The Open Market Blog

• By: Lene Johansen
• 03/17/2008

The Cultural Revolution has finally made it to Norway. The Labor party’s Minister of Culture has spent the summer traversing the music festivals of the…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 03/17/2008

Today, of course America woke up to news that JP Morgan Chase has bought out Bear Stearns for $2 a share. (It was trading…

• By: Fran Smith
• 03/13/2008

Over the last year, we’ve heard a lot about rising food prices because of the federal government’s mandates and subsidies for corn-based ethanol. Here’s…

• By: Fran Smith
• 03/13/2008

A new five-dollar bill debuts today — and it’s prettier and more secure than the last version, according to the…

• By: Fran Smith
• 03/13/2008

Do cold and snowy winters lead to “snow rage”? So says the police spokesperson in Quebec, where winter has been bad this year, leading…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 03/13/2008

The Europeans are threatening to impose tariffs on the U.S. if it fails to knuckle under and accept some international climate regulatory system–undoubtedly drafted to…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 03/13/2008

Today’s Washington Post runs a story about the services provided by high-priced call girls. According to the story, high class prostitutes provide “a pledge…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 03/12/2008

The media keeps reminding us that there is a consensus not only that the climate is warming (and it is), but that mankind is to…

• By: Fran Smith
• 03/12/2008

In the Wall Street Journal this morning, the inimitable Kimberley A. Strassel points to Governor Eliot Spitzer’s misuse of his power as New York’s…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 03/11/2008

Tomorrow the House Natural Resources Committee will be holding a markup on H.R. 2016, the National Landscape Conservation System Act. Naturally, our adjunct fellow…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 03/11/2008

When I said Elliot Spitzer shouldn’t resign as governor I was wrong. His use of public accounts, efforts to cover up his activities,…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 03/11/2008

The newly elected government of Thailand is continuing the previous government’s disregard for international patent law and for the health of its citizens. Now the…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 03/11/2008

While demand for the healthier low-lineolic acid soybean is soaring, because everyone and his mother wants food with healthier fats, the EU is…

• By: Fran Smith
• 03/11/2008

Known for his pro-trade stance, Senator John McCain took his views to the campaign trail and blasted his Democratic opponents for their isolationist rhetoric:…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 03/11/2008

Sweden is no longer the country with the highest tax burden, Denmark has unseated it from that throne.

• By: Fran Smith
• 03/11/2008

The New York Times today focuses on economic stimulus in its “Times Topics” section — and CEI’s Wayne Crews’s recent paper was at…

• By: Marlo Lewis, Jr.
• 03/10/2008

“Recycle or Go to Hell, warns Vatican,” reports Malcolm Moore in the UK Telegraph. Is this a spoof? Is Moore playing fast and loose…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 03/10/2008

I’ve previously called attention to stupid product bans around the nation. Now, with Elliot Spitzer — a member of CEI’s list of The…

• By: Ryan Radia
• 03/10/2008

The latest attack on anonymous online speech comes from Kentucky State Rep. Tim Couch (R), who proposed legislation last week to ban posting anonymous…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 03/10/2008

We ridiculed Eliot Spitzer’s ham-handed tactics when he was still New York state attorney general — his ambition to become governor then plain to…

• By: Clyde Wayne Crews
• 03/10/2008

Funny how the biggest beneficiaries of combustion often like to get behind laws that will hinder the rest of society, but them–not so much.

• By: Lene Johansen
• 03/10/2008

The British Prime Minister’s incoming science adviser, Professor John Beddington, says that food crisis will take hold before climate change. One of the problems…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 03/10/2008

The Interior Department’s Inspector General has started preliminary investigations into why the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is delaying its decision on whether polar…

• By: Hans Bader
• 03/10/2008

Eliot Spitzer, the sanctimonious New York Governor and former state attorney general, has been linked to a prostitution ring. CEI earlier rated Spitzer as…

• By: Hans Bader
• 03/10/2008

Reacting to a California Court of Appeal decision declaring that there is no constitutional right to home-school one’s child, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 03/10/2008

The battle over recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBST) continues, and it seems like Monsanto has finally learned how to fight the policy battle. Although…

• By: Hans Bader
• 03/10/2008

Why on Earth should Congress bail out subprime borrowers who took out bigger mortgages than they could afford (especially since some of them exaggerated their…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 03/10/2008

As usual, the paternalists are making people worse off by trying to “save” them. Payday loans are expensive — not something I run off and…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 03/09/2008

The weekend Wall Street Journal features an interview with Czech President Vaclav Klaus, who will be the keynote speaker at this year’s CEI dinner…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 03/09/2008

Although Great Britain is not normally where one would think to look for ideas on health care reform, the government is going to experiment by…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 03/09/2008

My friend Paul Jacob, the long-time term limits activist and head of the Citizens in Charge Foundation, continues to face charges in Oklahoma for…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 03/09/2008

Let’s see. The U.S. is supposed to follow Canada in nationalizing health care because it’s such a wonderful success. NOT! A  former Liberal Party health minister in…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 03/09/2008

Canadians like to dismiss America’s health care system, claiming that their system ensures coverage for everyone.  Apparently everyone except those sent to the U.S. to…

• By: Hans Bader
• 03/09/2008

Washington, D.C. spends more per student in its public schools than does any state, for worse results in educational achievement than that of any state.  D.C. schools are literally falling…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 03/07/2008

Eli, I’ve never watched “The Wire,” so I’m agnostic on the show itself, but after attempting to read The Atlantic‘s recent interview with…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 03/07/2008

At long last, David Simon’s grossly overrated, overwrought, overwritten, television series “The Wire” is getting the bad reviews it deserves. [Full disclosure: I’ve…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 03/07/2008

The final verdict in the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) trial for the arson of the University of Washington’s Center for Urban Horticulture is finally in,…

• By: Fran Smith
• 03/07/2008

An excellent commentary on Bloomberg.com today on the wave of protectionism spurred on not just by U.S. presidential candidates but by other rich countries.

• By: Hans Bader
• 03/07/2008

Congress is now so bent on overregulation that is that it’s getting a plea for restraint from George McGovern, the 1972 Democratic presidential nominee.

• By: Hans Bader
• 03/07/2008

California doesn’t think much of home-schoolers. A state court ruling recently held that a couple had no constitutional right to home-school their children, and…

• By: Iain Murray
• 03/06/2008

The United Kingdom has a culture of heavy drinking, one that goes back hundreds of years at the very least. This has been an object…

• By: Hans Bader
• 03/06/2008

Apocalyptic global warming scenarios peddled by people like Al Gore seem increasingly far-fetched, as Bearing Drift notes. “A recent article from Canada’s National Post…

• By: Cord Blomquist
• 03/06/2008

I want to thank my fellow Tech Liberation Front contributor Tim Lee for pointing out that Open Market RSS feeds should feature full articles,…

• By: Angela Logomasini
• 03/06/2008

Environmental activists want to regulate bottled water out of existence because they say that it is a waste of resources because the alternatives–such as filtered…

• By: Hans Bader
• 03/06/2008

When parents object to political indoctrination and sexually intrusive questions aimed at their children by public school officials, the courts insist that they have no…

• By: Fran Smith
• 03/06/2008

Trade critics, sensing blood from the populist success in the presidential primaries, are moving beyond NAFTA to call for a crackdown on investment provisions in…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 03/06/2008

I adore Matthew Nisbeth’s research but he is off his rocker in this comment he posted on his blog and that he presented in…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 03/06/2008

Last night I got home from an exhausting and exhilarating trip to New York City. During my stay, I barely got out of the hotel…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 03/05/2008

Few federal agencies irritate these days like the Transportation Security Administration, which brought all airline security screening under federal control. Now thanks to…

• By: Hans Bader
• 03/05/2008

Virginia’s governor, Tim Kaine, plans to call the state legislature into special session to try to come up with new taxes to replace the…

• By: Iain Murray
• 03/05/2008

This week, half of CEI's staff, it seems, decamped to New York City for the 2008 International Conference on Climate Change, organized by the…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 03/05/2008

Today, National Review’s editors endorse passage of the U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement, which, in addition to creating greater economic opportunities through increased commerce, would…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 03/05/2008

I can’t stand awards shows, and I don’t watch the Oscars, but I do find the business aspects of Hollywood interesting — which is why…

• By: John Berlau
• 03/05/2008

What happened in Washington state is frightening. It is further confirmation of a trend in eco-terrorism I report on in Eco-Freaks. Eco-terrorism…

• By: Angela Logomasini
• 03/05/2008

It is ironic that environmentalist hype about global warming and green calls for alternative fuels are undermining some of the greens’ very own programs and…

• By: Michelle Minton
• 03/05/2008

Despite that fact that most economist agree (to steal the global warming crowd’s favorite turn of phrase) that rent control has primarily negative effects, laws…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 03/05/2008

An important new study from the American Consumer Institute shows that consumers, on the whole, want broader choice of insurance plans. Right…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 03/05/2008

Cord, I couldn’t agree more with your points about Gary Gygax. I think it’s also worth noting that the game he created Dungeons…

• By: Hans Bader
• 03/05/2008

In The Washington Post, Robert Samuelson explains that the government is doing more harm than good by attempting to delay the inevitable popping of…

• By: Cord Blomquist
• 03/04/2008

Gary Gygax, the father of role-playing games, died today at his home in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. As a fellow Wisconite and lover of video games–the…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 03/04/2008

James Lovelock is the originator of the Gaia myth and convinced that the world is coming to an end, soon, because of global warming is…

• By: Cord Blomquist
• 03/04/2008

Congressman Ed Markey (D-Mass) has introduced legislation aimed at ridding the cell phone world of the much criticized practicies of phone subsidies, long-term contracts, and…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 03/04/2008

I’m a case study in complex taxes. During 2007, I switched jobs, got income from a half dozen sources, bought one house, sold another, made…

• By: John Berlau
• 03/03/2008

Hans, it’s also wrong to refer to this Supreme Court as anti-investor. Two weeks ago, as I have noted, the Court unanimously ruled in…

• By: Fran Smith
• 03/03/2008

A New York Times editorial today points to the high prices of food — partly spurred by the heavy government involvement in promoting corn…

• By: Hans Bader
• 03/03/2008

Mississippi’s attorney general, Jim Hood, is praising a shady prosecutor who put innocent people in jail, calling him a “straight arrow.” Mississippi’s legislature…

• By: Hans Bader
• 03/03/2008

The DC Examiner editorializes against a Senate bill that would “reform” the consumer product laws by giving state attorneys general broad powers to sue…

• By: Hans Bader
• 03/03/2008

Investor’s Business Daily comments on the decision by the House of Representatives to exempt an oil company controlled by Venezuela’s anti-American leftist dictator from…

• 02/29/2008

The new testimony and announcements by DOI/USFWS regarding coming Endangered Species Act (ESA) listings and changes are most interesting. First, DOI announced a…

• By: Angela Logomasini
• 02/29/2008

In recent months, environmentalists have been saying that bottled water is wasteful and no healthier than tap. They are helping advance bottled water taxes, bans…

• By: Fran Smith
• 02/29/2008

Candidates running for POTUS shouldn’t whine about being attacked by their opponents. Things look pretty mild in the good ole USA, especially compared with…

• By: Hans Bader
• 02/29/2008

The Virginia Supreme Court today struck down a state law giving unelected bodies the power to levy taxes in Marshall v. Northern Virginia…

• By: Hans Bader
• 02/29/2008

I have more posts on child-snatching by government agencies, strange sexual harassment rulings, and punitive damages for oil spills, at Point of…

• By: Fran Smith
• 02/29/2008

In the Wall Street Journal today (subscription needed), Kimberley A. Strassel’s column hits the Democrats’ current protectionist stance on trade and points to the party’s…

• By: Alex Nowrasteh
• 02/28/2008

Public policy is rife with unintended consequences. The newest is that soaring food prices caused by ethanol subsidies in the U.S. are causing food prices…

• By: Iain Murray
• 02/28/2008

More proof that wind power is no panacea for the nation’s looming electricity crisis. The wind dropped in Texas, and caused blackouts: ERCOT…

• By: Iain Murray
• 02/28/2008

It’s E-Day in the UK, a national ‘awareness’ day backed by major environmental groups and religious organizations, and the BBC, aimed at getting Brits…

• By: Michelle Minton
• 02/28/2008

These days it seems that you can slap the word “addiction” after any activity and escape personal responsibility for poor decision making. Moreover, in…

• By: Fran Smith
• 02/28/2008

Does this make sense? At the same time the House thinks it’s a good idea to provide Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia with duty-free…

• By: Hans Bader
• 02/27/2008

Government social workers have an incentive to overreact to erroneous allegations of child abuse, and take children away from loving parents, because they reasonably…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 02/27/2008

I find it ironic for Virginia State Delegate Dave Albo to decry businesses being “scammed,” when he has built a reputation for …

• By: Hans Bader
• 02/27/2008

The Virginia General Assembly last year voted to let counties increase their commercial property tax in order to pay for new transportation projects. The counties…

• By: Hans Bader
• 02/27/2008

The Supreme Court decided two discrimination cases this week that confirm that the Supreme Court is not “pro-business “in discrimination cases, as liberal journalists claim.

• By: Fran Smith
• 02/27/2008

With talk of recession, inflation, and stagnation dominating financial news, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, in his written testimony to the House Financial Services…

• By: Iain Murray
• 02/27/2008

Biofuels have recently come under attack from their erstwhile supporters in the liberal environmentalist movement for increasing greenhouse gas emissions. Now it’s the turn of…

• By: Marlo Lewis, Jr.
• 02/27/2008

William F. Buckley, Jr. passed away today. How very sad. For some libertarians, it all started with Rand. For me, it started with Buckley. WFB…

• By: Clyde Wayne Crews
• 02/27/2008

GAO FINDS FEDERAL DATA PROTECTION LAGGING “The GAO says that despite a steady stream of embarrassing computer security breaches, many major U.S. federal…

• 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…