The Open Market Blog

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 02/26/2008

A new CEI paper by one of our fellows–okay, me–outlines the five dumbest product bans we could find in the United States. My personal…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 02/26/2008

March wheat futures went for a record $24 yesterday, while the May wheat futures rose the maximum 90 cents allowed to $11.99 a bushel…

• By: Fran Smith
• 02/26/2008

Cato’s Dan Griswold and Juan Carlos Hidalgo had an excellent article yesterday in the Latin Business Chronicle defending the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement.

• By: Hans Bader
• 02/26/2008

Today, I have two posts at Point of Law. One is about how a recent Supreme Court decision may preempt state regulations on vehicle…

• By: Hans Bader
• 02/25/2008

American immigration law is utterly dysfunctional. Legal immigrants who fight for America in Iraq and Afghanistan wait years to become citizens. Skilled workers needed…

• By: Fran Smith
• 02/25/2008

In the Washington Times today, Donald Lambro focuses on the recent primary in Wisconsin and questions the attacks on trade by presidential hopefuls Hillary…

• By: Hans Bader
• 02/25/2008

This week, I am guest blogging at Point of Law. My first blog post is about ideological and sexual double standards, which are…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 02/25/2008

Today’s Wall Street Journal editorial page exposes the cozy relationship between Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood and the state’s trial bar. Should state Attorneys…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 02/25/2008

I recently came across Tumbleweed, the self-styled “tiny house company.” The houses that Tumbleweed builds in California and delivers to any site in the…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 02/22/2008

Today in Reason, Michael Moynihan offers an appropriate epitaph to the useful idiots in the U.S., Europe, and Latin America whose knees have long…

• By: Hans Bader
• 02/22/2008

The Duke lacrosse players are now suing Duke, its president, and various government officials. They were belatedly recognized as innocent after months of being…

• By: Fran Smith
• 02/22/2008

In the Detroit Free Press today, Gary Shapiro, the head of the Consumer Electronics Association, has a really hard-hitting op-ed pointing out how free…

• By: Hans Bader
• 02/22/2008

In a 6-to-3 decision, the Washington State Supreme Court has upheld a state-enforced garbage monopoly even though Washington State has a state constitutional “equal…

• By: Fran Smith
• 02/22/2008

I was intrigued today when I read the Man Booker Prize announcement of a new award to celebrate 40 years of prizes for the…

• By: Hans Bader
• 02/21/2008

Earlier, we wrote about a bill (S. 2045), the Consumer Product Safety Commission Reform Act, that would impose criminal penalties on company executives, and…

• By: Hans Bader
• 02/21/2008

Virginia is facing serious problems, like a budget deficit and unanticipated shortfalls in transportation funding, despite mushrooming taxes in recent years. So what…

• By: John Berlau
• 02/20/2008

A few weeks ago, the Supreme Court’s decision in Stoneridge v. Scientific-Atlanta was denounced by shareholder activists and much of the media as “anti-investor.” Why?…

• By: Fran Smith
• 02/20/2008

In a speech today in Geneva, the World Trade Organization’s director-general Pascal Lamy noted the significant achievements of WTO members in opening up telecommunications…

• By: Hans Bader
• 02/20/2008

The Supreme Court has just decided three cases ruling that federal law preempts contrary or conflicting state laws. It limited the ability to…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 02/20/2008

Al Gore had to take the two biggest spin words of 2007 and combine them into a really scary scenario at a UN meeting with…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 02/20/2008

Food prices are going up. Since the green revolution in the 1940s-1960s food prices have been going down, but now they are on an…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 02/20/2008

Two groups release reports about the same topic at the same time, their conclusions are diametrically opposed to each other. What is a poor reporter…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 02/20/2008

I’ve been saying the 147 million pound beef recall will lead to calls for more regulation and better regulation, even though the regulatory regime in…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 02/20/2008

Today, I will be on “Leave Us Alone” radio on RightTalk, discussing general labor issues and my upcoming article in Labor Watch (co-authored with…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 02/20/2008

Via fark.com comes an I-can’t-believe-she-wrote-this memo telling journalists to be nice to Castro. One particularly delicious passage: Please note Fidel did bring…

• By: Fran Smith
• 02/19/2008

Almost unnoticed in the sweeping energy bill enacted late last year was a provision that restricts federal government agencies from purchasing fuel that has…

• By: Hans Bader
• 02/19/2008

The Supreme Court has refused to revive the ACLU’s lawsuit against the government for warrantless surveillance of communications with suspected terrorists. Ironically, the ACLU’s…

• By: Hans Bader
• 02/19/2008

Harvard, my alma mater, discriminates against Asians in admissions. Asians are less likely to be admitted at any GPA or SAT score than members of…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 02/19/2008

Fidel Castro officially stepped down as Cuba’s head of state this morning, allegedly for health reasons. This will fuel speculations over whether he’s already dead…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 02/19/2008

The USDA started off this week with a historic recall after an investigation revealed violation of food safety regulations in a California meat processing…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 02/18/2008

I’m an eBay fanatic: clothes, shoes, furniture, razor blades, makeup for my wife, books and even a car — I’ve found them all on…

• By: Hans Bader
• 02/18/2008

Helen Smith writes about how California privacy laws kept police from searching for potential suspects in the killing of a psychologist.  Overlawyered discusses the…

• By: Hans Bader
• 02/15/2008

To pay for transportation spending, Virginia’s legislature and governor gave regional transit authorities in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads the power to levy a new…

• By: Hans Bader
• 02/15/2008

House leaders blocked consideration of a bill that would extend the federal government’s power to monitor overseas terrorists and communications with them from the U.S.,…

• By: Hans Bader
• 02/14/2008

Privacy deserves protection, but not to an extreme — particularly when it comes at the expense of civil liberties, public safety, and the rights of…

• By: Hans Bader
• 02/14/2008

“In a test of the American Dream, Adam Shepard started life from scratch with the clothes on his back and twenty-five dollars. Ten months later,…

• By: Hans Bader
• 02/14/2008

Ordinances that ban smoking in commercial establishments increase drunk driving fatalities, apparently by encouraging smokers who want to go out drinking to travel further…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 02/14/2008

A Weather Channel segment on compact fluoresecent light bulbs that aired today makes the point that because compact fluorescents emit less heat, they can save…

• By: Hans Bader
• 02/14/2008

The Wall Street Journal applauds the Senate’s passage of a bill that would continue to allow the government to use warrantless wiretaps to monitor…

• By: Hans Bader
• 02/14/2008

At Hamline University, a college student who expressed conservative views on gun control and affirmative action was recently suspended and ordered to undergo a “…

• By: William Yeatman
• 02/14/2008

CEI has long warned that the fuel-from-food craze threatens the world’s poorest citizens by making it harder for them to feed themselves. If you…

• By: Hans Bader
• 02/13/2008

The District of Columbia justifies its complete ban on handguns and functional firearms (even for self-defense), which is being challenged in the Supreme Court, as…

• By: Hans Bader
• 02/13/2008

Federal and state discrimination laws have been interpreted by the courts as banning speech that creates a “hostile work environment” for members of protected classes.

• By: Hans Bader
• 02/13/2008

Sometimes an excuse for something is worse than the action itself. That's true of a recent court ruling rejecting a teenager's First Amendment challenge…

• By: Hans Bader
• 02/13/2008

President Bush just signed the so-called “stimulus” package. As we explained earlier, it will do nothing to promote economic growth, and it actually…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 02/13/2008

The President is signing the $168 billion economic stimulus package today, in hopes of averting a recession triggered by, among other things, rising mortgage…

• By: Hans Bader
• 02/12/2008

Berkeley police, who routinely protect left-wing anti-war protesters, apparently won’t provide the same protection for demonstrators who support our troops. Anti-war demonstrators are attacking…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 02/12/2008

Doug, I agree with your criticisms of the about the problems with the Swedish health care system. But, of course, we have pretty much…

• By: Hans Bader
• 02/12/2008

The Senate has voted to grant immunity to phone companies that assisted the federal government’s antiterror surveillance program. Those companies are now being sued…

• By: Hans Bader
• 02/12/2008

A retired teacher has revealed that he was illiterate until age 48. John Corcoran "graduated from college and taught high school for 17 years…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 02/12/2008

Liberty-minded Europeans can only look on with increasing frustration as policy becomes increasingly centralized in Brussels. It’s not just the regulations — goodness knows the…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 02/12/2008

Remember, I’m from the government and I’m here to help you. Especially when it comes to health care. Just look at Sweden. Reports Investor’s…

• By: William Yeatman
• 02/12/2008

The Wall Street Journal today ran a top-fold, front page news item about how China’s insatiable demand for energy has stimulated a boon in…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 02/12/2008

Cord’s recent C-SPAN appearance, debating the issues surrounding the proposed Microsoft / Yahoo deal (and by extension any big tech buyout or merger) is…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 02/12/2008

My former boss, Bill Frist, has a very interesting piece in today’s Miami Herald. A quote: Chronic diseases, such as diabetes, emphysema, high…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 02/12/2008

It turns out that a speech I gave on globalization has ended up on the web. I’ve added a few pounds since then, so…

• By: Cord Blomquist
• 02/12/2008

The fight for Yahoo! continues as Microsoft stated yesterday that: Microsoft reserves the right to pursue all necessary steps to ensure that Yahoo!'s…

• By: Hans Bader
• 02/11/2008

Earlier, I wrote about how politicians want every high school student to go on to college, no matter how little aptitude or need for…

• By: John Berlau
• 02/11/2008

I can’t remember a Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) that received more media coverage and broke more news events. As fate would have it,…

• By: Ryan Radia
• 02/11/2008

On Saturday, February 9, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) wrote an op-ed in The New York Times arguing against the approval of white-space devices. Rep.

• By: Cord Blomquist
• 02/11/2008

If you're interested in the marriage that might have been and could still be between Microsoft and Yahoo, check out my appearance on C-SPAN's weekly…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 02/11/2008

California Democratic Congressman Tom Lantos passed away this morning. A Holocaust survivor and fervent anti-communist, the Hungarian-born Lantos’s thick accent and propensity for hyperbole…

• By: Hans Bader
• 02/11/2008

Crime is so out of control in Washington, D.C., that it is a “failed state.” That’s the gist of a brief filed by…

• By: Hans Bader
• 02/11/2008

Most jobs don't require someone with a college degree. Yet politicians are always calling for more federal subsidies to send everyone, no matter how dumb,…

• By: Hans Bader
• 02/11/2008

In Sunday’s Washington Post, researcher Eric Weiner (who is not a Republican) notes that Republicans are happier than Democrats regardless of income level, even…

• By: Hans Bader
• 02/11/2008

No matter how many times people use turgid euphemisms like “enhanced interrogation technique” to describe “water torture,” it’s still torture, as the The…

• By: Hans Bader
• 02/11/2008

People below the poverty line often aren’t really poor. Many of them receive tax-free income and welfare benefits that aren’t even considered in determining whether…

• By: Hans Bader
• 02/11/2008

Congressional witch hunts make FDA officials leery of approving innovative drugs, resulting in delays and red tape that costs lives. That’s the message of two…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 02/11/2008

John, You miss one very important part of the history of the yellow cab company in Chicago: It succeeded as a business almost entirely…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 02/11/2008

So says Hank Hill’s hapless neighbor, Bill Dauterieve, to feign support for Arlen’s new trans fats ban, in tonight’s new episode of “King of…

• By: Hans Bader
• 02/08/2008

Yesterday, Congress passed a "stimulus package" that gives rebates to many people who don't work, but denies them to people who do work but whose…

• By: Hans Bader
• 02/08/2008

A group of researchers told the Supreme Court that Washington, D.C.’s municipal ban on handguns and functional firearms is based on junk science. After…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 02/07/2008

I’m at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) and I’m discouraged. I’m a pro-life, pro-gay, pro-market, pro-gun conservative who hates terrorists and central planning…

• By: John Berlau
• 02/07/2008

Eli, I agree with Michelle on this one. There is no justification for regulating the fares of either taxis or pick-up limousine services.

• By: Hans Bader
• 02/07/2008

In the Wall Street Journal, William Easterly explains why Bill Gates’ proposal for “creative capitalism” — a rejection of the profit motive in favor of…

• By: Hans Bader
• 02/07/2008

Lawyers challenging D.C.’s ban on possession of handguns and functional firearms filed their brief yesterday in the Supreme Court, defending a court ruling…

• By: Hans Bader
• 02/06/2008

A lot of subprime mortgage loans are defaulting.  A big reason why is that, to avoid discrimination charges, lenders gutted their traditional lending standards in order…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 02/06/2008

Michelle, I’m all with the D.C. cab drivers and I disagree with your post. Anyone with a not-terrible driving record should be free to…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 02/05/2008

The FBI is getting ready to announce the granting of a $1 billion contract to create a massive biometric database, allegedly to better identify criminals…

• By: John Berlau
• 02/05/2008

Hans, you are certainly right that the credit rating agencies goofed in giving their highest credit rating to mortgage-backed securities before these new instruments…

• By: Michelle Minton
• 02/05/2008

Lawmakers on the Hill may have to walk a little more than usual thanks to the taxicab drivers’ strike that began today. Maybe they’ll…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 02/04/2008

The final Bush budget is out for FY 2009 (though not on paper, notes The Hill), and the criticism is already flying. Speaker of…

• By: Fran Smith
• 02/04/2008

The U.S. will be joining four Asia-Pacific countries to negotiate agreements on investment and financial services, said U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab today. Those…

• By: Hans Bader
• 02/04/2008

Ignorance can lead to unjustified anger. Congressional leaders are mad at the Supreme Court for enforcing a 180-day deadline for filing discrimination claims in the…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 02/04/2008

The Irish government doesn’t like plastic bags. So it has effectively banned them. Reports The New York Times: There is something missing from this…

• By: Hans Bader
• 02/03/2008

USA Today has a story today about how public employees are much better compensated than people in the private sector, with an average compensation…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 02/03/2008

Compliments of Ted’s Montana Grill–founded, owned, and named after Ted Turner. Ted’s Montana Grill is an eco-friendly company, so please do not…

• By: Hans Bader
• 02/01/2008

Insurers of municipal bonds got tired of their sleepy little domain and decided to try and make a quick buck by insuring subprime mortgage securities…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/31/2008

Altria, the parent company of cigarette-maker Philip Morris, is shutting down its headquarters in New York City and will no longer employ the “vast…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 01/31/2008

Drudge today links to Jake Tapper’s “Political Punch” column at ABC News, where he reports on a speech given by Bill Clinton yesterday in…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 01/31/2008

The multi-dimensional debate over political correctness at The Smithsonian (everything from exactly how many children Thomas Jefferson fathered to the proper display of…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 01/31/2008

Those hilarious Europeans. They are threatening to ban patio heaters. Too big a carbon imprint, it seems. So much for convenience, choice, and individual liberty.

• By: Marlo Lewis, Jr.
• 01/30/2008

C. Boyden Gray, the U.S. Envoy to the European Union, said Tuesday (Jan. 28) that U.S. and EU adoption of carbon "offset" taxes (aka carbon…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/30/2008

At EconLog, Bryan Caplan sums up succinctly the method whereby President Bush this week was able to sound more predisposed toward a global treaty…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/30/2008

Last night, ABC News lavished sympathy on a North Carolina couple whose mortgage payments had risen to just over $2,000 a month, owing to the…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/30/2008

The House has overwhelmingly voted to pass the “stimulus” bill I discussed earlier, which would increase the deficit, provide “rebates” that did…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/30/2008

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s multibillion dollar health care plan was rejected as too expensive by the California State Senate’s Health Committee, putting him to…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/29/2008

President Bush didn’t mention Blanca Gonzalez, the mother of jailed Cuban dissident Normando Hernandez Gonzalez, after all. But the film Shootdown, which I…