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Can Fraud Be Immunized by Giving the Defrauder Certain Governmental Powers Over the Victims?
Can a private organization that has been delegated some government regulatory powers claim absolute government immunity against lawsuits when it engages in fraud against those…
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Hyper-Active Headlines on BPA
The journal Pediatics recently published findings from a research study suggesting that children exposed to the chemical bisphenol A (aka, BPA, which is a…
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Beware of Asking FDA to Change Itself
Every five years, Congress must reauthorize a piece of legislation called the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA), which gives the…
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Bailout for Underwater Mortgage Borrowers Is Illegal and Economically Illogical
Economist Mark Calabria says Obama’s new $7.4 billion plan to let underwater mortgage borrowers refinance at investors’ expense is illegal and won’t help the…
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Today’s Links: October 25, 2011
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The House Considers Legalizing Online Gambling
Defenders of online gambling testified before the House today to beg for their right to gamble legally. Poker Players Alliance Chairman (and former U.S.
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State Budgets Busted
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The Great Danes of Space
Wired welcomed a new author to its Science Blogs on Monday afternoon -- Kristian von Bengtson, an aerospace engineer and co-founder of Copenhagen Suborbitals.
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For the Children
The people of Illinois don’t expect their government to be corrupt; they insist on it. That’s why nary an eyebrow was raised when it recently…
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Obama-Fannie Regressive Refinance Ripoff for Taxpayers and Middle-Class Investors
President Obama is announcing his plan today to bypass Congress with new government intervention to save the housing market through the entities that destroyed it: Fannie…
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Alcohol Regulation Roundup: Ale-oween Edition
National: Phusion Projects, the makers of the now-infamous alcoholic energy drink Four Loko, have reportedly reached an agreement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
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The Simpsons and Immigration
Art Carden has an excellent column about immigration, and not just because the first third is about The Simpsons.
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Senate Bill Would Further Undermine Due Process on Campus
Historically, most colleges used a "clear and convincing" evidence standard in student and faculty discipline cases, to safeguard due process. As Nicholas Trott Long noted in…
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Public Interest Groups Challenge Misleading Government Information Used to Justify Ethanol Mandates and Subsidies
Recently, ActionAid USA and CEI filed a correction request under the Data Quality Act targeting misleading claims made by the EPA regarding the effects…
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What Does it Mean to Be Against Free Markets?
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Alcohol Myths Persist Beyond Prohibition
In a recent article for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, I make the case that many elements of Prohibition did not fade away…
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Regulation Roundup
It is illegal to slurp your soup in New Jersey restaurants, plus more.
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Pay the Americans Now, or Pay the Russians Later
I’m attending the International Symposium on Personal and Commercial Spaceflight in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Also attending is Alan Boyle, science correspondent for MSNBC, who…
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CEI Podcast for October 20, 2011: Congress Passes Free Trade Agreements
CEI Adjunct Fellow Fran Smith, coauthor of the new CEI study "Free Trade without Apology," talks about the recently passed free trade agreements with Colombia,…
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Protectionism is not a Constitutional Principle
Last week, the National Beer Wholesalers Association President Craig Purser, who happens to be a former colleague of mine, had an article in The…
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Today’s Links: October 20, 2011
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Franklin Templeton mutual fund settlement
The attorneys have asked the court to approve a settlement that would give the attorneys $2.142 million and the class $2.27 million. (Good luck finding…
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Liberal Indifference to the Jobless in the Private Sector
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid claims that joblessness is not a problem in the private sector, where huge numbers of people have lost their jobs,…
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Shuttlyndra and the Smoking Rocket
Over at Pajamas Media today, I have some interesting news on the Shuttlyndra situation, which would be a huge scandal if…
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Today’s Links: October 19, 2011
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The Imaginary Age of Austerity
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Truck Drivers Don’t Need a Revised Hours-of-Service Rule
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is poised to enact a revised hours-of-service (HOS) rule that would greatly impact commercial motor vehicle operators.
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Today’s Links: October 18, 2011
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The Unemployment Discrimination Myth
The defunct American Jobs Act, which Hans skewered so well a while back, contains a provision to end “discrimination against the unemployed.” Apparently, there…
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SEC Jumps into Cybersecurity Debate
Much of the cybersecurity focus this year has been on Congress’s efforts to mandate data breach notifications and security standards. Now the Securities and…
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Dangerous Green Hype about Cosmetics
Today, CEI releases the first of a series of studies on chemicals and the precautionary principle. Activist groups around the nation have been calling for…
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Cut the Capital Gains Tax and Government Spending to Create Jobs and Promote Technological Advances
In today’s Wall Street Journal, Amity Schlaes notes that cuts in the capital gains tax were one of the key factors that paved the…
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Soviet Planning Fails… Even in America
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Revolting Youth in Revolt
Conservatives who are enjoying a chuckle over the protesters occupying Wall Street (and an increasing number of public spaces across the country) would do well…
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Bourgeois Dignity
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The Compassion of Adam Smith
It's much more fashionable to attack Adam Smith these days than to read him. Yes, he favored economic liberalism, which wasn't exactly in style in…
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Postal Service Disputes “Principals of Fairness”
Openmarket.org Yesterday, the Government Accountability Office released a report concerning the grim financial future of the Postal Service. It may not come as a shock, but…
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Don’t Fear the Trade Deficit — Embrace it
In the evening of October 12, the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate both passed the Free Trade Agreements with Colombia, South Korea…
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Postal Service Disputes “Principles of Fairness”
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Where’s the Austerity?
Here's a letter I recently sent to The Economist:…
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Corporations Pay Lots of Taxes, and it’s Only Natural that They Should Have Legal Rights
Despite the recent demonization of corporations, corporations pay lots of taxes, including most of the nation's property taxes, notes Josh Barro. They often pay…
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White House Involved in FDA Approval of Genetically Engineered Salmon?
A couple of days ago, Talking Points Memo's Jim Kozubek reported that the Food and Drug Administration had finally decided to…
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CEI Podcast for October 13, 2011: Occupy Wall Street
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Today’s Links: October 13, 2011
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There is Nothing Left to Cut
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Unions: The new barbarians
The Washington Times In a recent address to a union rally in Ohio, Vice President Joseph R. Biden underscored the threat to organized labor posed by…
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Today’s Links: October 12, 2011
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Don Boudreaux on Trade
This video is a quick primer on trade from someone who literally wrote the book about it.
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No Money, No Sense: On the Infrastructure Bank
This morning, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee's Subcommittee on Highways and Transit held a hearing on the President Obama’s infrastructure bank proposal. In September, the…
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Congress Should Reject Tying a Repatriation Tax Holiday to a National Infrastructure Bank
It was reported on Tuesday that Senate Democrats intent on creating a National Infrastructure Bank (NIB) have quietly thrown Republicans a bone on the…