The Open Market Blog

• By: Hans Bader
• 06/19/2008

A Richmond businessman lost 86 pounds eating only at McDonald’s.  Former CEI adjunct scholar Soso Whaley lost 18 pounds over the course of 60 days…

• By: Hans Bader
• 06/19/2008

The Supreme Court ruled today that federal labor law bars a state from curbing the rights of employers to speak out about union organizing by…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/19/2008

Today, Ars takes a look at the recent political battle over “white spaces” – those gaps in the electromagnetic spectrum between television channels. Drew…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/18/2008

Ars reports that Sweden just passed a bill that will allow “Sweden’s National Defense Radio Establishment to monitor citizens’ phone calls, text messages, e-mails,…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/18/2008

CNET News reports that AT&T and Verizon are – shockingly – calling for the FCC to fine Comcast for its alleged violations of net…

• By: Ryan Young
• 06/18/2008

Now that the primaries are over, Sen. Barack Obama has come out in favor of NAFTA.  He told Fortune in an interview that “Sometimes…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/18/2008

California has sent cease-and-desist letters to companies that provide direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic testing. California is worried that the results of the test aren’t very…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/18/2008

An upstart WiMax company, Worldmax, is threatening to displace established telelcom companies by building Europe’s first mobile WiMax network. With impressive speeds and incredible…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/18/2008

A group of locals, imbued with civil pride, have agreed to take over Philadelphia’s failing municipal wireless internet access. Earthlink was initially going…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/18/2008

Back in 2005, the FCC gave providers of voice-over-internet service a mandate to, within a very short time frame, link all of their customers…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/18/2008

Ars has a good piece today on the FCC’s lack of clarity about its own minority broadcasting rules. Apparently, to avoid mandating discrimination based…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/18/2008

If you haven’t yet heard of Zipcar, you soon will. Zipcar is a revolutionary service billed as “car-sharing,” but perhaps better described as…

• By: John Berlau
• 06/18/2008

In the past few days, the subprime mess has morphed into a Congressional ethics scandal. Portfolio magazine has revealed that Senate Banking Comittee Chairman…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 06/18/2008

Who would have imagined it?  Shrink government, and you get faster economic growth.  Amazing! Reports Keith Marsden in the Wall Street Journal:…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 06/18/2008

Now what will the environmentlists do?  China’s lead in CO2 emissions keeps growing.  Reports the New York Times: China has clearly overtaken the United…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/17/2008

Crave is reporting that Delta and Continental are testing programs that allow passengers to check in using their mobile web devices, then display those…

• By: William Yeatman
• 06/17/2008

Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) today announced that he wants to end the federal…

• By: Ryan Young
• 06/17/2008

Harvard economist Larry Summers has some ideas for a new regulatory order in the Financial Times. In typical Summers fashion, his…

• By: Fran Smith
• 06/17/2008

In today’s New York Times, John Tierney has a wonderful spoof of the world-famous opera house, La Scala, commissioning a new opera based…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/17/2008

Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly today ruled that the White House’s Office of Administration does not have to comply with Freedom of Information Act requests for…

• By: Marlo Lewis, Jr.
• 06/17/2008

With oil topping $135 a barrel, ethanol must be cheaper than gasoline, right? Not if you adjust for the fact that ethanol has about 30%…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/17/2008

Sonia Arrison has an article at TechNewsWorld on the recent FTC investigation and New York state prosecution of Intel for supposed antitrust violations. In…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/17/2008

Disclaimer: I come from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Part of growing up in Albuquerque is developing a grudge against our small, inauthentic, touristy, hippie art collector-filled…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/16/2008

Louisiana is close to approving a bill that would allow for statewide video franchising, but the bill would not affect some important localities, because…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/16/2008

Back in March, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a case challenging the FCC’s policy of punishing television broadcasters for fleeting expletives. Reason offers…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/16/2008

According to CNET, Google is creating tools to allow internet users to monitor their ISPs’ network management techniques. Though Google hopes their tools will…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/16/2008

According to ArsTechnica, “students in Australia may soon be forced to have their photos, interests, and aspirations profiled in a massive database meant to…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/16/2008

ArsTechnica reports that “last year saw a tripling in the number of bloggers arrested around the world compared to 2006, according to…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/16/2008

On Friday, I said that the XM-Sirius merger deal had “no end in sight.” But now, the Wall Street Journal reports, The staff…

• By: John Berlau
• 06/16/2008

It's almost a Washington truism that anytime Congress creates a "trust fund" for a certain policy issue, the money flowing into this "trust fund" will…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 06/13/2008

Euroskeptics have long complained about the European Union’s “bureaucratic deficit,” EU institutions’ insularity from voters in the member states. It’s bad enough that there…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 06/13/2008

Among television political interviewers, Tim Russert was the best, so much so that there is little I can add to the tributes to his life…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/13/2008

Ars reports that video game sales are way up – and that GTA IV took the top spot. Look for Jack Thompson…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/13/2008

The Wall Street Journal reports that after the breakdown of Microsoft’s attempts to acquire Yahoo, the search company has turned to Google for an…

• By: Hans Bader
• 06/13/2008

Locally-grown and produced food isn’t necessarily better for the environment, or more economical for society, than food produced elsewhere.  It often costs more and results in more…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/12/2008

The FCC held a hearing on early termination fees for cell phones, cable, ISPs, and pretty much everything else other than leases on cars and…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/12/2008

Google stated today that it would back a nationwide privacy law. This comes days after the company unfairly came under pressure for supposedly…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/12/2008

Ars reports that the Transportation and Security Administration has implemented a new policy regarding IDs. Previously, and unbeknown to many, TSA did not…

• By: William Yeatman
• 06/12/2008

The leftist Center for American Progress today released a press statement…

• By: Hans Bader
• 06/12/2008

A New York judge has ruled that his own pay should be raised, and ordered New York’s legislature to increase the pay of every state judge in…

• By: Hans Bader
• 06/12/2008

The Supreme Court today ruled that Guantanamo Bay detainees in the War on Terror can bring habeas petitions to challenge their confinement.  But as Chief…

• By: Hans Bader
• 06/12/2008

The militia of Zimbabwe dictator Robert Mugabe is burning to death the wives of his critics.  Rulers of most neighboring African countries continue to support Mugabe…

• By: William Yeatman
• 06/12/2008

Congratulations New Hampshire! Yesterday Governor John Lynch signed a bill that makes the Granite…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 06/12/2008

Mitch McConnell had a great statement on the floor of the Senate this morning regarding gas prices and energy policy. As the Man from…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/11/2008

France has just joined the ranks of countries like China, Sweden, and Great Britain in blocking its citizens from accessing some content on the…

• By: Ryan Young
• 06/11/2008

My colleague Alex Harris is drooling over the latest version of Apple‘s iPhone. In…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/11/2008

Next week in Seoul, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development will meet to discuss Internet security. The Australian Communications Minister Stephen Conroy is…

• By: William Yeatman
• 06/11/2008

Last month, the Democrat-controlled Senate was intent on “doing something” about the high price of fuel.

• By: Hans Bader
• 06/11/2008

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who used the Fair Housing Act as a pretext to restrict speech critical of housing projects back when he was Bill…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/11/2008

On Monday, Steve Jobs announced that – among other things – Apple will begin selling a new model of the iPhone on July 11,…

• By: Hans Bader
• 06/10/2008

Ethanol subsidies, which have contributed to hunger, riots and environmental destruction across the globe, are now contributing to slave labor on sugar plantations in…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/10/2008

I posted earlier about a panel I went to yesterday at the ACLU membership conference. In that post, I contended that the…

• By: Hans Bader
• 06/10/2008

“In 2004, as regulators warned that subprime lenders were saddling borrowers with mortgages they could not afford, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban…

• 06/10/2008

Thanks to the Greens, the US Congress and the administration to continue locking up the American land. Yesterday, the House easily approved three more wilderness…

• By: Ryan Young
• 06/10/2008

There were more street protests in Seoul on Sunday over U.S. beef. The public is scared out of their minds that they’ll get mad…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/10/2008

I’ve spent the past couple of days at the ACLU’s membership conference. The conference provides ACLU members, such as myself, a chance to get…

• By: John Berlau
• 06/09/2008

The business media is abuzz about a speech and Financial Times op-ed today by Federal Reserve Bank of New York President Tim Geithner calling…

• By: William Yeatman
• 06/09/2008

Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) looked ridiculous last week when she insisted the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act would cause…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 06/09/2008

My former employer, the United States Senate, will–at long last–turn over its dinning facilities to a private contractor. Anyone who has ever had to…

• By: Ryan Radia
• 06/09/2008

Are you a mobile phone user, FiOS TV subscriber, or DirecTV customer who's happy with your service and bound by a long-term contract? If so,…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 06/06/2008

Today’s Los Angeles Times profiles Guatemala’s Universidad Francisco Marroquin, which I’ve had the pleasure to visit on a few occasions, and its founder,…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 06/06/2008

Tim Carney continues to expose the rent-seeking motives behind a lot of environmental regulation, in this case cap and trade legislation. As he notes,…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 06/05/2008

Roky Erickson, the 1960s Texas psychedelic rock pioneer, sang of seeing demons and space aliens, which visions were often the result of his taking…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 06/05/2008

Want to promote organic farming? Then take over a country, destroy its economy, and starve its people — and then make them grateful for allowing…

• By: Hans Bader
• 06/05/2008

In a blistering attack, the Wall Street Journal today criticized the Federal Reserve’s inflationary easy-money policy, which aims to bail out mortgage borrowers through low interest rates, but…

• By: Hans Bader
• 06/05/2008

“U.S. and British diplomats were attacked Thursday as they tried to investigate political violence in Zimbabwe and a U.S. Embassy staffer was beaten,” reports…

• By: Hans Bader
• 06/05/2008

The California State Teachers’ Retirement System suffered “more than one billion in lost investment returns” after it divested from tobacco company stocks in 2001, reports…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 06/05/2008

I missed this when it was first published, but it turns out that fat people cause global warming!  Reports Reuters: Obesity contributes to global…

• By: Ryan Radia
• 06/04/2008

Yesterday’s New York Times featured a refreshingly optimistic article discussing Raymond Kurzweil’s revolutionary vision of the future. A brilliant futurist and visionary, Dr. Kurzweil has…

• By: William Yeatman
• 06/04/2008

General Motors announced yesterday that it is closing 4 pickup truck…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 06/04/2008

Via our friends at The Heartland Institute we find a selection of letters that a sixth grade class sent to Heartland decrying its…

• By: Iain Murray
• 06/04/2008

A gang of the usual enviro suspects (NRDC, Blue Green Alliance, Sierra Club and Green For All) together with the United Steel Workers and the…

• By: Hans Bader
• 06/04/2008

The ACLU claims to exist to protect the civil liberties and constitutional rights of all Americans, but it’s really just an unprincipled left-wing lobbying group.  Recently,…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 06/03/2008

Fittingly only a few days after CEI’s dinner celebrated the Great Revolutionary Ideas, it’s time to pay tribute to a music revolutionary, Bo Diddley,…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 06/02/2008

Ever since Fidel Castro handed over the official reins of power to his (not that much) younger brother Raul, pundits and editorial writers have taken…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 06/02/2008

Whenever I see farmers protesting, I usually expect them to be crying out for government favors in the form of higher subsidies and trade barriers…

• By: Ryan Young
• 06/02/2008

It looks like the impasse on the U.S.-South Korea trade agreement will get worse before it gets better. A mad cow disease scare…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 06/01/2008

Via fark.com, there’s a Daily Mail story about how more than 100 homeless people live permanently in London’s Heathrow airport. There’s no clear source…

• By: Hans Bader
• 06/01/2008

War-torn Afghanistan, a critical front in the war on terrorism, is being impoverished by rising food prices aggravated by ethanol subsidies and mandates, reports the June…

• By: Hans Bader
• 05/30/2008

Texas’s Child Protective Services (CPS), which the state supreme court ruled acted illegally in seizing more than 400 children, repeatedly abused children, according to…

• By: John Berlau
• 05/30/2008

Last week, I discovered a bizarre requirement for a fingerprint registrty in housing legislation that had just passed the Senate Banking Committee. In an OpenMarket…

• By: Ryan Young
• 05/30/2008

Contrary to popular belief, regulators tend to be very clever people. They know the rules of the game, and they know to how to use…

• By: Hans Bader
• 05/30/2008

The Greenlining Institute, which is funded by money diverted from class-action lawsuits brought in the name of consumers, is now lobbying the California legislature…

• By: Hans Bader
• 05/29/2008

The Texas Supreme Court has just affirmed an appeals court ruling that Texas’s Child Protective Services (CPS) illegally seized more than 400 children whose…

• By: Hans Bader
• 05/29/2008

Ethanol subsidies are contributing to worldwide hunger.  Islamic extremist groups are exploiting that hunger by tying food aid to anti-Western political indoctrination.  (Ethanol…

• By: Hans Bader
• 05/29/2008

The Supreme Court made up some new laws on Tuesday because it thought they were a good idea, as the Washington Post’s editorial today notes.

• By: Hans Bader
• 05/29/2008

State Child Protective Services (CPS) are increasingly seizing children from their parents for trivial reasons or over baseless, anonymous allegations, as the Washington Examiner describes…

• By: Hans Bader
• 05/28/2008

Texas Child Protective Services (CPS) illegally seized 465 children from parents in a religious sect based on an anonymous, fabricated allegation by a woman outside the sect…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 05/28/2008

I wonder what Matt Welch means when he accuses Czech President Vaclav Klaus of “resisting most efforts to come to public (let alone legal)…

• By: Ryan Young
• 05/28/2008

Barack Obama says he would keep in place the 47-year old Cuban trade embargo if elected President. CNN says Obama views the trade restrictions…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 05/28/2008

What can you say about a health care system that treats animals more quickly than humans?  Reports Macleans: Dr. Danny Joffe is only half…

• By: Angela Logomasini
• 05/27/2008

The Washington Examiner has an editorial today titled “Environmentalism is not about the Environment.”  Indeed. …

• By: Hans Bader
• 05/27/2008

The Washington Examiner has an interesting editorial today called “Environmentalism Isn’t About the Environment.”  It describes how environmental measures expand and metastasize government power in ways…

• By: Hans Bader
• 05/26/2008

In the Washington Examiner, Daniel Ballon and Lawrence McQuillan criticize a bill pending in Congress that would lead to credit card companies reducing their rebates to…

• By: Hans Bader
• 05/25/2008

The federal government massively subsidizes corn-based ethanol production, even though it consumes as much energy as it generates, thus doing nothing to cut greenhouse gas emissions.  Yet the federal government…