroiled in a “civil war,” according to its president, who is now openly considering breaking up the…
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Stanford Economist Blames Government for Crisis
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LibertyWeek 29: The Mother-in-Law of All Debts
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TARP Challenged in Federal Court
Three businesses and five individuals recently brought suit against the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) in the Eastern District of New York. The case,…
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The COPs are back
Today has seen much activity and media coverage of the TARP’s Congressional Oversight Panel. Today the Panel released a number of reports on their…
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Dickie Scruggs Back in Court
But, alas, not as a litigator – the role that made him rich and famous – but as a defendant. According to Legal Newsline,…
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Usage Caps and the DLC Model
I just read an intriguing post by Mike Masnick over at Techdirt. Masnick points out that ISPs keep changing the definition…
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More Economists Sign On to Cato’s Anti-Stimulus List
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Amid Recession, Congress Forces Thrift Stores to Close
According to statements from the National Association of Retail & Thrift Shops and the National Association of Manufacturers, a law designed to protect kids…
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Eileen Norcross on the Stimulus Bill
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The Prince and the Paupers
I still regard myself as a loyal subject of Her Britannic Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, but it’s hard not to come over all Cromwellian when…
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Stimulating Comment
Comment from a friend watching Obama’s Indiana town hall promoting the stimulus: “Some chump just told Obama to mail a check to the people who…
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Spending Money Isn’t Bold, New and Certainly Isn’t Change
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Tilting at Food Safety Windmills
Unfortunately, as long as the world's food production system continues to be highly decentralized and fragmented, there will continue to be foodborne illness outbreaks like…