The Open Market Blog

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 11/19/2007

Prince George's County, Maryland, a D.C. suburb, has ordered parents to get their children vaccinated -- or go to jail. Two months into the…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 11/19/2007

Every health care system is going to have some “horror stories,” and the U.S. system is no different. But it’s important for Americans to realize…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 11/19/2007

Thus argues John Coleman, founder of the Weather Channel. Admittedly, he’s not a Ph.D climatologist, but then, most of the alarmist propagandists aren’t Ph.D climatologists,…

• By: Hans Bader
• 11/16/2007

Glenn Singleton of Pacific Educational Group has become a rich man by preaching racism, hate, and scapegoating. School systems hire him for hundreds of thousands…

• By: Fran Smith
• 11/16/2007

This morning, the Senate voted on closing off debate on the 2007 Farm Bill. The cloture vote was 55-42 in favor of the measure;…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 11/16/2007

The Atlantic Monthly‘s 150th Anniversary issue features a series of short essays on “The Future of the American Idea” by a wide variety of…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 11/16/2007

We’ve had quite a bit to say about the anti-energy bill currently being co-sponsored by Joe Lieberman (D/I-CT) and John Warner (R-VA), including the…

• By: Cord Blomquist
• 11/16/2007

The Evansville Courier brings us a story that should be disheartening to libertarians and anyone who respects the right to own private property. The…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 11/16/2007

Last week, I had the pleasure of learning about the new artistic tribute in honor of Ayn Rand’s novel Atlas Shrugged on the 50th anniversary…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 11/16/2007

Former Brookes Fellow Tim Carney, in his Examiner column, explains how the estate tax provides a windfall for life insurers who help their clients…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 11/16/2007

There’s a new report out on the waste, fraud and abuse in government, this time focused just on the Golden State. So why California?…

• By: Ryan Radia
• 11/15/2007

Ryan Blethen of the Seattle Times editorialized last Friday against relaxing FCC restrictions on media ownership. But these obsolete regulations harm consumer choice and…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 11/15/2007

In today’s educational monopoly, it seems that even progress can have counterproductive consequences. For instance, the growth of public charter schools, which appear to deliver…

• By: John Berlau
• 11/15/2007

Yesterday I had an article in National Review Online analyzing Rep. Barney Frank's answer to subprime woes. As I write, Frank's "Mortgage Reform and…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 11/14/2007

Nicole Williams of the State Policy Network passes on an announcement today (via the TaxPayers’ Alliance) on the salaries of public sector employees in the…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 11/14/2007

The local transit authority for the Washington, D.C. area – known to most residents simply as “Metro” – is having problems getting feedback from…

• By: Hans Bader
• 11/14/2007

As I earlier anticipated, the Washington, D.C., administrative law judge who sued for $54 million after losing his pants has now lost his…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 11/14/2007

Author Dick Taverne has the cover story in this month’s issue of Prospect, in which he takes on the unwarranted negative reputation GM foods…

• By: Fran Smith
• 11/14/2007

Intriguing book review today in the Wall Street Journal by William Easterly. He discusses William Duggan‘s new book, Strategic Intuition, which…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 11/14/2007

Another study reports on the costs of obesity. Just dropping down to European levels would save $100 billion in extra medical costs. Reports Nurse.com:…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 11/14/2007

Critics of the U.S. health care system have a litany of complaints. Some are true, but highly misleading. N. Gregory Mankiw takes on three of…

• By: Fran Smith
• 11/14/2007

Today as the Senate is considering its version of the 2007 Farm Bill, the Wall Street Journal editorialized about proposals for massive subsidy…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 11/13/2007

Today, I got the opportunity to ask former American U.N. Ambassador John Bolton to comment on the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST), which…

• By: Alex Nowrasteh
• 11/13/2007

There’s a lot of political anger associated with the recent immigration debate. But with all the attention paid to unskilled immigrants from Mexico and the…

• By: Angela Logomasini
• 11/13/2007

Target is replacing its PVC shower curtains with vinyl curtains. Whew, I feel so much safer now! Not really. The move is part of a…

• By: William Yeatman
• 11/13/2007

The International Panel on Climate Change is holding a conference to draft a report on global warming and what can be done to stop it.

• By: Alex Nowrasteh
• 11/12/2007

Frank Ahren’s “FCC Moves to Place Restrictions on Cable TV” was highly misleading in its description of a “largely unregulated cable television industry” that…

• By: Angela Logomasini
• 11/12/2007

While unapologetic free-marketers can enjoy the fruits of their labors (small or large) guilt free, the rich on the left have to find ways to…

• By: Iain Murray
• 11/12/2007

The funny old laws from my homeland that Lene links to are actually a distraction from the real problem. When Michael Heseltine was President…

• By: Marlo Lewis, Jr.
• 11/12/2007

A leading justification for mandating the sale of ever-greater amounts of ethanol and biodiesel in the nation's motor fuel supply is the claim that this…

• By: Hans Bader
• 11/12/2007

The Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would outlaw private-sector (and some public-sector) discrimination based on sexual orientation, passed the House last week by a…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 11/12/2007

I have recently published several op eds on how the European Right has adopted the environmental policy of the Left, embracing greater interventions in the…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 11/12/2007

A recent survey in Britain on which laws Brits regards as their most stupid laws make a case for sunset provisions. The laws include…

• By: Hans Bader
• 11/12/2007

In June, the Supreme Court cut back on school districts’ ability to assign students to schools by race, even when school districts claim…

• By: Clyde Wayne Crews
• 11/12/2007

Don Boudreaux of Cafe Hayek notes that on Friday [Nov. 16], nobel economist Milton Friedman will have been dead for one year. He forwarded…

• By: Hans Bader
• 11/09/2007

In American Council of the Blind v. Paulson, a trial judge declared that American paper money discriminates against the blind because it lacks features…

• By: Sam Kazman
• 11/08/2007

California this week sued EPA for failing to grant it a waiver, under the Clean Air Act, that would allow the state to impose…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 11/08/2007

This study shows an increase in pedestrian deaths in afternoon rush hour traffic in November every year and the researchers are pinning it on the…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 11/08/2007

Politics is a dirty business anywhere, but this story shows how dirty it is, and how cheap you can buy a vote in the…

• By: Fran Smith
• 11/08/2007

This Bloomberg article notes that banks and other lenders who pushed for reform of the consumer bankruptcy system are now stuck with some unintended…

• By: Fran Smith
• 11/08/2007

Today the House of Representatives voted 285-132 to approve the U.S.-Peru Free Trade Agreement. The Senate now has to consider legislation implementing the agreement.

• By: Michelle Minton
• 11/08/2007

The New York Times today published an article that juxtaposes charter schools and public schools as if they are differing models for education, but…

• By: Hans Bader
• 11/08/2007

CNBC’s Jim Cramer, no free-market conservative, is nonetheless appalled by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s clumsy meddling in the mortgage markets, which he believes…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 11/08/2007

Space.com reports on the release of a (compressed) sound recording of Saturn’s radio emissions, from the Cassini spacecraft, that sounds uncannily like the…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 11/08/2007

If you’re interested in the debate over Optional Federal Chartering for insurance companies, you may want to check out CEI’s new website OFC FAQ.ORG.

• By: Fran Smith
• 11/08/2007

I’d like to second Hans’s recommendation to read Manhunt — and I feel a more personal connection: The hunt for John Wilkes Booth…

• By: Hans Bader
• 11/08/2007

Phone companies deserve immunity from lawsuits for cooperating the with federal antiterrorism surveillance program, according to a recent report by the Information Technology and…

• By: William Yeatman
• 11/08/2007

MSNBC reports that two think tanks, the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the Center for a New American Security, released a study…

• By: Gregory Conko
• 11/08/2007

Tyler Cowan offers some generally positive thoughts on former Labor Secretary Robert Reich’s new book, Supercapitalism: The Transformation of Business, Democracy, and Everyday…

• By: Hans Bader
• 11/08/2007

If an artist sticks a crucifix in urine, or a museum displays pictures of children smeared with feces or severed genitalia, liberal academics and judges…

• By: Hans Bader
• 11/07/2007

Nigeria’s federal government is demanding more than 5.3 trillion Naira — or more than $44 billion — from tobacco companies such as Philip Morris.

• By: Hans Bader
• 11/07/2007

Anyone who thinks history is a dry and dull subject should read James Swanson’s Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer. His fascinating book…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 11/07/2007

You might have heard about the chaos surrounding the Swedish executive branch lately. First, an undersecretary that was on call for the evening was…

• By: Hans Bader
• 11/07/2007

In Oregon, voters rejected a ballot initiative that would have created a permanent state health-care program financed by a major cigarette tax increase (which…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 11/07/2007

Voters seemed intent on tightening up the public belt buckle if we are to believe this story from AP of all the ballot initiatives…

• By: Fran Smith
• 11/07/2007

French President Nicolas Sarkozy addressed a joint session of Congress this morning and devoted most of his remarks to the close…

• By: Fran Smith
• 11/07/2007

“Pass the Peruvian F.T.A,” so reads a New York Times editorial today on the same day the House is scheduled to vote on the…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 11/07/2007

That’s really all I have to say about Robopanda.

• By: William Yeatman
• 11/07/2007

Steven Mufson reports in today’s Washington Post that Kansans for Affordable Energy, a non-profit funded by coal interests, has taken out full page advertisements…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 11/07/2007

The Beijing Olympics are less than a year away, and China hopes to showcase its growing economy and expanding international influence. China is a fascinating…

• By: Ryan Radia
• 11/06/2007

The World Economic Forum in its annual Global Competitiveness Report declared last week that the U.S. economy is the most competitive in the world.

• By: Michelle Minton
• 11/06/2007

What is more harmful to children’s’ health than tobacco smoke? The answer may be irresponsible parents. In Oregon, a state where the unemployment rate hovers…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 11/06/2007

This Friday Bureaucrash and friends will be hosting a demonstration in support of student and blogger Kareem Amer, who has now been in prison in…

• By: Fran Smith
• 11/06/2007

In a tele-news conference yesterday on the Senate farm bill, the acting U.S. Department of Agriculture secretary, Chuck Conner, said that he would…

• By: Hans Bader
• 11/06/2007

In June, the Supreme Court ruled against a student’s First Amendment challenge to his discipline for displaying, off school grounds, a cryptic banner that read…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 11/06/2007

Finally, after nearly seven years of approving every big spending bill to hit his desk, President George W. Bush is occasionally saying no to budget…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 11/06/2007

It doesn’t matter how often politicians fail. They keep coming back with grand new schemes for transforming their own, and often other people’s, societies. And…

• By: Hans Bader
• 11/05/2007

The Wall Street Journal had an editorial this weekend describing the ways that the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST) would undermine America’s security…

• By: Fran Smith
• 11/05/2007

Terrific front-page article on the influence of the sugar lobby in the Washington Post on Saturday by Dan Morgan recounting how the sugar industry’s…

• By: Hans Bader
• 11/05/2007

CEI rated Rhode Island attorney general Patrick Lynch the fifth-worst attorney general in America in its The Nation’s Top Ten Worst State Attorneys…

• By: Angela Logomasini
• 11/05/2007

Yet another study is out suggesting that air pollution is a considerable risk to our health, as highlighted in today’s Washington Post. This time…

• By: Fran Smith
• 11/05/2007

Eli’s post about historic preservation and his mention of D.C.’s Meridian Hill Park has a lesson for preservationists who promote government as the savior…

• By: Hans Bader
• 11/05/2007

In today’s New York Times, former attorney general John Ashcroft explains why it would be harmful and risky to allow lawsuits to continue against…

• By: William Yeatman
• 11/05/2007

The Draft Gore for ‘08 campaign is picking up steam. According to the Draft Gore Newsletter (sign up here!), signatures are piling up (more…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 11/05/2007

The D.C. Preservation League recently announced its 2007 list of "most endangered" properties. While there's nothing wrong with historical preservation per se, the recent…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 11/05/2007

Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Florida) has coined this apt term for companies such as Concurrent Technologies during a debate about earmarks for a center Concurrent was…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 11/02/2007

The new Simpleton’s Guide to the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST) is now on our LOST page — and below.

• By: Richard Morrison
• 11/02/2007

In a legislative drama that mixes politics as usual with examples of strange bedfellows and reputational role reversals, it looks like Congress will finally get…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 11/02/2007

Our good friend and adjunct Steve Milloy has a column out today at FoxNews.com, taking apart the latest American Institute for Cancer Research study…

• By: Michelle Minton
• 11/02/2007

Private health care is bad. Public health care will be cheaper and better quality. How do we know this? Proponents of universal care would claim…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 11/02/2007

Ivan, As I’ve written before, I disagree with your post on the end of D.C.’s zone system. Washington cabdrivers are overwhelmingly independent entrepreneurs…

• By: Hans Bader
• 11/02/2007

In response to complaints by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), the University of Delaware has suspended its coercive indoctrination of…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 11/02/2007

The Senate farm bill is headed to the floor, even as Agriculture Committee chairman Tom Harkin is expressing reservations about some of the…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 11/01/2007

The folks at the National Auto Dealers Association have come up with a neat little web widget for the car curious. You can…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 11/01/2007

New York has its medallions, and D.C. has its zone system — the bane of each city’s taxi riders. However, unlike the medallion system,…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 11/01/2007

Legendary music manager Linda Stein, whose pioneering work in the early New York punk scene included, “bringing the Ramones to England for their infamous July…

• By: John Berlau
• 11/01/2007

Talk about the blind leading the blind! Superbank Citigroup Inc. was supposed to be a big player in Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson's "superconduit" to provide…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 11/01/2007

Iowa has decided to put a tax on pumpkins that are not consumed. You have to sign a form promising to eat the thing…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 11/01/2007

Just as France has put a temporary freeze on growing corn bred with molecular plant breeding techniques, Austria fails to create a majority within…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 11/01/2007

News from Congress Now on this afternoon’s machinations by members of the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee: Highlighting the difficult straddle facing proponents, a…

• By: Ryan Radia
• 11/01/2007

Today the Senate Commerce Committee passed the Community Broadband Act, ArsTechnica reports. The bill preempts state laws banning publicly funded Internet and allows…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 11/01/2007

The time for wimpy, squishy, liberal environmentalism is past. The crisis is so deep that it’s time to take more, shall we say, “serious” steps.

• By: Fran Smith
• 11/01/2007

The House Ways and Means Committee yesterday cleared the way for a full House vote next week on the U.S.-Peru Free Trade Agreement, H.R. 3688.

• By: Hans Bader
• 11/01/2007

It turns out that the billions of dollars that have been spent on international AIDS programs have largely been wasted. In some places, like…

• By: Michelle Minton
• 11/01/2007

I always worry when a government body starts to sound philosophic. As Ivan noted in his post, the Department of the Interior is struggling…

• By: Marlo Lewis, Jr.
• 10/31/2007

So reports today’s New York Times (Oct 31, 07, p. A10). The Senate voted 70 to 22 to authorize $11.4 billion, or $1.9 billion a…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 10/31/2007

The bloggers over at DCist are rightly concerned about proposed new rules for photography, filming and sound recording on federal lands that would require…

• By: Hans Bader
• 10/31/2007

Jacob Sullum’s syndicated column describes Exxon Shipping Co. v. Baker, in which the Supreme Court will decide whether federal maritime law permits punitive damages…

• By: Michelle Minton
• 10/31/2007

As I wrote about earlier in the week, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) had been talking about banning exclusivity deals between landlords and cable…