The Open Market Blog

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/28/2008

Earlier this month, House leaders reached a deal with the White House on a $150 billion “stimulus” plan that would increase the deficit to give…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/27/2008

Thus responds Homer Simpson to Marge when she complains about his not paying the gas heating bill, on tonight’s new episode of “The Simpsons,”…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/27/2008

Earlier, I wrote about the Abigail Alliance case, in which a federal appeals court first rightly held that the Constitution likely prevents the FDA…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/27/2008

Late last year, the Treasury Secretary orchestrated a bailout of some subprime borrowers with adjustable-rate mortgages. Under it, their interest rates, which are slated…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 01/27/2008

There are no easy answers to some problems. Such as failed and quasi-failed states around the world. But one thing that we know is that…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 01/27/2008

Stimulus package or more deficit spending? I tend to agree with Prof. Samwick in his commentary on “Marketplace” last Friday: It is deficit spending.

• By: Lene Johansen
• 01/27/2008

It seems the anti-biotechnology lobby is bringing out the big guns to prevent the new Roundup Ready sugar beet to have its first commercial growing…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 01/27/2008

The global temperature has been stable since 1998 according to Ole Humlum at the University of Oslo. In the largest paper in Norway, he…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/27/2008

Former Indonesian dictator Suharto passed away today. I’m not going to comment on his legacy here, but simply note that for a dictator, he…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/25/2008

At Cafe Hayek, Don Boudreaux links to a comedy video that illustrates very effectively just how far we’ve come technologically over the past…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 01/25/2008

Germany is opening the door for a corn variety bred with molecular plant breeding methods, and neither activists nor Monsanto is happy about the…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/25/2008

Economist David Friedman sums up the flaws of the ridiculous “stimulus” plan that House leaders and the White House have proposed, which will…

• By: Cord Blomquist
• 01/25/2008

Thanks to Google, I am now addicted to the game Rock Band. I don’t own the game, but I do alternate between playing the demo…

• By: Christine Hall
• 01/25/2008

Yesterday, Senate Democrats held a hearing to, basically air grievances against EPA’s December decision to deny California the ability to regulate CO2 emissions. Looking at…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/25/2008

Under the "stimulus" plan proposed by House leaders and the White House, you get a "rebate" -- even if you work so little that…

• By: John Berlau
• 01/25/2008

Iain, you're so right that it's not just bad policy, but bad politics, for Republican candidates not to challenge costly regulations aimed at fending…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 01/24/2008

It appears that there is finally some scientific evidence that a warmer Atlantic ocean could have an effect on future hurricane activity. Unfortunately for the…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/24/2008

Today, former Bush economic adviser Lawrence Lindsey has a good, concise Washington Post op ed on the cognitive dissonance now affecting some Democrats. The…

• By: Cord Blomquist
• 01/24/2008

This Tuesday, CNet’s Anne Broache reported that FCC Commissioner Copps was NOT ready to support “new rules requiring wireless carriers to open…

• By: Iain Murray
• 01/24/2008

Jim Geraghty stirred up a minor hornet's nest yesterday with this post on Republican tactics on global warming. After coming in for some pretty…

• By: Marlo Lewis, Jr.
• 01/24/2008

Today, as I write, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is holding a hearing on the Environmental Protection Agency's denial of a…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/24/2008

The White House and Congressional leaders have reached an outrageous agreement to increase the deficit to pay for rebates that discriminate against married people,…

• By: Iain Murray
• 01/24/2008

Here’s an interesting case. In California, a solar panel owner found his access to sunlight blocked. Not by some man-made obstruction, but by California…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/23/2008

In today’s Wall Street Journal, former Department of Labor general counsel Eugene Scalia highlights a recent DOL effort to ensure that pension funds are…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/23/2008

Earlier, I wrote about how the multi-billion-dollar 1998 tobacco settlement between 46 states and the tobacco companies has inspired more lawsuits, and threatened lawsuits, against…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/23/2008

San Francisco’s Golden Gate Restaurant Association has sued to stop implementation of the city’s new health care mandate, which would require employers who hire more…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/23/2008

Congress is currently in the process of rewriting the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to make it even more costly for employers to employ people…

• By: Marlo Lewis, Jr.
• 01/23/2008

Rumors are flying that President Bush may propose to cap CO2 emissions from electric power plants in the upcoming state of the union speech (see…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 01/23/2008

Jimmy Carter regulated the temperature of public buildings. The state of California is preparing to regulate the temperature of private homes. Really. Explains columnist…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 01/23/2008

Most people understand the role of incentives. Pay me to stop working and I will happily quit my job and take the check. Penalize me…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 01/23/2008

Our good friend Jim Blasingame of the Small Business Advocate radio show recently had our very own Myron Ebell on to talk about global…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/23/2008

The Congress and the president are planning to give rebates to taxpayers in an effort to pump up consumer spending and avert a recession.

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/22/2008

Nervous about the possibility of a recession, the Federal Reserve has just cut short-term interest rates (the federal funds rate). But how much good,…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/22/2008

The Supreme Court recently ruled that while those who engage in securities fraud can be sued, third parties who allegedly aided and abetted them…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/22/2008

The Vice Chairman of the Prince William County Human Rights Commission, Carlos Labiosa, is investigating the local school board's decision to drop affirmative-action hiring…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/22/2008

For mysterious reasons, municipal governments that have never defaulted on anything (and can, unfortunately, tax the living daylights out of their citizens to pay for…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 01/22/2008

Some legislators, including Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski (D-MD) are now hollowing out an age old principle of FDA marketing regulations by promoting mandatory labeling…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 01/22/2008

Percy Schmeiser, the Canadian farmer who was convicted of contract breach in the Canadian Supreme Court because he was brown bagging Monsanto seed against the…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 01/22/2008

The US is gearing up for another showdown with the EU over protectionist trade barriers based on environmental concerns. French president Sarkozy suggested a…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/21/2008

Earlier, I wrote about how diversity training backfires: It harms employers and employees alike, triggers lawsuits by both white and minority employees, causes racial…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/21/2008

Federal financial aid and subsidies to colleges and universities are fueling soaring college costs, and making universities more expensive, more bureaucratic, and more politicized. That’s…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/21/2008

Congress and the President are working on a multi-billion-dollar ($140 billion plus) “stimulus package” in an effort to ward off a recession. One proposal that…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 01/21/2008

Pennsylvania is backing down from its labeling ban after pressure from consumer groups. Diaries can now label products as being produced without artificial growth…

• By: John Berlau
• 01/18/2008

After Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke basically said yesterday that making the Bush tax cuts permanent should be off the table for now, in…

• By: Fran Smith
• 01/18/2008

The Financial Times today carries an article about how soaring soyabean (soybean to us) prices are causing large-scale protests in Indonesia…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 01/18/2008

I’m dreaming of a white…climate change protest. As you might have seen on the Drudge Report, a demonstration in support of cap-and-trade legislation in…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/18/2008

Tim Carney continues the fight against cartelization through regulation, in his weekly Examiner column, this time in the political marketplace. When McCain-Feingold passed in…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/18/2008

Exploiting criminals’ stupidity. MIAMI (AP) — A reputed gang member showed off his guns and taunted police on an Internet video to come and…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/18/2008

Kim McCoy, the executive director of Paul Watson’s Sea Shepherd Ship-Sinking Club, mentioned in the post below, is a piece of work herself. She…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/18/2008

Paul Watson and his high-seas vandal Sea Shepherd Society outfit — on which Lene and I commented prior — are at it again. …

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/18/2008

In Virginia’s Arlington Sun-Gazette, reader Linda Jones complains about the fact that only a few public school teachers in Arlington County receive more than $100,000…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/18/2008

Legal aid groups funded by taxpayers through the federal Legal Services Corporation (LSC) wasted money on forbidden things like liquor and subsidized "loans" to…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 01/18/2008

I wrote about the French January 9 moratorium on plants created with molecular plant breeding techniques previously. I thought the reports that stated there…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 01/18/2008

On the tack board over my desk is a cardboard box from a Ben & Jerry’s Cherry Garcia bar. I love Ben & Jerry’s, but…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 01/18/2008

Richard Morrison could yesterday report that FDA had approved meat from cloned animals for human consumption. USDA is evidently not in agreement,…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 01/17/2008

New estimates are out on the impact of increasing Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) regulations, as the recent energy bill did. It’s not pretty.

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/17/2008

In two articles out today, I tackle the ever-expanding array of environmental and labor provisions attached to trade agreements between the U.S. and other countries…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/17/2008

A 2007 Virginia transportation law allowed the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority to levy a big new tax to finance transportation projects not on those who…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 01/17/2008

Today’s Washington Post carries an interesting, dirt-filed piece about a the Veterans’ charity Help Hospitalized Veterans. The group spends only 31 percent of…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 01/17/2008

Surprise, surprise! The Europeans don’t like market economics. That’s hardly startling news. But it turns out that the educational system works overtime to demonize free…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/16/2008

Clayton Cramer points out that most people classified as poor by the federal government are actually not poor at all. Most people below the…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/16/2008

The ACLU insists that sex in public restroom stalls is protected by "privacy", even though such activity creates a very uncomfortable environment for those…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/16/2008

If you live in Northern Virginia or Hampton Roads, you are now subject to a big tax increase if you sell your home. The 2007…

• By: Clyde Wayne Crews
• 01/16/2008

Too little in today’s environmentalism is about bringing environmental amenities into the realm of wealth creation and private stewardship required to actually protect them. “…

• By: Angela Logomasini
• 01/15/2008

If you are not on Junkscience.com’s, daily email, you might want to sign up. This daily dispatch sends along nuggets of good information and…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 01/15/2008

Thor Halvorssen's wonderful Human Rights Foundation has published an important new report on Bolivian president Evo Morales' efforts to introduce a system of…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 01/15/2008

Have you ever had a steak so excellent, you wish you could eat it more than once? How about a milkshake to good, you wish…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 01/15/2008

EU is giving itself permission to set price floors according to EU Trade Comissioner Peter Mandelson. Norway recently complained to World Trade Organization that…

• By: Fran Smith
• 01/15/2008

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is great at getting publicity for its animal liberation activities.

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/15/2008

Over the past decade, property taxes in Northern Virginia have skyrocketed along with assessments. Taxes have increased to the point that taxes in Northern…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 01/15/2008

What will the world look like in a century? Imagine asking that question in 1900. And in 1800. The world would have changed in so…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 01/15/2008

Access to health care has become a big political issue in the U.S. And it’s a legitimate issue. The American system is a bizarre mish-mash…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/15/2008

One of the most reprehensible hours in TV history occurred on March 18, 2001 -- the airing of the fourth episode of "The Lone…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/15/2008

Monday’s episode of The History Channel’s “Modern Marvels” focuses on that most essential of elements, without which not even life is possible: carbon. The show kicks off…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/14/2008

The Toronto Star recently summarized the Top 10 false health scares outlined by the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH). Many such…

• By: John Berlau
• 01/14/2008

For the past few political seasons, diehard political buffs will frequently visit one site to get the latest info on various races and campaigns:…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/14/2008

Andrew Walker for “Asking for pet care advice from Michael Vick.” A signed copy of The Big Ripoff will soon be making its…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/14/2008

The American Bar Association has never been reluctant to urge the Supreme Court to overturn existing precedent, if the precedent at issue offends politically correct…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 01/14/2008

Norwegians have been shooked to their core as the queen of the Labor movement and former Norwegian prime minister has been caught receiving free…

• By: Angela Logomasini
• 01/14/2008

A recent article on a garbage crisis in Naples Italy confirms what I’ve always believed—such trash crises all have roots in government planning. Nations…

• By: Angela Logomasini
• 01/14/2008

I never knew there were so many shades to a light bulb! But since Congress has basically banned incandescent light bulbs in favor of “energy-efficient”…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 01/14/2008

The Netherlands is officially on my list of countries with cool research and development of alternative energy sources. I have previously written about nightclubs…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 01/14/2008

I doubt eco-terrorist Jose Bove’s decision to hunger strike earlier this month actually had an impact, but the French have now imposed a…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 01/14/2008

Climate change is used to justify the most insane political decisions, but for once it is used for a sensible decision. Although there is no…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/14/2008

State legislatures recently banned the slaughter of horses for human consumption. The net result, according to The New York Times, is that rather than…

• By: Angela Logomasini
• 01/13/2008

A recent New York Times article reads:  “If you’re one of the many New Yorkers who worry about throwing away plastic bags but seem…

• By: Cord Blomquist
• 01/11/2008

Yesterday's Washington Post featured a great piece, "Human Dignity Also Needs to Be Preserved," from columnist Marc…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 01/11/2008

Christine, I agree with the intentions of Rep. John Boehner and company in issuing the Little Book of Big Government that you wrote about.

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/11/2008

A highly-publicized gun lawsuit has bitten the dust. Earlier, the D.C. Court of Appeals allowed Washington, D.C. residents to sue out-of-state businesses under D.C. law…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/11/2008

USA Today hammers state governments for using money from the 1998 multistate tobacco settlement on everything but tobacco-related illnesses and smoking prevention: “With news…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/11/2008

Early this morning, I became aware of something called “The Lou Dobbs Financial Report,” which is syndicated on radio across the nation. My immediate…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 01/11/2008

I couldn’t resist posting this gem from a Radar magazine article speculating that Ron Paul has Asperger’s syndrome (a mild form of autism):…

• By: Fran Smith
• 01/11/2008

The New York Times yesterday carried an article on the reopening of the Mu$eum of American Finance, the only public museum in…

• By: William Yeatman
• 01/11/2008

I see a silver lining to Angela’s post about the ambiguous environmental benefits of banning plastic bags in China. The news story she references…

• By: William Yeatman
• 01/11/2008

Indian automaker Tata today unveiled the “People’s Car,” an inexpensive, compact designed to bring automotive travel to the masses in the developing world. The…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 01/10/2008

School officials in Greenwich, Connecticut have decided that the kids under their charge are in danger, and they’ve moved to ban the offending substances that…

• By: Angela Logomasini
• 01/10/2008

The Chinese have allegedly decided to “clean up their act” environmentally speaking. Their solution: ban plastic bags at supermarkets and make shopping less convenient.

• By: Fran Smith
• 01/10/2008

Lene— I know a bit about another of the Guardian‘s 50 People Who Could Save the Planet. That’s Tewolde Egziabher, who runs Ethiopia’s environmental…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 01/10/2008

Let’s see. The U.S. Constitution gives the Congress the power to raise armies, regulate interstate commerce, and … control snack machines in local schools. Apparently…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 01/10/2008

It’s terrible. We all know that global warming threatens the planet’s future. Everything is getting worse. More people are dying. Or they are supposed to…