The Open Market Blog

• By: Ryan Young
• 05/27/2011

Some of the zanier happenings in the world of regulation:…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 05/26/2011

Cass Sunstein, President Obama's regulatory czar, announced today that the administration intends to repeal regulations from 30 different agencies. CEI Vice President for Strategy Iain…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 05/26/2011

Winston Churchill observed that "Americans can always be counted on to do the right thing...after they have exhausted all other possibilities." We may finally be…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 05/25/2011

In Cordova, Alabama single-wide trailer homes are illegal. After years of lax enforcement, regulators are cracking down after tornadoes left many residents homeless.

Consumer Freedom

• By: Ryan Young
• 05/23/2011

In North Carolina, it is illegal to cook a burger to an internal temperature under 155 degrees.

Consumer Freedom

• By: Ryan Young
• 05/19/2011

TSA officials recently performed a bomb drill at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, and didn't tell anyone about it in advance.

Labor and Employment

• By: Ryan Young
• 05/19/2011

The good folks at Reason.tv have released an educational music video about the TSA featuring singer-songwriter-comedian Remy. Worth watching.

Labor and Employment

• By: Ryan Young
• 05/12/2011

If you live in Texas, look over your shoulder before you tell a tall tale about your last fishing trip.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 05/12/2011

The USDA is spending $2 million to take pictures of what San Antonio school children eat for lunch.

Consumer Freedom

• By: Ryan Young
• 05/12/2011

Surprisingly, no explosives were found during extra screening, including what a TSA official describes as a "modified pat-down" of the suspicious infant.

Consumer Freedom

• By: Ryan Young
• 05/11/2011

San Francisco is phasing out the distribution of hard-copy Yellow Pages.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 05/10/2011

Congress might as well pass a law guaranteeing an above-average lifestyle for all Americans.

Labor and Employment

• By: Ryan Young
• 05/06/2011

NBC Miami's Brian Hamacher with the second-best lede I've read this week: "Floridians are going to have to start pulling up their pants and stop…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 05/06/2011

A new study says that high-salt diets may not be as harmful as once thought. Research Associate Daniel Compton takes a look.

Consumer Freedom

• By: Ryan Young
• 05/05/2011

This blog will be paying close attention to the heated legislative battle in Madison to give the delicious cream puff its due.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 05/04/2011

Over at the Daily Caller, I look at employment data and find out that the labor force has grown by 23 million people since NAFTA…

Trade and International

• By: Ryan Young
• 05/03/2011

Regulatory reform is at least as important as spending, taxes, and deficits, but it doesn’t get nearly as much attention. That’s why we are pleased…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 05/03/2011

Kinder eggs are a type of candy that enjoys worldwide popularity. They are also illegal in the United States.

Consumer Freedom

• By: Ryan Young
• 05/02/2011

A British man was arrested for singing the 1970s hit “Kung-Fu Fighting”.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 04/29/2011

In Hopewell Township, New Jersey, chickens are only allowed to mate on 10 pre-selected days per year.

Consumer Freedom

• By: Ryan Young
• 04/28/2011

Land Use and Transportation Policy Analyst Marc Scribner looks at China's experience with high-speed rail, and finds that it may not be a very good…

Labor and Employment

• By: Ryan Young
• 04/28/2011

Over the last five years, the DC Metro has spent $2.4 million on back pay... for work that was never performed.

Labor and Employment

• By: Ryan Young
• 04/28/2011

In today's Investor's Business Daily, Wayne Crews and I argue that reformers shouldn't forget about regulation:…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 04/25/2011

Wayne Crews and I have a piece in today's Sacramento Bee summarizing the main findings of Wayne's "Ten Thousand Commandments" study.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 04/21/2011

Carrie Lukas, Managing Director of the Independent Women's Forum, argues that the pay gap between men and women isn't due to discrimination.

Labor and Employment

• By: Ryan Young
• 04/19/2011

Workforce Central Florida, a government agency, is spending $73,000 to give away 6,000 capes and some cardboard cutouts.

Labor and Employment

• By: Ryan Young
• 04/19/2011

Air traffic control is simply too important an issue to leave to the free market. It is time to put the government in charge of…

Labor and Employment

• By: Ryan Young
• 04/18/2011

The 2011 edition of Wayne Crews’ “Ten Thousand Commandments” was released today. The annual study gives a big-picture view of the regulatory state. You can…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 04/13/2011

Sometimes people wonder why I favor abolishing the TSA outright. Here's one reason.

Consumer Freedom

• By: Ryan Young
• 04/05/2011

Russ Brown, a vice president at the Labor Relations Institute and a CEI Adjunct Analyst, talks about recent changes made to the Railway Labor Act…

Labor and Employment

• By: Ryan Young
• 03/29/2011

One wonders just how many regulations this rogue basketball hoop violated in the 60 years it spent terrorizing an unsuspecting Delaware neighborhood.

Consumer Freedom

• By: Ryan Young
• 03/17/2011

CEI Senior Fellow Greg Conko discusses his recent trip to Kenya where he met with members of Parliament and other officials about the best way…

Consumer Freedom

• By: Ryan Young
• 03/17/2011

Text messages cost 20 cents to send, even though they use a fraction of a penny of bandwidth. What gives? Antitrust authorities want to know.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 03/15/2011

Nevada's legislature is considering restricting or banning pesticides, potpourri, air fresheners, candles, and pretty much anything with a scent in public places.

Consumer Freedom

• By: Ryan Young
• 03/14/2011

Portland, Oregon is banning city government employees from wearing perfume or cologne at work.

Consumer Freedom

• By: Ryan Young
• 03/11/2011

Tragedy struck Japan this morning. It will be some time before we know just how many lives the tsunami took, and how much damage was…

Trade and International

• By: Ryan Young
• 03/10/2011

Andy Greenberg reports that the TSA would like to expand its scanning operations to pedestrians and train passengers.

Consumer Freedom

• By: Ryan Young
• 03/08/2011

This year’s budget battle is especially heated. Democrats want the federal budget to be $3.7 trillion. Republicans want it to be $3.6 trillion. Both sides…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 03/07/2011

Politicians love small businesses. Almost every campaign stump speech gushes about how important they are for the economy. Never afraid to put our money where…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 02/24/2011

Vice President for Strategy Iain Murray discusses the labor reforms that have led a thousands-strong protest in Madison, Wisconsin.

Labor and Employment

• By: Ryan Young
• 02/18/2011

Protests in Wisconsin over public sector compensation cuts have been the big story this week. Over at the Daily Caller, I explain why some of…

Labor and Employment

• By: Ryan Young
• 02/18/2011

My colleague Alex Nowrasteh has an op-ed in Investor's Business Daily where he makes the case for liberalizing the H1-B visa for skilled immigrants.

Labor and Employment

• By: Ryan Young
• 02/14/2011

It is against the law to sing in public in Anderson, South Carolina. But the ban could be lifted as soon as today.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 02/09/2011

Congress never actually votes on most regulations. As Wayne Crews and I explain in today's Investor's Business Daily, this is regulation without representation.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 02/08/2011

If Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett gets his way, panhandlers will need a government permit to ask people for money if they’re near a road.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 02/04/2011

Maine state representative Sheryl Briggs would like to end her state’s switchblade ban – but only for people with one arm.

Consumer Freedom

• By: Ryan Young
• 01/31/2011

The southeast African country of Malawi is about to make farting illegal. The government there is trying to “mould responsible and disciplined citizens.”…

Consumer Freedom

• By: Ryan Young
• 01/28/2011

Three states are proposing to make it illegal to listen to your iPod while crossing the street. Legislators in California, New York, and Oregon are…

Consumer Freedom

• By: Ryan Young
• 01/25/2011

CEI's Ryan Young live-blogs President Obama's State of the Union address. Coverage will begin shortly before the speech at 9:00pm EST.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 01/21/2011

Tim's latest column is a must-read. Lobbying wouldn't be such a booming business if regulation wasn't, too.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 01/19/2011

President Obama signed an Executive Order this week that will initiate a "government-wide review of the rules already on the books to remove outdated regulations…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 01/12/2011

Land-use and Transportation Policy Analyst Marc Scribner talks about his new CEI Issue Analysis, "The Limitations of Public-Private Partnerships."…

Labor and Employment

• By: Ryan Young
• 01/06/2011

Warren T. Brookes Journalism Fellow Kathryn Ciano talks about Washington, DC's five-cent tax on plastic bags.

Consumer Freedom

• By: Ryan Young
• 01/03/2011

That's one way to fix a busted budget. Here's another: spend less.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 01/03/2011

If policymakers were rational, they would give twenty times more attention to lightning strike prevention than to terrorism. But they aren't, and they don't.

Consumer Freedom

• By: Ryan Young
• 12/30/2010

The final unadjusted page count is 82,589 pages. That's the third highest ever.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 12/28/2010

Fellow in Regulatory Studies Ryan Young looks at the IRS' proposal to save you time by doing your taxes for you.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 12/28/2010

The man behind airline deregulation passed away yesterday at age 93. Let us learn from his example of a life well lived.

Labor and Employment

• By: Ryan Young
• 12/21/2010

CEI Policy Analyst Alex Nowrasteh goes over the good and the bad of the DREAM Act, which recently stalled in the Senate, and offers his…

Labor and Employment

• By: Ryan Young
• 12/15/2010

All it takes to turn the tables is a bit of common sense. Unfortunately, that may be asking too much.

Consumer Freedom

• By: Ryan Young
• 12/15/2010

Michelle Minton, CEI's Director of Insurance Studies, takes a whirlwind tour of alcohol regulations across the country.

Consumer Freedom

• By: Ryan Young
• 12/13/2010

Public outrage at the TSA's new policies has died down. That's a real shame, because people are still having experiences like this one.

Consumer Freedom

• By: Ryan Young
• 12/08/2010

CEI Research Associate Brian McGraw takes a look at what's behind the federal government's multi-billion dollar subsidies for ethanol.

Consumer Freedom

• By: Ryan Young
• 12/06/2010

Most Americans want to increase government-to-government transfers ten-fold from current levels while also cutting them in half.

Trade and International

• By: Ryan Young
• 12/03/2010

I'm always impressed with creative, compelling ways to use data to tell a story. And this story is one of the most important in human…

Trade and International

• By: Ryan Young
• 12/02/2010

At its current 327-page per day pace, the 2010 Federal Register would be 81,560 unadjusted pages long.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 12/01/2010

The income tax is a pain in the neck. The obvious solution is the simplify the 70,000-page tax code. But some are proposing to have…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 11/30/2010

CEI Senior Fellow Greg Conko looks at the major provisions of the food safety bill that the Senate is voting on today.

Consumer Freedom

• By: Ryan Young
• 11/24/2010

Woman: TSA Agents Singled Me Out For My Breasts…

Consumer Freedom

• By: Ryan Young
• 11/24/2010

Don't like dealing with the TSA's body scanners or pat-downs? Consider getting into politics.

Consumer Freedom