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FDA Needs to Act on Internet and Social Media Policy
Way back in September 2009, the Food and Drug Administration announced that it would begin using the social media site Twitter to share news and other…
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Santa Claus: Conservative
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A Reprieve For NASA Commercial Crew Contractors
There has been a great deal of concern over the past few months among the potential providers of crew services to NASA over their stated…
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Obama’s Transparency War Targets Climate Skeptics
President Obama ran on a platform of transparency. He praised whistleblowers. “Such acts of courage and patriotism,” he said, “should be encouraged rather…
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Crushing Student Loan Debt to Pay for Useless “Educations” that Provide Only Paper Credentials, Not Knowledge
Student loan debt is rising at an exponential rate, as an illustration at the Daily Dish shows (at this link). A college tuition…
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Today’s Links: December 15, 2011
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CEI Podcast for December 15, 2011: Drilling for Roads
Land-use and Transportation Policy Analyst Marc Scribner looks at House Republicans' "drilling for roads" proposal and finds it wanting.
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NTSB Recommends Useless National Ban on All Mobile Phone Use while Driving
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) yesterday called on all states to ban "the nonemergency use of portable electronic devices (other than those designed…
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Today’s Links: December 14, 2011
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FDA Was Right to Deny Petition to Restrict Animal Antibiotics
I didn't have a chance to write about it then, but a few weeks back the Food and Drug Administration denied a…
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A Nice Review of Stealing You Blind
David Hogberg of Investor’s Business Daily and The American Spectator has a very complimentary review of my book, Stealing You Blind: How Government Fatcats…
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Time to Include Britain in NAFTA?
On Monday, I sent this letter to the editor of the Financial Times in response to an appalling column by former British apparatchik Jonathan…
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Taxpayer-Subsidized Housing Booms and Busts: You’re Paying to Prop Up My Home Value, While Yours Collapses
In Washington, D.C., the region where I live, massive federal spending on government workers and contractors props up home values. My small, 60-year-old two-bedroom home,…
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CEO of Land-Based Casino Morally Opposed to Online Gambling
File under Hypocrisy 101. Sheldon Adelson, the CEO and Chairman of Las Vegas Sands Corp., which owns some of the largest casinos in…
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Today’s Links: December 13, 2011
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Immigration is Good for Natives
Alabama, South Carolina, and Georgia are joining the list of states with tough anti-immigration laws. On January 1, most of those laws…
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Medicaid Payments Go to Dead People, As Do Food Stamps and Stimulus Package Money
The State of Maryland spends millions of Medicaid dollars on dead people, “about half of it from the federal government,” notes The Washington Examiner.
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Teddy Roosevelt’s Legacy
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In a Nation of Immigrants, Being Anti-Immigration is a Loser
As most of the candidates for the Republican presidential nomination try to outdo each other in blasting undocumented immigrants, they should take a break to…
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Phoenix Government Unions Look for More Money for Nothing
Openmarket.org Recently, the Goldwater Institute filed suit against the city of Phoenix for inappropriately subsidizing government unions. The complaint alleges that collective bargaining agreements between the…
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Newt’s Moon Mines
Over at National Review Online today, I have some thoughts on the little dust up between Newt and Mitt Saturday night…
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Print Out Your Durbin Dollars
Senator Dick Durbin has a truly backwards view of how capitalism is supposed to work. Thanks to price controls produced by his amendment to the…
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After 959 Days, Still No Federal Budget Passed by Senate
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Phoenix Government Unions Look for More Money for Nothing
Recently, the Goldwater Institute filed suit against the city of Phoenix for inappropriately subsidizing government unions. The complaint alleges that collective bargaining agreements between…
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The GOP Response to TSA Strip-Searches
The TSA has allegedly strip-searched an elderly woman for wearing a back brace. They wrongly suspected it was a money belt. This search was security-unrelated;…
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Dept. of Labor to Send Ag-Youths A’packin’
Regulatory war has been waged against another job-creating sector of the American economy. The U.S. Department of Labor has set forth new proposals restricting children…
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Christmas Liquor Bans: Is Your State on the List?
If you were planning to go-a-Wassailing along this Christmas, you may want to read this post carefully so that you can plan your booze-buying accordingly…
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Food Stamp Fraud Costs America Billions
Food stamp fraud is costing the taxpayers billions, notes the Heritage Foundation. Fraud levels were 39 percent in the District, 25 percent in Maryland,…
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Second Major Labor Group Condemns Occupy Movement’s Planned West Coast “Solidarity” Port Shutdown
The Occupy movement is planning to force a shutdown of West Coast ports, claiming they are standing in solidarity with the International Longshore and Warehouse…
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Will “International” Norms Override Civil Liberties and Protections Against Violent Crime?
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear challenges to life sentences without parole for teenage murderers, in Miller v. Alabama and Jackson…
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Regulation Roundup
Boy, 7, kicks bully in the groin, school officials threaten sexual harassment charges, plus more.
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Federal Spending on Student Financial Aid Drives Up College Tuition, Shrinks Economy
At Bloomberg News, Virginia Postrel writes about how federal subsidies intended to make college more affordable have instead encouraged rapidly rising tuitions, in a column…
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NLRB Drops Case against Boeing – Finally
Today, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced that it has decided to drop its case against Boeing, over the airplane manufacturer’s opening of…
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Don’t “Drill for Roads”
Over at National Review Online, I have an op-ed up explaining why fiscal conservatives should oppose House Republicans’ plan to direct oil and gas…
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U.S. Government: Arming Gangsters, Groping Grannies
What’s worse than the federal government deliberately arming gangsters? Answer: The federal government deliberately arming gangsters with the express intent of undermining the 2nd…
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PATTERSON: Labor unions and communism
The Washington Times Trade unions are a school of communism. –Vladimir Lenin L labor leader Andy Stern has seen the future. There’s no freedom there,…
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CEI Podcast for December 8, 2011: House Passes the REINS Act
Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews talks about the impact REINS could have on increasing transparency and accountability. He also offers up a few more…
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Over-The-Counter Plan B? What Would Jed Bartlet Do?
Back in March 2009, President Obama issued a memorandum on scientific integrity to the heads of executive branch agencies and departments.
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Free-Market Fundamentalism? Where?
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Bernanke’s Dollar Swap Euro “Stimulus”
Here’s a letter I sent to The Wall Street Journal: In “Central Banks Take Coordinated Action” (Nov. 30), Mr. Sparshott and Mr. Hilsenrath rightly…
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Today’s Links: December 7, 2011
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Good News/Bad News on Compensating Bone Marrow Donors
By now, there's been plenty of news highlighting last week's decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that the National Organ…
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Fred Weekly: Research & Development
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92-Year-Old Former German Chancellor Gets Heat for Smoking on TV
Anti-smoking advocates were in full throttle in Germany after former Chancellor of West Germany Helmut Schmidt kept puffing on his cigarette during a television…
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“The Most Liberal Administration in History,” Not
Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour has called the Obama administration “far and away the most liberal administration that we've ever had in the White House.”…
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Reforming Medical Malpractice Law: Interesting Discussion about Damage Limits in Malpractice Cases
Point of Law has an interesting debate over whether medical-malpractice noneconomic damage caps hurt consumers, between Ted Frank and Shirley Svorny. As…
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Alcohol Regulation Roundup: December 7, 2011
Arizona: Liberalization of beer laws in Arizona has kick-started the state’s craft brewing market. The state allows small producers to skip the wholesaling tier…
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Today’s Links: December 6, 2011
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Legalizing Kidney Sales Would Save Thousands of Lives, Save Taxpayers a Bundle
Kidney sales should be legal, explains kidney donor Alexander Berger in The New York Times. Berger is a research analyst for GiveWell, a nonprofit that…
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Brooks: More Regulations Don’t Have Huge Effect on Economy
David Brooks’ article today in The New York Times belittles the cost of regulation to American businesses and the U.S. economy and praises the…