The Open Market Blog

• By: Hans Bader
• 03/20/2008

There’s a tendency among many liberal “civil rights” bureaucrats to assume that any practice they dislike must be “discriminatory.”  Thus, when businesses mandate the use…

• By: Michelle Minton
• 03/20/2008

James Stewart that is, in the movie Shenandoah. While considering the various angles of the DC gun ban debate, I happened to…

• By: Fran Smith
• 03/19/2008

Again, a really interesting “Trade Fact of the Week” from the Progressive Policy Institute.  With all the negative talk about trade, PPI points out…

• By: Hans Bader
• 03/19/2008

Michigan’s Proposition 2, which bans racial preferences and set-asides in government contracts, state jobs, and public university admissions, was upheld yesterday by a federal…

• By: Marlo Lewis, Jr.
• 03/18/2008

James Hynryshyn condemns the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) as “enemies of reason and democracy” and, worse (in his estimation), “liars.” What provokes his ire…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 03/18/2008

Anthony Minghella, a film director adored by critics and liked by audiences, has died at 54. Minghella (link goes to his IMDb page),…

• By: Hans Bader
• 03/18/2008

Under the Sarbanes-Oxley law, regulators have imposed incredibly expensive requirements for auditing American businesses, costing our economy $35 billion annually, and reducing the…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 03/18/2008

It’s good to know that the administrators of Sheridan Middle School in New Haven are on top of their game. When two students engaged in…

• By: Hans Bader
• 03/17/2008

The Federal Reserve is trying to save irresponsible borrowers from themselves by cutting interest rates to ridiculously low levels, even though that will trigger increased…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 03/17/2008

A U.S. carbon-trade exchange opened up for business today, amidst the financial chaos created by the Fed bail out of Bear Stearns. It…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 03/17/2008

There are a lot of reasons for believers in limited government to be discouraged. But sometimes that discouragement can be turned into triumph. Truth be…

• By: William Yeatman
• 03/17/2008

It was a big weekend for the delicate diplomacy of climate change.In Brussels, EU ministers met to try to figure out how to slash greenhouse…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 03/17/2008

Re-watching Dirty Dancing — a movie far better than its reputation — last night inspired me to do some Internet research. I was pleased…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 03/17/2008

The Washington Post runs a very interesting story about things on their way out. The list includes “truly blind dates” (we now have Google),…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 03/17/2008

The Cultural Revolution has finally made it to Norway. The Labor party’s Minister of Culture has spent the summer traversing the music festivals of the…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 03/17/2008

Today, of course America woke up to news that JP Morgan Chase has bought out Bear Stearns for $2 a share. (It was trading…

• By: Fran Smith
• 03/13/2008

Over the last year, we’ve heard a lot about rising food prices because of the federal government’s mandates and subsidies for corn-based ethanol. Here’s…

• By: Fran Smith
• 03/13/2008

A new five-dollar bill debuts today — and it’s prettier and more secure than the last version, according to the…

• By: Fran Smith
• 03/13/2008

Do cold and snowy winters lead to “snow rage”? So says the police spokesperson in Quebec, where winter has been bad this year, leading…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 03/13/2008

The Europeans are threatening to impose tariffs on the U.S. if it fails to knuckle under and accept some international climate regulatory system–undoubtedly drafted to…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 03/13/2008

Today’s Washington Post runs a story about the services provided by high-priced call girls. According to the story, high class prostitutes provide “a pledge…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 03/12/2008

The media keeps reminding us that there is a consensus not only that the climate is warming (and it is), but that mankind is to…

• By: Fran Smith
• 03/12/2008

In the Wall Street Journal this morning, the inimitable Kimberley A. Strassel points to Governor Eliot Spitzer’s misuse of his power as New York’s…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 03/11/2008

Tomorrow the House Natural Resources Committee will be holding a markup on H.R. 2016, the National Landscape Conservation System Act. Naturally, our adjunct fellow…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 03/11/2008

When I said Elliot Spitzer shouldn’t resign as governor I was wrong. His use of public accounts, efforts to cover up his activities,…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 03/11/2008

The newly elected government of Thailand is continuing the previous government’s disregard for international patent law and for the health of its citizens. Now the…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 03/11/2008

While demand for the healthier low-lineolic acid soybean is soaring, because everyone and his mother wants food with healthier fats, the EU is…

• By: Fran Smith
• 03/11/2008

Known for his pro-trade stance, Senator John McCain took his views to the campaign trail and blasted his Democratic opponents for their isolationist rhetoric:…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 03/11/2008

Sweden is no longer the country with the highest tax burden, Denmark has unseated it from that throne.

• By: Fran Smith
• 03/11/2008

The New York Times today focuses on economic stimulus in its “Times Topics” section — and CEI’s Wayne Crews’s recent paper was at…

• By: Marlo Lewis, Jr.
• 03/10/2008

“Recycle or Go to Hell, warns Vatican,” reports Malcolm Moore in the UK Telegraph. Is this a spoof? Is Moore playing fast and loose…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 03/10/2008

I’ve previously called attention to stupid product bans around the nation. Now, with Elliot Spitzer — a member of CEI’s list of The…

• By: Ryan Radia
• 03/10/2008

The latest attack on anonymous online speech comes from Kentucky State Rep. Tim Couch (R), who proposed legislation last week to ban posting anonymous…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 03/10/2008

We ridiculed Eliot Spitzer’s ham-handed tactics when he was still New York state attorney general — his ambition to become governor then plain to…

• By: Clyde Wayne Crews
• 03/10/2008

Funny how the biggest beneficiaries of combustion often like to get behind laws that will hinder the rest of society, but them–not so much.

• By: Lene Johansen
• 03/10/2008

The British Prime Minister’s incoming science adviser, Professor John Beddington, says that food crisis will take hold before climate change. One of the problems…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 03/10/2008

The Interior Department’s Inspector General has started preliminary investigations into why the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is delaying its decision on whether polar…

• By: Hans Bader
• 03/10/2008

Eliot Spitzer, the sanctimonious New York Governor and former state attorney general, has been linked to a prostitution ring. CEI earlier rated Spitzer as…

• By: Hans Bader
• 03/10/2008

Reacting to a California Court of Appeal decision declaring that there is no constitutional right to home-school one’s child, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 03/10/2008

The battle over recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBST) continues, and it seems like Monsanto has finally learned how to fight the policy battle. Although…

• By: Hans Bader
• 03/10/2008

Why on Earth should Congress bail out subprime borrowers who took out bigger mortgages than they could afford (especially since some of them exaggerated their…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 03/10/2008

As usual, the paternalists are making people worse off by trying to “save” them. Payday loans are expensive — not something I run off and…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 03/09/2008

The weekend Wall Street Journal features an interview with Czech President Vaclav Klaus, who will be the keynote speaker at this year’s CEI dinner…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 03/09/2008

Although Great Britain is not normally where one would think to look for ideas on health care reform, the government is going to experiment by…