The Open Market Blog

• By: Cord Blomquist
• 10/09/2007

On a note related to Jerry Brito’s post on “L’iPhone” at TechLiberation.com today, I’d like to point out Thomas Hazlett’s “How the…

• By: Hans Bader
• 10/09/2007

One of the problems of letting the Nanny State tell you what you can put into your body is that it often tells you to…

• By: Michelle Minton
• 10/09/2007

The New York Times today detailed New York regulators’ plan to “help” insurers meet their obligations. By forcing them to take less profit…

• By: Fran Smith
• 10/09/2007

The Progressive Policy Institute recently posted a new paper, “The Truth About Middle Class Jobs” by Stephen J. Rose. Rose, a prominent labor…

• By: Iain Murray
• 10/09/2007

It is quite possible the US Congress will follow, on environmental policy at least. The UK's Treasury minister, Alistair Darling, has just announced a raft…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 10/09/2007

The Washington Post carries a…

• By: Hans Bader
• 10/08/2007

Bjorn Lomborg has an insightful op ed on global warming in Sunday’s Washington Post.  He discusses how global warming regulations, such as carbon emissions restrictions, fail to provide as…

• By: Hans Bader
• 10/08/2007

Andrea Peyser had an interesting column this weekend in The New York Post about how wealthy parents are billing the public for their children…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 10/08/2007

The common claim that America is the “land of the free” continues to look ever more hollow.  The latest of many targets of the authoritarian…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 10/08/2007

Yesterday, Costa Rica’s voters approved ratification of the Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR). This is good news for most Costa Rican consumers and…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 10/08/2007

In The Wall Street Journal, Edwin Meese and William P. Clark, who served under President Reagan, respectively, as Attorney General and National Security Adviser,…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 10/08/2007

You've got to love the state of Oklahoma. To "protect" its citizens from organizing against the established political order, Oklahoma bars out-of-state residents from gathering…

• By: John Berlau
• 10/05/2007

Michelle, Excellent points about the lack of correlation in Australia between global warming and forest fires. And, for an in-depth look at what’s really…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 10/05/2007

Chris was on Hannity & Colmes last night, and you’re going to want to watch all the way through to the end to hear his…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 10/05/2007

As I noted yesterday, Sens. DeMint and Vitter provided the questions that most needed asking at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s second hearing on…

• By: Marlo Lewis, Jr.
• 10/05/2007

Today’s New York Times, noting that crude oil recently hit $83.32 a barrel on Sept. 20 and stayed above $80 a barrel for the next…

• By: Hans Bader
• 10/05/2007

Most courts have rejected claims that websites have to be redesigned, at great inconvenience and expense, to accommodate their tiny number of visually-disabled visitors. But…

• By: Marlo Lewis, Jr.
• 10/05/2007

Last week (September 28), House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell (D-Mich.) caused quite a stir by proposing global warming legislation that would directly…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 10/04/2007

For earlier posts on the hearing, see here, here, here, and here. The most incisive, focused, and pointed questions came from…

• By: Fran Smith
• 10/04/2007

Another blow to proponents of more open trade. The Wall Street Journal reported today that a poll of Republican primary voters showed that almost…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 10/04/2007

For earlier posts on the hearing, see here, here, and here. Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s ranking…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 10/04/2007

Over the past few months, many an Open Market post has been dedicated to the issue of compact fluorescent (CFL) lightbulbs vs. traditional incandescents.

• By: Richard Morrison
• 10/04/2007

Our good friend Steve Milloy of Demand Debate brings us a new video on global warming and the influence of carbon dioxide on the…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 10/04/2007

For the earlier posts on the hearing, see here and here. Acting chairman Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) took issue with Frank Gaffney’s cricitism…

• By: Hans Bader
• 10/04/2007

The London Daily Mail reports on a lawsuit pending in an English court: Schools will have to issue a warning before they show pupils…

• By: Michelle Minton
• 10/04/2007

The New York Times published an article today correlating global warming to an increase in the amount of brush fires and drought…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 10/04/2007

As a Chicago native, I’m quite used to crooked elections. As a result, I got a huge kick out of this story from Reuters:…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 10/04/2007

The hearing on the Law of the Sea Treaty before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this morning, at which CEI Presidnet Fred Smith…

• By: Hans Bader
• 10/04/2007

My wife loves fish, especially tuna and sashimi, but when she was pregnant with our daughter, she didn’t eat much fish, since the FDA and…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 10/04/2007

The hearing room is full, though not packed enough for anyone to be standing. Fred is testifying now. See here for his testimony.

• By: Hans Bader
• 10/03/2007

There are a lot of problems, ethically, legally, and constitutionally, with a state attorney general hiring trial lawyers to sue on behalf of…

• By: Hans Bader
• 10/03/2007

As legal commentator Ted Frank observes, the $11.6 million in damages awarded in the Isiah Thomas sexual harassment case was excessive and at odds…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 10/03/2007

In a federal government beset by so many other problems, it’s practically charming to discover a little ol’ fashioned government waste that clocks in…

• By: Hans Bader
• 10/03/2007

The New York Times has an interesting story today on the potential marketing of Snus, a form of smokeless tobacco that does not require…

• By: Fran Smith
• 10/03/2007

George Mason economics professor Tyler Cowen has a searing review in the New York Sun today on Naomi Klein’s new screed, The Shock Doctrine.

• By: Hans Bader
• 10/03/2007

Bush just vetoed a multibillion dollar bill expanding the SCHIP health care program, which would have increased budget deficits as well as cigarette and…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 10/03/2007

The House Capital Markets Subcommittee is currently conducting the first in what I hope will be a series of hearings to discuss reform of insurance…

• By: John Berlau
• 10/03/2007

At the OpenMarket, most of our writing is about law and policy. But ultimately, it's people that make the "open market" work. When market rules…

• By: Hans Bader
• 10/02/2007

The distinguished legal commentator Stuart Taylor, who exposed prosecutor Michael Nifong’s misconduct and lies in the Duke lacrosse rape case, has an interesting…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 10/01/2007

William, I disagree with your comments about compact florescent light bulbs (CFLs). They used to make you ugly but, well, they don’t anymore. Thanks…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 10/01/2007

In a story that reminds me of why I’ve never wanted to have children, the Wall Street Journal has a perversely fascinating story (sub.

• By: Hans Bader
• 10/01/2007

The Associated Press has an interesting article on Congress’s use of regressive taxation and tax increases to pay for expansion of health care coverage.

• By: Doug Bandow
• 10/01/2007

The most important treaty that most people have never heard of is moving closer to ratification. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee held its first hearing…

• By: Hans Bader
• 10/01/2007

School districts receive federal subsidies for bilingual education programs. That can give them a financial incentive to needlessly put Hispanic kids who already know a…

• By: William Yeatman
• 10/01/2007

Some time ago, I reported to the CEI staff, their close friends, and the readers of Openmarket.org that Congress’s ethanol policies were making me…

• By: Angela Logomasini
• 10/01/2007

Ever wonder why supermarkets don’t have an enormous excess supply of such things as bread and butter? Usually, the amount they have is about right.

• By: Hans Bader
• 10/01/2007

Supreme Court justices have a politically sensitive job, issuing rulings that are politically charged. As Finley Peter Dunne observed a century ago, the Supreme Court…

• By: Hans Bader
• 10/01/2007

The Supreme Court has decided not to hear the Engle case, in which the Florida Supreme Court threw out a $145 billion class-action punitive…

• By: Hans Bader
• 10/01/2007

“Some in Fairfax Public Housing Make Six Figures.” That’s the title of a story in The Washington Post, which reported Sunday that families…

• By: Angela Logomasini
• 09/30/2007

In an appendix titled “What You Can Do” found in their latest book — This Moment on Earth — Senator John Kerry and wife Theresa…

• By: Alex Nowrasteh
• 09/28/2007

Yakov Smirnoff‘s short lived fame died off with the Soviet Union. Little did he know, his unique style of comedy could have lived on…

• By: Fred L. Smith, Jr.
• 09/28/2007

John Berthoud died — suddenly and unexpectedly. Our span is always too short but John’s was far shorter than all of us had hoped. John…

• By: Hans Bader
• 09/28/2007

A lobbying firm has been paid hundreds of thousands of dollars, including $160,000 in the first half of 2007, to lobby for the FDA…

• By: Hans Bader
• 09/28/2007

The Wall Street Journal has an editorial today on the SCHIP health-care bill, which would expand health care coverage for children, and even some…

• By: Ryan Radia
• 09/28/2007

The United States Patent and Trademark Office, after finally having done something right for a change, recently reversed a…

• By: William Yeatman
• 09/28/2007

Ex-CIA Director James Woolsey is a proponent of ethanol because he believes it can help make the United States more energy independent. Never mind…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 09/28/2007

The Washington Post carries a story about a minor dust-up between Naral Pro-Choice America and Verizon. Naral wanted to use Verizon’s mobile network to…

• By: Alex Nowrasteh
• 09/27/2007

Google's bid to purchase the Internet advertising firm DoubleClick was scrutinized today in hearings by Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill), Chairman of the Congressional Subcommittee…

• By: Cord Blomquist
• 09/27/2007

Minor abuses at the FCC, such as the one mentioned in my last post, warrant at least investigating how the FCC assesses fines, if not…

• By: Hans Bader
• 09/27/2007

The Senate Democratic leadership has added Ted Kennedy’s controversial hate-crimes bill to a defense authorization bill, in an effort to make it politically impossible…

• By: Hans Bader
• 09/27/2007

Robert Novak has an interesting column in the Washington Post on the backroom politicking behind the SCHIP health-care bill that has passed Congress, but…

• By: Cord Blomquist
• 09/27/2007

Seems as though the FCC can’t get enough fining done within the bounds of its legal fining regime and is now fining arbitrary 3rd…

• By: Cord Blomquist
• 09/27/2007

GlobalWarming.org was relaunched two weeks ago by CEI and has enjoyed hundreds of thousands of views since.  I want to thank those who have…

• By: Cord Blomquist
• 09/26/2007

Playspan dubs itself “The Game Industry’s First Publisher-Sponsored In-Game Commerce Network.” What does that mean? To put it more simply, welcome to Wall Street…

• By: Hans Bader
• 09/26/2007

The Wall Street Journal’s OpinionJournal aptly describes the cynical posturing of Lee Bollinger, Columbia University’s president, who first invited the oppressive Iranian despot Mahmoud…

• By: Fran Smith
• 09/26/2007

A startling Reuters article today was titled “Gorbachev warns Russians against rise of Stalinism.” As reported, the former Soviet president made his…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 09/26/2007

CEI analysts appeared twice today on CNBC (so far), enlightening the financially astute and debating their fellow guests. First up, Editorial Director Ivan Osorio takes…

• By: Marlo Lewis, Jr.
• 09/26/2007

Trade—voluntary exchange—is the essence of economic activity. Trade leads to specialization, which increases productivity. As trade expands so does the arena of economic competition, which…

• By: Hans Bader
• 09/26/2007

The District of Columbia is currently defending Washington, D.C.’s gun ban before the Supreme Court in District of Columbia v. Heller. It argues that the…

• By: Fran Smith
• 09/26/2007

A thought-provoking opinion piece in the Financial Times today by Michael Schrage, an MIT researcher –“Science must be more political.” That title is a…

• By: William Yeatman
• 09/26/2007

The Hummer is the bane of the greens’ existence. It is big and loud, so it makes an easy target for those so keen on…

• By: Gregory Conko
• 09/26/2007

The Supreme Court decided yesterday to grant cert in a pharmaceutical products liability case to determine whether federal regulation of pharmaceuticals preempts state tort…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 09/26/2007

“Rock ‘n’ roll is about rebellion” may be one of the world’s most tired cliches, but in the case of the Czech art-rock outfit Plastic…

• By: Fran Smith
• 09/25/2007

Check out Bureaucrash’s latest video on drug lag at the FDA — with real people affected by those delays. Just released on Friday,…

• By: Hans Bader
• 09/25/2007

You can’t board a plane or enter many courthouses without having some form of photo identification. But you can vote in many states without identification…

• By: Hans Bader
• 09/25/2007

Congress may be on the verge of increasing tobacco taxes to expand the federal SCHIP health care program so that it covers not only low-income…

• By: Fran Smith
• 09/25/2007

Finally, some Democrats have come out strongly in favor of the pending Latin American trade agreements. Though don’t give them too much credit for…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 09/24/2007

Organized Labor made its intention clear to reverse the National Labor Relations Board's "Kentucy River" decision, which clarified the definition of "supervisor" in the context…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 09/24/2007

The BBC reports that despite some government prodding — though subtle by Chinese standards — Beijing drivers largely ignored “National No Car Day,” China’s…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 09/24/2007

Yellow Day Brigade is a punk band that takes a decidedly unfashionable pro-freedom political stance, or as they call it, “Music consistent with the…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 09/24/2007

In the current issue of The Economist, the anonymous Charlemagne column outlines the fundamental differences between the regulatory philosophies that guide the United States…

• By: Alex Nowrasteh
• 09/24/2007

The Globalization Institute, a Brussels based think tank, has recommended the EU require all PCs to be sold without preloaded operating systems such…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 09/24/2007

This Thursday, September 27, Denver Post columnist David Harsanyi will talk about his new book, Nanny State: How Food Fascists, Teetotaling Do-Gooders, Priggish…

• By: Hans Bader
• 09/24/2007

NASA’s James Hansen has called those who are skeptical of his alarmist predictions about global warming “court jesters.” But he himself apparently used to believe…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 09/24/2007

The Washington Post reports today that Unisys Corporation is under investigation for its failures to detect intrusions into government networks. I’m not surprised. Prior…

• By: Hans Bader
• 09/24/2007

Motions to dismiss a lawsuit against God by Nebraska State Senator Ernie Chambers have been filed. Lawsuits against God have tended to be dismissed…

• By: Cord Blomquist
• 09/24/2007

I saw In the Shadow of the Moon, Ron Howard’s new documentary about the Apollo program, yesterday evening and have done some looking into…

• By: Hans Bader
• 09/24/2007

A Columbia University dean, John Coatsworth, has defended his university’s invitation to Iran’s anti-American ruler, Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, by saying that it would have been equally…

• By: William Yeatman
• 09/24/2007

If you happen to catch Arnold Schwarzenegger’s speech to the U.N. on climate change today, please remember as you listen that the governator is full…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 09/24/2007

The government wants you to go deer-hunting. Go ahead. Take a day off. It’s on your employer. Well, Uncle Sam doesn’t quite put it that…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 09/24/2007

Government is a lot like a second marriage, the triumph of hope over experience. We create a program. Thieves loot it. Special interests manipulate it.

• By: Cord Blomquist
• 09/23/2007

Check out this great cartoon about the virtues of capitalism. Turns out that at one point Americans (or at least American animators) knew that…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 09/21/2007

Fran – I certainly agree with your response to the promotional video for Naomi Klein’s new anti-capitalist manifesto – loco indeed. At one point…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 09/21/2007

Mining giant Barrick Gold has recently announced a fascinating challenge to would-be mining engineers of the world: if you can think up a new…

• By: Hans Bader
• 09/21/2007

While Columbia University and its president, the pompous Lee Bollinger, were giving a big welcome to Iranian despot (and former hostage-taker) Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who…

• By: Fran Smith
• 09/21/2007

You have to see this video to believe it — it’s a YouTube promo for Naomi “No logo” Klein’s new book,…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 09/21/2007

Fans of Sid Meier’s classic video game Civilization are framiliar to the challenge of designing an entire society, God-like from above. Fans of energy…

• By: Fran Smith
• 09/21/2007

Cécile Philippe of L’Institut économique Molinari in Brussels has a new article — “Sommes-nous sur la bonne voie pour répondre aux défis environnementaux?”—or…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 09/21/2007

I don’t know what to make of it but DeSmog Blog–which seems pretty alarmist–reports that Dr. Klaus-Martin Schulte’s analysis of Global Warming journal articles…

• By: Michelle Minton
• 09/21/2007

All you Columbia rejects out there dig out your “we regret to inform you” letters and plaque them up on the wall. Take it as…