The Open Market Blog

• By: Hans Bader
• 11/27/2007

The Seattle School District says that celebrating Thanksgiving is racially insensitive.  This is the same school district that claimed for several years that “individualism” is a form of “cultural…

• By: Fran Smith
• 11/27/2007

Writing from Beijing, New York Times columnist David Brooks in his column today notes how American sentiment is increasingly against trade and globalization and…

• By: Angela Logomasini
• 11/27/2007

An interesting article in today’s Washington Post highlights the trade-offs and market realities associated with green products. It addresses the packaging challenges faced by…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 11/27/2007

The FCC today is going to consider expanding its authority to saddle cable TV with many of the same regulations as broadcast. That, to…

• By: John Berlau
• 11/26/2007

As the joke goes, there’s good news and bad news. Which would you like to hear first? Upon hearing no answer from the readers of…

• By: Iain Murray
• 11/26/2007

It is often suggested that global warming and/or the environment is becoming more important in deciding how Americans vote. The latest poll figures, from…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 11/26/2007

Men’s Health magazine has released its latest list of what it’s editors believe are the “worst” items on chain restaurant menus. Yawn! Unlike, say,…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 11/26/2007

Nearly everyone has an opinion about Sen. Trent Lott (who, the Associated Press reports, plans to resign from the Senate today.) My off-the-cuff judgment…

• By: William Yeatman
• 11/26/2007

My brother in Denver is very much the everyman. He’s blue collar-John Melencamp-middle America, and I value his opinion as a bellwether of the nation’s…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 11/26/2007

Poverty, the horrendous poverty so common in most of the world, can only shock the average Westerner.  But we in the West once were that…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 11/26/2007

There’s a lot of bad news in the world these days.  A bit of good news is the approach of trials of several leaders of…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 11/26/2007

It's enough to make the average Canadian cry.  The decent folk up north fervently defend their health care system from attack.  But, it turns out,…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 11/26/2007

“Consumer advocates”–who spend their time demanding that everyone toss money at anyone who “consumes” a product or service, are on the march, this time against…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 11/26/2007

Government regulation almost always is biased towards inaction and prohibition.  Making a "mistake" and allowing something to happen will usually get you into far greater…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 11/26/2007

There may be no better evidence of change in China than the fact that the government now occasionally admits that problems exist in the country. …

• By: Richard Morrison
• 11/21/2007

Bureaucrash has decided to take the anti-capitalist mentality to its natural extreme in a new video, just in time for the holiday season. What would…

• By: Hans Bader
• 11/21/2007

Earlier, I wrote about the Seattle Schools’ bizarre and racist definitions of racism, which branded all whites (and only whites) as racists, claimed that…

• By: Fran Smith
• 11/21/2007

For my Thanksgiving treat, here’s my list of five “Turkeys on the Hill” — legislation that is particularly onerous for consumers, taxpayers, and citizens —…

• By: Hans Bader
• 11/21/2007

Oklahoma attorney general Drew Edmondson’s latest outrage is chronicled today in an editorial in the D.C. Examiner. The paper points out that he is…

• By: Julie Walsh
• 11/21/2007

Should we be turning our turkey drippings into fuel for our cars instead of gravy? Though a great idea, it’s still not cost competitive.

• By: Hans Bader
• 11/21/2007

A Saudi Arabian court originally sentenced a victim of a gang rape to six months in jail and 90 lashes, after she reported her…

• By: William Yeatman
• 11/21/2007

It looks as if environmentalists have finally turned against biofuels. Despite mounting evidence to the contrary, many remained faithful to the illusion that biofuels are…

• By: Fran Smith
• 11/21/2007

The Wall Street Journal, in a front-page article today, points to the anti-trade, anti-globalization sentiment in Iowa, even though the state “is a…

• By: Hans Bader
• 11/20/2007

The school system in my county, Arlington, Virginia, certainly knows how to waste taxpayers' money. Like several school districts, they've hired an infamous race-baiting…

• By: Fran Smith
• 11/20/2007

For years the American Council on Science and Health has featured their "Holiday Menu" at Thanksgiving time. Their menu features "natural" foods that contain natural…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 11/20/2007

With the trial bar hovering around your house, ready to file an obesity lawsuit on behalf of the guests on whom you have forced slices…

• By: Hans Bader
• 11/20/2007

The Supreme Court has just decided to hear an appeal of the federal appeals court ruling striking down the District of Columbia’s handgun ban,…

• By: Fran Smith
• 11/20/2007

CEI’s Angela Logomasini and Ryan Radia focus on the bottled water issue in California country. Their op-ed in the Modesto Bee yesterday took on…

• By: Hans Bader
• 11/20/2007

Yesterday, a panel of federal appellate judges worried that declaring paper money a violation of the rights of the blind would open the…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 11/19/2007

Almost as if to celebrate the grand opening of the new store at Union Station of Fantom Comics — owned by our friend Matt…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 11/19/2007

• By: Hans Bader
• 11/19/2007

Two federal appeals courts have rejected the idea that a private employer's requirement that employees speak English on the job is racial or national origin…

• By: Hans Bader
• 11/19/2007

While tourism is rising rapidly in much of the world, it is falling in America, thanks to the hassle that our government puts foreign…

• 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…