The Open Market Blog

• 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…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 01/29/2008

A toothache is never fun. It is likely to be particularly painful in Great Britain. Reports Investor’s Business Daily: Since April 2006, one in…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/29/2008

The “stimulus” plan devised by House leaders and the White House at a price tag of nearly $150 billion is now being rejected as too…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 01/28/2008

Well, President Bush has given his final State of the Union address and the news stories analyzing it are soon to be legion. Among…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/28/2008

The guest list for the First Lady’s Box for tonight’s State of the Union speech provides a preview of individuals to whom the…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 01/28/2008

In the last few days, I’ve been following the saga of Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick with the same fascination I often reserve for car…

• 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…