![COP27: CEI’s Kent Lassman Interviews Rep. Palmer](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/COP27-Title-cards-3-578x324-c-default.png)
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COP27: CEI’s Kent Lassman Interviews Rep. Palmer
CEI President Kent Lassman attended the annual COP27 conference in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt as a non-governmental observer, formally the 27th meeting of the Conference…
![Regulatory Reform in Mississippi](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Mississippi-GettyImages-642052488-578x324-c-default.jpg)
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Regulatory Reform in Mississippi
Washington isn’t the only place that needs regulatory reform. States have their own excesses to deal with. To that end, our friends at the Mississippi…
![COP27: CEI’s Kent Lassman Interviews Rep. Cloud](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/COP27-Title-cards-2-578x324-c-default.png)
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COP27: CEI’s Kent Lassman Interviews Rep. Cloud
CEI President Kent Lassman attended the annual COP27 conference in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt as a non-governmental observer, formally the 27th meeting of the Conference…
![Quick Observations on NDAA in Light of the Biden “Whole-of-Government” Agenda](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Government-spending-GettyImages-1221018933-578x324-c-default.jpg)
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Quick Observations on NDAA in Light of the Biden “Whole-of-Government” Agenda
Across the board, the Biden administration’s policies call for agencies to “prioritize action on climate change in their policy-making and budget processes, in their…
![COP27: CEI’s Kent Lassman Interviews Rep. Weber](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/COP27-Title-cards-1-578x324-c-default.png)
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COP27: CEI’s Kent Lassman Interviews Rep. Weber
CEI President Kent Lassman attended the annual COP27 conference in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt as a non-governmental observer, formally the 27th meeting of the Conference…
![Setting a Baseline for Proposed Rules Affecting Small Business](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Regulations-GettyImages-1134912783-578x324-c-default.jpg)
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Setting a Baseline for Proposed Rules Affecting Small Business
In what way are proposed rules affecting small business rising or falling, and should policy makers be on guard? The answer to the second part…
![COP27: CEI’s Kent Lassman Interviews Rep. Curtis](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/GettyImages-1373010474-578x324-c-default.jpg)
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COP27: CEI’s Kent Lassman Interviews Rep. Curtis
CEI President Kent Lassman attended the annual COP27 conference in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt as a non-governmental observer, formally the 27th meeting of the Conference…
![A Surge in Small Business Burdens May Propel Regulatory Reform](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Regulation-stamp-578x324-c-default.jpg)
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A Surge in Small Business Burdens May Propel Regulatory Reform
Given heavy post-COVID spending and regulation, sentiments against expanding government have not been as strong as those in favor of Washington’s growth. It remains…
![Will the Second Chapter of the Renewable Fuel Standard Be Worse than the First?](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Fuel-pump-GettyImages-139661976-578x324-c-default.jpg)
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Will the Second Chapter of the Renewable Fuel Standard Be Worse than the First?
Enacted in 2005 and expanded in 2007, the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) requires that specified amounts of biofuels like ethanol and biodiesel be added to…
![This Week in Ridiculous Regulations](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Hazmat-GettyImages-1195504200-578x324-c-default.jpg)
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The World Cup is underway in Qatar and the labor market had another good month. Meanwhile, agencies issued new regulations ranging from canola oil jet…
![Some Climate-Related Items that Recently Caught My Eye](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Power-line-GettyImages-1285131459-578x324-c-default.jpg)
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Some Climate-Related Items that Recently Caught My Eye
Manhattan Contrarian Francis “Buddy” Menton hit two homers this week. In “Don’t Be So Sure the Climate Extremists Have Won,” Menton offers hopeful words…
![More on Moore: A History of Direct Taxes and their Application to Moore v. United States](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Tax-578x324-c-default.jpg)
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More on Moore: A History of Direct Taxes and their Application to Moore v. United States
Many politicians, such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), advocate taxes on wealth. These taxes are easy to abuse, which is why the Founders placed…
![Retro Review: George Selgin, Less Than Zero: The Case for a Falling Price Level in a Growing Economy (Institute of Economic Affairs, 1997)](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Inflation-GettyImages-1281724540-578x324-c-default.jpg)
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Retro Review: George Selgin, Less Than Zero: The Case for a Falling Price Level in a Growing Economy (Institute of Economic Affairs, 1997)
This year, inflation reached levels not seen in 40 years. The Federal Reserve spent most of 2022 trying to undo its runaway money creation in…
![Biden Hits the Brakes on Possible Railroad Strike](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Railroad-GettyImages-959775388-578x324-c-default-578x324-c-default.jpg)
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Biden Hits the Brakes on Possible Railroad Strike
President Biden’s call on Monday for Congress to intervene in contract negotiations between railroad workers and the industry to prevent a strike is…
![Why Choke Point Should Bar Gruenberg from Being FDIC Chair](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/FDIC-GettyImages-1304260622-578x324-c-default.jpg)
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Why Choke Point Should Bar Gruenberg from Being FDIC Chair
Tomorrow morning, the Senate Banking Committee will hold a hearing on President Biden’s nomination of Marty Gruenberg to once again serve as Chair of the…
![This Week in Ridiculous Regulations](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Regulations-GettyImages-1134912783-578x324-c-default.jpg)
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
We hope everyone enjoyed Thanksgiving and/or Black Friday. Meanwhile, agencies issued new regulations ranging from nuclear drug tests to food tracing. On to the data:…
![Ninth Circuit Refuses to Reconsider Allowing Wealth Taxes](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Gavel-GettyImages-698689964-578x324-c-default.jpg)
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Ninth Circuit Refuses to Reconsider Allowing Wealth Taxes
Moore v. United States—a case in which CEI represents the Moore family—is likely to be the most important tax case of the 21st century. Yesterday’s…
![New Angles on Finance and Faith](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Board-room.-2jpg-578x324-c-default.jpg)
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New Angles on Finance and Faith
I recently had the pleasure of making my way down to Lynchburg, Virginia, to the campus of Liberty University to attend the Networking the…
![Somebody Better Hit the Brakes Soon in Railway Dispute](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Railroad-GettyImages-1211274325-578x324-c-default.jpg)
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Somebody Better Hit the Brakes Soon in Railway Dispute
Three railroad unions have now voted to reject a contract negotiated by the Presidential Emergency Board (PEB) that had been accepted by eight other…
![This Thanksgiving Biden Pardons Poultry, Plucks Public with Spending and Regulation](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/2022-10K-FB-banner-578x324-c-default.png)
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This Thanksgiving Biden Pardons Poultry, Plucks Public with Spending and Regulation
Another year is flying by, and each time as I await the ever-delayed fall edition of the Unified Agenda of federal regulations I enjoy taking…
![This Week in Ridiculous Regulations](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Rocket-launch-GettyImages-1254762604-578x324-c-default.jpg)
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The 2022 Federal Register surpassed 70,000 pages on Friday, and is on pace for 79,617 pages. The first Artemis moon mission rocket launched. The…
![Could China’s Status as a Developing Nation in Climate Treaties Finally Be Coming to an End?](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/GettyImages-1373010474-578x324-c-default.jpg)
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Could China’s Status as a Developing Nation in Climate Treaties Finally Be Coming to an End?
At the 27th Conference of the Parties (COP27) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) currently underway in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, representatives…
![Climategate 2.0: EPA’s New Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases Report](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/CO2-578x324-c-default.jpg)
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Climategate 2.0: EPA’s New Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases Report
When the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week proposed to adopt more aggressive methane emission standards for the oil and gas sector, it also…
![Gensler Fiddled with ESG and Power Grabs while FTX Burned](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/SEC-GettyImages-1350198767-578x324-c-default.jpg)
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Gensler Fiddled with ESG and Power Grabs while FTX Burned
When asked on CNBC about the implosion of crypto exchange FTX, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler turned the focus away from the…
![Regulation Population Update: Checking in on Code of Federal Regulations Statistics](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Files-GettyImages-91692744-578x324-c-default.jpg)
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Regulation Population Update: Checking in on Code of Federal Regulations Statistics
In a recent post we noted that, while the online Federal Register database depicts 3,257 final rules for 2021, the 73,000-page Federal Register’s count actually…
![The Unfairness of the FTC’s Policy Statement Regarding the Scope of Unfair Methods of Competition](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Antitrust-law-book-578x324-c-default.jpg)
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The Unfairness of the FTC’s Policy Statement Regarding the Scope of Unfair Methods of Competition
The latest in a stream of regulatory dark matter is the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) November 10, 2022 “Policy Statement Regarding the Scope…
![This Week in Ridiculous Regulations](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/AC-Repair-578x324-c-default.jpg)
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The midterm elections happened, and most of us (sorry, Georgia) are finally free of misleading, scaremongering political ads. Inflation slowed down slightly. Meanwhile,…
![Not Your Grandfather’s Bank Branch](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Fintech-GettyImages-1327603039-578x324-c-default.jpg)
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Not Your Grandfather’s Bank Branch
What should financial services do? And how should they look like going forward as they try to serve more people? Some presenters are the recent…
![Who’s Not Buying Electric Vehicles? Single Vehicle Households, for One](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Electric-vehicle-charging-1-578x324-c-default.jpg)
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Who’s Not Buying Electric Vehicles? Single Vehicle Households, for One
Proponents of electric vehicles (EVs) have little to say about the one-third of American households that own only a single car or truck. That isn’t…
![October Inflation Slightly Improves: Time for Less Politics and More Policy](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Inflation-GettyImages-1281724540-578x324-c-default.jpg)
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October Inflation Slightly Improves: Time for Less Politics and More Policy
Thank goodness the election is over. One of the frustrating parts of midterm season was that many people were more interested in how inflation would…
![Why Cops Should Be Chasing the Bad Guys, Not the Big Bucks](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Police-search-GettyImages-171289858-578x324-c-default.jpg)
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Why Cops Should Be Chasing the Bad Guys, Not the Big Bucks
A recent episode of Archer featured a dialogue between two FBI agents, both riding on jet skis, chasing a wrongdoer’s boat. Agent…
![We Need to Pay More Attention to AI](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/AI-GettyImages-1345658982-578x324-c-default.jpg)
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We Need to Pay More Attention to AI
Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the most important emerging technologies today. It has the potential to revolutionize many industries and sectors, including health care,…
![This Week in Ridiculous Regulations](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Seafood-GettyImages-83493154-578x324-c-default.jpg)
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The Federal Reserve raised the federal funds rate again, though it remains less than the rate of inflation. Employment increased by 261,000 in…
![Federal Reserve Raises Interest Rate; Uncertainty Strengthens Case for a Policy Rule](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Fed-building-GettyImages-468954942-578x324-c-default.jpg)
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Federal Reserve Raises Interest Rate; Uncertainty Strengthens Case for a Policy Rule
As expected, the Federal Reserve raised the federal funds rate by 0.75 percentage points coming out of this week’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC)…
![A Dose of Reality Over “Zero-Emissions” Electric Vehicles](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Electric-vehicle-charging-578x324-c-default.jpg)
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A Dose of Reality Over “Zero-Emissions” Electric Vehicles
Far too many journalists sound like cheerleaders when the topic is electric vehicles (EVs). That’s why RealClear Investigations’ Zero Emissions From Electric Vehicles? Here’s…
![Retro Review: Jared Diamond—Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies (Norton, 1997)](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Cortez-and-Montezuma-GettyImages-92822444-578x324-c-default.jpg)
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Retro Review: Jared Diamond—Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies (Norton, 1997)
In 1972, Jared Diamond was researching bird evolution in New Guinea. While walking along a beach, he had an hour-long conversation with a local politician…
![Rules and Regulations Increase 45 Percent during Biden Administration](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/2022-10K-FB-banner-1-578x324-c-default.png)
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Rules and Regulations Increase 45 Percent during Biden Administration
You’ve heard plenty from this quarter on broken disclosure and transparency in the Biden administration, which eliminated the “Deregulatory” designation for rules implanted…
![This Week in Ridiculous Regulations](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Penguins-GettyImages-91657948-578x324-c-default.jpg)
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Happy Halloween! CEI released the latest edition of Wayne Crews’s Ten Thousand Commandments report, which gives a big-picture overview of the federal regulatory state.
![NLRB Seeks to Gag Amazon Management](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Amazon-packages-GettyImages-1236138319-578x324-c-default.jpg)
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NLRB Seeks to Gag Amazon Management
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) recently alleged that Amazon chief executive office Andy Jassy violated federal labor laws by publicly saying that he…
![Meta’s Drop in Stock Price Unlikely to Dissuade Antitrust Inquiries, but It Should.](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Metaverse-GettyImages-1360520396-578x324-c-default.jpg)
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Meta’s Drop in Stock Price Unlikely to Dissuade Antitrust Inquiries, but It Should.
“We don’t even know what it is yet.” That’s how the theatrical depiction of Mark Zuckerberg described “The Facebook” to his then co-founder Eduardo…
![Reining in Biden CFPB’s “Junk” Policies with Fifth Circuit Ruling](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/CFBP-logo-578x324-c-default.png)
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Reining in Biden CFPB’s “Junk” Policies with Fifth Circuit Ruling
When the federal Fifth Circuit Court Appeals ruled last week, in Community Financial Services v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, that the funding structure of…
![Mandatory Union Fees are Junk Fees](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Cash-GettyImages-1297867738-578x324-c-default.jpg)
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Mandatory Union Fees are Junk Fees
The White House yesterday called up federal agencies to target “junk fees” charged to consumers, arguing that these hidden costs are exploitative and drag…
![New Whole-of-Government Initiative on Junk Fees Comes with Unintended Consequences](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Airplane-GettyImages-641456180-578x324-c-default.jpg)
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New Whole-of-Government Initiative on Junk Fees Comes with Unintended Consequences
Today the Biden administration announced a new whole-of-government initiative on junk fees from airlines and other industries. The news comes on the same day…
![Talking Points on Biden’s “Whole-of-Government” Regulatory Escalations](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/2022-10K-FB-banner-1-578x324-c-default.png)
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Talking Points on Biden’s “Whole-of-Government” Regulatory Escalations
Among much else, the 2022 edition of Ten Thousand Commandments presents a $2 trillion undercount of regulatory costs and showcases the march of rulemaking…
![Ten Thousand Commandments 2022 Released](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/2022-10K-FB-banner-1-578x324-c-default.png)
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Ten Thousand Commandments 2022 Released
The 2022 edition of Wayne Crews’s Ten Thousand Commandments report is out now. Now in its 28th year, it has its usual panoply of…
![Workers Should Be Able to Hear from Both Sides Before Union Votes](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Workers-GettyImages-1300607363-578x324-c-default.jpg)
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Workers Should Be Able to Hear from Both Sides Before Union Votes
Workers at an Amazon fulfillment center in Albany, New York, opposed forming a union by a nearly two-to-one margin last week. It was the…
![This Week in Ridiculous Regulations](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Seafood-market-GettyImages-medwt16064-578x324-c-default.jpg)
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Just two more weeks until the relentless barrage of misleading election ads goes away. The Energy Information Administration warned that heating bills could get…
![Policy and Politics Are Different Things](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/GettyImages-vote-578x324-c-default.jpg)
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Policy and Politics Are Different Things
What is more important this election: The culture wars or policy issues like inflation? In an op-ed as part of a point-counterpoint series from…
![Not a Policy Paper, Just a Thought: Anti-Merger Mania](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/MA-GettyImages-1347295696-578x324-c-default.jpg)
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Not a Policy Paper, Just a Thought: Anti-Merger Mania
What is the correct number of corporate mergers that should be allowed? The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) thinks it knows the answer: less. It has…
![Seizing the Ecomodernist Moment](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/GettyImages-1140961203-578x324-c-default.jpg)
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Seizing the Ecomodernist Moment
I recently had the good fortune to attend Ecomodernism 2022, a conference hosted in northern Virginia by the Breakthrough Institute. The theme was “Deregulating…