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America’s Heat Pump Emergency
The Biden administration announced it will use the Defense Production Act (DPA)—a Korean War-era statute allowing presidents to demand American industry increase production of anything…
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“They’re Taking My Stuff!” – Now on Video!
News that involves the police is inherently dramatic, and stories about what police officers do regularly make the news—asset seizure of hundreds of thousands of…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The unemployment rate held steady at 3.6 percent. The K-Pop group BTS made an official visit to the White House. Agencies issued new regulations…
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Eleven Lousy Tech Bills from the 117th Congress: Fair Repair Act
People drop their phones a lot. According to the electronic repair company uBreakiFix, 95 million smartphones are dropped annually in the U.S. and two…
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The Stablecoin Contagion That Wasn’t
A rare, recent real-life test case allowed observers to contrast government warnings with real-world events. Reining in cryptocurrency markets has become a key priority for…
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Eleven Lousy Tech Legislation from the 117th Congress: Competition and Transparency in Digital Advertising Act
There is a late entry to the 117th Congress’ list of worst tech legislation, requiring a new title for the blog series. There were already…
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More Staycations This Summer, Thanks to Biden’s Gas Price-Raising Agenda
Memorial Day Weekend kicks off the summer driving season, and vacationers will be paying record-high gasoline prices—and quite a few families may even have to…
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Restating the Case for Free Trade
The case for free trade needs to be restated frequently. Politicians keep pushing the same protectionist policies, as though maybe this time the results will…
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George Washington, George Jarkesy, and the Administrative State’s Lack of Fundamental Justice
The recent ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Jarkesy v. SEC is a victory for limited constitutional government…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Just before the long Memorial Day weekend, the third version of the American Innovation and Choice Online Act, a major antitrust bill, was introduced in…
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Congress Must Decide How to Choose Between Courts and Agency Adjudication
For some time, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has had a choice of prosecutorial forums. It has been able to choose between prosecuting violators…
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EEOC Nominee Kalpana Thinks Transparency Is an Important Value, Less Clear on Need to Abide by It
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission may become a lot less accountable in its decision making than it was under the Trump administration should President Biden’s…
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Banning Menthol Cigarettes Will Do Nothing to Promote Racial Justice
Public support for the War on Drugs has never been lower, due in no small part to increased awareness about the devastation drug criminalization…
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Trade, Mission Creep, and the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework
President Biden announced this week a major economic agreement with a dozen countries in the Indo-Pacific region, to be called the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework…
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Court Tells NLRB Sometimes a Joke Is In Fact a Joke
In a significant win for common sense, a federal appeals court has found that sometimes a joke is just a joke, even when it…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The government’s Disinformation Board was ended before it began. President Biden invoked the Defense Production Act to address the baby formula shortage. The…
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Fifth Circuit Upholds the Right to A Jury Trial Against the SEC
John Thomas Financial CEO Thomas Belesis was riding high, having been awarded the 2011 Businessman of the Year Award from the New York Republicans. While…
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Baby Formula and Regulatory Failure
A lot of people are blaming free markets for the baby formula shortage. As the economist Jagdish Bhagwati might say, the problem with this is…
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Ten Terrible Tech Bills from the 117th Congress: Banning Surveillance Advertising Act of 2022
DuckDuckGo is a success story. Launched in 2008, the online search engine has centered its product around privacy. In short, they “don’t collect or…
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Let’s Not Allow Davis-Bacon to Further Clog Job Arteries
The Biden administration is proposing to make government contracting even more expensive by revamping the Davis-Bacon Act. This law requires that related workers on…
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Ten Terrible Tech Bills from the 117th Congress: ACCESS Act
AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), launched in 1997, was arguably the first social media platform, reaching over 36 million users by 2001. The Federal Trade…
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Credit Union Liberalization Bill Clears Away Never-Needed Red Tape
When I testified last July at a high-profile hearing on financial inclusion, I urged members of the House Financial Services Committee to liberalize regulations…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Inflation remained high at 8.3 percent and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell was confirmed to a second term. A baby formula shortage is exposing the…
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Ten Terrible Tech Bills from the 117th Congress: Ending Platform Monopolies Act
Imagine shopping for a bicycle. You decide on a Trek bike after evaluating the options, user reviews, and specifications. The bicycle is delivered but without…
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This Week’s Civil Forfeiture Outrages: Do People Facing Forfeiture Get Due Process?
A high-profile reversal of a recent civil forfeiture case makes me wonder: Do those who face civil forfeiture generally receive due process of law? That…
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Terra Troubles Should Not Spur Stablecoin Regulation
The crypto market is suffering a severe correction. One asset feeling the pinch is LUNA, which, along with its related nonprofit the Luna Foundation Guard…
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House Staffers Can Now Unionize
The House of Representatives on Tuesday approved, for the first time ever, allowing congressional staff to form unions. This will be an interesting experiment. How…
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Ten Terrible Tech Bills from the 117th Congress: Filter Bubble Transparency Act
In Book VII of Plato’s Republic, Socrates introduces his allegory of the cave. Prisoners are chained in an underground cavern since birth. Their necks are…
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Act Now! The Bipartisan Innovation Act Is a Reminder of the Urgent Need for a Bold National Elevator Plan
President Biden on numerous occasions of late has complained about the miracle that one can simply drive to a McDonald’s in rural areas and…
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What Is Core Inflation?
The new inflation numbers are out, and they aren’t pretty. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) went up 0.3 percent during April, and is up…
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Biden’s Inflation Speech: Top Domestic Priority
President Biden gave remarks on Tuesday declaring inflation his top domestic priority. Like many people, he seems not to understand that inflation is a…
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A Brief Outline of a Regulatory Report Card Congress Should Enact
Measure what is measurable, and make measurable what is not so. — Quote frequently attributed to Galileo, that, alas, probably was not…
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Ten Terrible Tech Bills from the 117th Congress: Platform Competition and Opportunity Act
Tech startups are thriving. The COVID-19 pandemic and the corresponding government response created unique problems for facilitating communication, goods, and services. Fortunately, tech innovation helped…
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U.S. to Lift Tariffs against Ukraine for One Year: China Next?
In 2018, President Trump enacted a 25 percent tariff on Ukrainian steel, on what he claimed were national security grounds. They remained in place throughout…
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Countries Move Forward with CBDCs Despite Public Mistrust
New research from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) reveals that countries are plowing ahead with central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) despite little public…
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CEI Joins Groups in Telling SEC to Stay Away from Private Markets
It’s bad enough that Congress and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have made it so costly for smaller companies to go and stay public…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The Federal Reserve took another small step to tamping down inflation, and the latest jobs report had mixed news. Agencies issued new regulations ranging…
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Ten Terrible Tech Bills from the 117th Congress: EARN IT Act
There is no shortage of legislation addressing Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act introduced in the 117th Congress, with some legislators seeking to amend…
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Environmental and Social Factors in Investing too Vague for Legal Definitions
Recently, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chairman Gary Gensler released a video explaining his concerns about investment products that market themselves using terms like…
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Fed Hikes Interest Rate: Bigger News on Bond Portfolio Mostly Neglected
The Fed this week announced a half percentage point hike in its federal funds rate. This is the right thing to do, but it…
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Ten Terrible Tech Bills from the 117th Congress: Prohibiting Anti-Competitive Mergers Act of 2022
Mergers are on Congress’ mind, clearly. Legislation aimed at increasing both the powers and budgets of antitrust enforcers are plentiful, with technology companies being the…
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How Biden’s “Building a Better America” Agenda Consolidates Permanent Federal Power
Biden’s “Building a Better America” is not about building America, but rather about spending to fatten an already overfed central government with a…
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Ten Terrible Tech Bills from the 117th Congress: Open App Markets Act
Congress has an unhealthy fixation with app stores—and Congress isn’t alone. Both government and private parties filed antitrust lawsuits last year against the largest…
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Unions Are Getting Smarter by Returning to Old-School Organizing Tactics
A new wave of union activism has swept the country in recent months with workers at Starbucks, Amazon, and even Apple pushing to organize. The…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The economy shrank at an annualized 1.4 percent pace in the first quarter of 2022. The Department of Homeland Security announced a new “…
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Ten Terrible Tech Bills from the 117th Congress: American Innovation and Choice Online Act
As Congress enters its final weeks before the midterm elections, many expect a late push to pass legislation targeting the largest technology companies. Dozens of…
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The DHS “Disinformation Governance Board” Needs to Be Dismantled
In recent months, an escalation of various forms of federal surveillance has become apparent. That’s bad enough, but the trend is rendered more problematic…
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Sorting Out Some Confusion on Trade and GDP
While inflation is the biggest economic problem right now, trade policy is another reason why GDP shrank last quarter. It is also a common…
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GDP Shrinks: The Good and the Bad
The advance estimate for 2022’s first quarter gross domestic product (GDP) is in, and the news is not good. Adjusting for inflation, GDP shrank…
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A Bad Day for Incandescent Light Bulbs – and Freedom of Choice
Consumers are better off with choices, and worse off when federal regulators step in and take them away. That’s the best way to view today’s…
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Crypto and Crowdfunding Could Spur U.S. Economy
Crypto and equity crowdfunding (Reg CF) are two relatively new concepts that are combining to create new economic models that could overtake current economic paradigms.
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SEC’s War on Crypto Savers Continues
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler claims he is “animated every day” to protect working families through securities laws. It’s a nice…
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Lisa Cook’s First Amendment Problem Should Concern Senators
As early as Tuesday, the U.S. Senate could vote on the nomination of Lisa Cook to be a governor of the Federal Reserve, along with…
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CEI Comments Explain Why FERC’s Greenhouse Gas Regulatory Policy Cannot Pass a Cost-Benefit Test
Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) filed comments on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) proposal to consider climate change impacts in reviews…
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Elon vs. the Regulators
A $43 billion sale of Twitter to Elon Musk looks more and more like a done deal. Depending on who you ask, Musk will…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Air travelers no longer have to wear masks, although the decision is being appealed. Having solved all of the state’s other problems, Florida Republicans passed…
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My Response to the CFPB’s “Junky” Regulatory Inquiry on Fees
In response to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) “request for information” on what its Director Rohit Chopra has labeled as “junk fees” on financial…
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Protecting Pensions from Politicized Mismanagement
Recently the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), an organization of state legislators from across the country, unveiled model legislation aimed at protecting the retirement…
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Peer Review for Thee but Not for Me
In February 2017, the Competitive Enterprise Institute petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reconsider the 2009 Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding. CEI explained in detail…
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The Flipside of Earth Day
If I wanted America to fail,To follow, not lead,To suffer, not prosperTo despair, not dreamI’d start with energy.I’d cut off America’s supply…
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The Updated Case for Free Trade
Trade is a core value of civilization. The very act of trade implies respect for people’s rights. Suppose you have something I want. I could…
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Countering Civil Forfeiture Myths with Facts
Every year, federal, state, and local government agents take—and permanently keep—billions of dollars of Americans’ property through civil forfeiture. The practice of civil forfeiture creates…
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Federal Judge Invalidates Federal Mask Mandate
For over a year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has threatened criminal and civil penalties and mandatory removal for not wearing a…
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Biden’s Escalating Fusion of Regulation and Censorship Requires Decisive Pushback
President Joe Biden’s “whole of government” advancement of numerous elements of an-interventionist “Building a Better America” agenda is accompanied by an alarming level…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet was sunk. Baseball season began, marking the unofficial start of spring. Agencies issued new regulations ranging from Potato…
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Escalation of Surveillance Threatens Right to Anonymity
The Biden administration has pressured big tech social media platforms to advance its policies in areas like cultural debates, climate interventions, and to stifle dissent…
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NLRB General Counsel Calls for End to Secret Ballots in Workplace Elections
The general counsel for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is calling on the agency to unilaterally adopt “card check” rules for all union…
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Members of Congress Push Back on SEC Climate Proposal
Skeptical members of Congress have begun weighing in on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) recent climate disclosure proposal, and their objections are significant.
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SEC Ignores the Easiest Way to Reduce Climate Policy Risks – Oppose the NetZero Agenda
The Security and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) rationale for its proposed climate risk-disclosure rule does not pass the laugh test. The SEC claims it seeks…
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New Inflation Numbers Show Folly of Price Controls
Today’s release of inflation numbers by the Bureau of Labor Statistics confirms that the loudest voices in favor of price controls are usually the…
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E-15 May Do More Food Price Harm than Gas Price Good
The Biden administration Environmental Protection Agency has announced an emergency waiver allowing gasoline blends containing up to 15 percent ethanol in a bid to…
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Addressing Forever Crises
It does not suffice for this administration to attribute record 8.5 percent inflation to “Putin’s price hike.” We have endured not just…
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Inflation Rises to 8.5 Percent: Straining for Optimism
High inflation will likely be with us for a while, which means I’ll be writing a lot of posts like this. So, for the sake…
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Rep. Van Duyne Confronts Excesses of Climate Policy at SEC
Last week Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R-TX) and a dozen co-sponsors introduced the Stopping Excessive Climate Reporting Act (H.R.7355) to prevent the Securities and Exchange…
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Algae and High Gasoline Prices
If you have managed to avoid record-high gasoline prices by using algae fuel instead, you have former President Barack Obama to thank. If not, you…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The Senate confirmed Ketanji Jackson Brown as the newest Supreme Court Justice. A rabid fox bit nine people on Capitol Hill, this time literally…
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Time for a Sensible Sense of Congress Resolution on the Paris Agreement
National Journal yesterday confirmed what has become increasingly obvious since October 2021: “Biden’s Climate Goals Are in Peril.” The Democrat-controlled Congress has failed…
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Bipartisan Policy Center Highlights Concerns with SEC Climate Disclosure Rule
This week the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) hosted an event titled “Corporations and Climate: Potential Impacts of the SEC’s Proposed New Rule” on an…
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An Emergency Law to Extinguish Regulatory Dark Matter
Many of us are pondering when things will return to normal. The short response is: never. …. Nothing will ever return to…
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NLRB General Counsel Targets Mandatory Attendance Meetings
National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) general counsel Jennifer Abruzzo is taking aim at “captive audience meetings” held by employers, arguing that it is unfair…
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“Right to Repair” Bill Is a Move in the Wrong Direction
The Fair Repair Act (S. 3830), introduced in the Senate last month, would require electronic manufactures like Apple and Samsung to make certain information…
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Rep. Bill Johnson Asks Oil CEOs to Stop Apologizing and Be Proud of Producing Energy
The House Energy and Commerce Committee held a long hearing yesterday to harangue oil company CEOs for price gouging as the cause of high…
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Recycle Your Work 2: Content Is All Around You
Earlier this week I wrote a blog post about recycling work—using the effort from one project to produce more output in another format. I…
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Elon Musk’s Purchase of Twitter Stock Is an Important Reminder of How Capitalism Works
The tech world was shaken by the recent news that Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, had bought up nearly one of every 10…
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Affordable Care Act Anniversary Gives Little Reason to Celebrate
President Obama is joining President Biden at the White House to commemorate the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare. But there is…
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Getting Things Undone: Lessons from the Obliteration of Trump’s One-In, Two-Out Campaign
‘Tis the season. As midterms approach, we’re seeing “agendas” emerge from aspirational conservatives nominally opposed to Biden’s transformation of the United States. These anti-progressive inventories…
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FTC Merger Guidelines Update
All proposed corporate mergers above a certain size have to go through review by antitrust regulators. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Justice Department…
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Kigali Amendment Would Raise Air Conditioning Costs and Undercut American Competitiveness
Air conditioning season will soon be here, and it may prove to be the most expensive one in years thanks to a new federal program…
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CEI Joins Coalition Urging FDA Not to Ban Synthetic Nicotine
This week CEI joined a coalition of groups urging Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Robert Califf not to prohibit synthetic nicotine (read the…
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Celebrate Decade of JOBS Act as Deregulatory Success
10 years ago, a GOP-controlled House, a Democrat-controlled Senate, and a Democratic president came together to lighten the regulatory burden on America’s upstart job creators.
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Amazon Union Wins in Staten Island with Backing of 32 Percent of Workers
Key to understanding the union organizing win at Amazon’s Staten Island facility is that there were enough workers who wanted a union, or at…
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D.C. Policy Strategy: Recycle Your Work for Maximum Impact
Last week I gave an informal presentation to a group of my colleagues about recycling—not the plastic and cardboard variety, but the work product kind.
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The tide is slowly turning in Ukraine, though Europe’s biggest war since World War II continued. Meanwhile, conservative culture warriors declared “moral war against…
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Pay College Athletes
No March Madness tournament would be complete without at least one school being caught paying its players in violation of NCAA rules. This year, the…
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Deregulation is Key to Building a Broad-Based Economy
Critics of free market economic policy often point to declines in manufacturing employment or, worse, to the “hollowing-out” of the American middle class as evidence…
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Lassman Tells Insider President Biden’s So-Called Billionaire’s Tax Is Unconstitutional
In a recent interview with Insider, CEI President Kent Lassman outlined why the so-called Billionaire’s Minimum Income Tax included in President Biden’s 2022 White…
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Weil, That Was a Close One!
David Weil, the Biden administration’s pick to be the administrator of the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division, was rejected by…
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Invoking Defense Production Act Won’t Unleash Domestic Mining
President Biden is reportedly going to invoke the Defense Production Act for the minerals needed to make electric vehicle (EV) batteries. But it’s all…
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Testimony on Forfeiture Reform before the Tennessee General Assembly
Earlier today, I testified before the Tennessee General Assembly on HB 2525, a measure that would reform the Volunteer State’s system of asset forfeiture.
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“Letter” Rip: The Justice Department Would Like More Power, Please
In its first backing of specific antirust legislation, the Justice Department (DOJ) sent a letter in support of the American Innovation and Choice…