The Open Market Blog

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/22/2008

For mysterious reasons, municipal governments that have never defaulted on anything (and can, unfortunately, tax the living daylights out of their citizens to pay for…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 01/22/2008

Some legislators, including Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski (D-MD) are now hollowing out an age old principle of FDA marketing regulations by promoting mandatory labeling…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 01/22/2008

Percy Schmeiser, the Canadian farmer who was convicted of contract breach in the Canadian Supreme Court because he was brown bagging Monsanto seed against the…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 01/22/2008

The US is gearing up for another showdown with the EU over protectionist trade barriers based on environmental concerns. French president Sarkozy suggested a…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/21/2008

Earlier, I wrote about how diversity training backfires: It harms employers and employees alike, triggers lawsuits by both white and minority employees, causes racial…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/21/2008

Federal financial aid and subsidies to colleges and universities are fueling soaring college costs, and making universities more expensive, more bureaucratic, and more politicized. That’s…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/21/2008

Congress and the President are working on a multi-billion-dollar ($140 billion plus) “stimulus package” in an effort to ward off a recession. One proposal that…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 01/21/2008

Pennsylvania is backing down from its labeling ban after pressure from consumer groups. Diaries can now label products as being produced without artificial growth…

• By: John Berlau
• 01/18/2008

After Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke basically said yesterday that making the Bush tax cuts permanent should be off the table for now, in…

• By: Fran Smith
• 01/18/2008

The Financial Times today carries an article about how soaring soyabean (soybean to us) prices are causing large-scale protests in Indonesia…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 01/18/2008

I’m dreaming of a white…climate change protest. As you might have seen on the Drudge Report, a demonstration in support of cap-and-trade legislation in…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/18/2008

Tim Carney continues the fight against cartelization through regulation, in his weekly Examiner column, this time in the political marketplace. When McCain-Feingold passed in…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/18/2008

Exploiting criminals’ stupidity. MIAMI (AP) — A reputed gang member showed off his guns and taunted police on an Internet video to come and…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/18/2008

Kim McCoy, the executive director of Paul Watson’s Sea Shepherd Ship-Sinking Club, mentioned in the post below, is a piece of work herself. She…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/18/2008

Paul Watson and his high-seas vandal Sea Shepherd Society outfit — on which Lene and I commented prior — are at it again. …

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/18/2008

In Virginia’s Arlington Sun-Gazette, reader Linda Jones complains about the fact that only a few public school teachers in Arlington County receive more than $100,000…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/18/2008

Legal aid groups funded by taxpayers through the federal Legal Services Corporation (LSC) wasted money on forbidden things like liquor and subsidized "loans" to…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 01/18/2008

I wrote about the French January 9 moratorium on plants created with molecular plant breeding techniques previously. I thought the reports that stated there…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 01/18/2008

On the tack board over my desk is a cardboard box from a Ben & Jerry’s Cherry Garcia bar. I love Ben & Jerry’s, but…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 01/18/2008

Richard Morrison could yesterday report that FDA had approved meat from cloned animals for human consumption. USDA is evidently not in agreement,…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 01/17/2008

New estimates are out on the impact of increasing Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) regulations, as the recent energy bill did. It’s not pretty.

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/17/2008

In two articles out today, I tackle the ever-expanding array of environmental and labor provisions attached to trade agreements between the U.S. and other countries…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/17/2008

A 2007 Virginia transportation law allowed the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority to levy a big new tax to finance transportation projects not on those who…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 01/17/2008

Today’s Washington Post carries an interesting, dirt-filed piece about a the Veterans’ charity Help Hospitalized Veterans. The group spends only 31 percent of…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 01/17/2008

Surprise, surprise! The Europeans don’t like market economics. That’s hardly startling news. But it turns out that the educational system works overtime to demonize free…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/16/2008

Clayton Cramer points out that most people classified as poor by the federal government are actually not poor at all. Most people below the…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/16/2008

The ACLU insists that sex in public restroom stalls is protected by "privacy", even though such activity creates a very uncomfortable environment for those…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/16/2008

If you live in Northern Virginia or Hampton Roads, you are now subject to a big tax increase if you sell your home. The 2007…

• By: Clyde Wayne Crews
• 01/16/2008

Too little in today’s environmentalism is about bringing environmental amenities into the realm of wealth creation and private stewardship required to actually protect them. “…

• By: Angela Logomasini
• 01/15/2008

If you are not on Junkscience.com’s, daily email, you might want to sign up. This daily dispatch sends along nuggets of good information and…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 01/15/2008

Thor Halvorssen's wonderful Human Rights Foundation has published an important new report on Bolivian president Evo Morales' efforts to introduce a system of…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 01/15/2008

Have you ever had a steak so excellent, you wish you could eat it more than once? How about a milkshake to good, you wish…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 01/15/2008

EU is giving itself permission to set price floors according to EU Trade Comissioner Peter Mandelson. Norway recently complained to World Trade Organization that…

• By: Fran Smith
• 01/15/2008

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is great at getting publicity for its animal liberation activities.

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/15/2008

Over the past decade, property taxes in Northern Virginia have skyrocketed along with assessments. Taxes have increased to the point that taxes in Northern…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 01/15/2008

What will the world look like in a century? Imagine asking that question in 1900. And in 1800. The world would have changed in so…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 01/15/2008

Access to health care has become a big political issue in the U.S. And it’s a legitimate issue. The American system is a bizarre mish-mash…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/15/2008

One of the most reprehensible hours in TV history occurred on March 18, 2001 -- the airing of the fourth episode of "The Lone…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/15/2008

Monday’s episode of The History Channel’s “Modern Marvels” focuses on that most essential of elements, without which not even life is possible: carbon. The show kicks off…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/14/2008

The Toronto Star recently summarized the Top 10 false health scares outlined by the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH). Many such…

• By: John Berlau
• 01/14/2008

For the past few political seasons, diehard political buffs will frequently visit one site to get the latest info on various races and campaigns:…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/14/2008

Andrew Walker for “Asking for pet care advice from Michael Vick.” A signed copy of The Big Ripoff will soon be making its…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/14/2008

The American Bar Association has never been reluctant to urge the Supreme Court to overturn existing precedent, if the precedent at issue offends politically correct…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 01/14/2008

Norwegians have been shooked to their core as the queen of the Labor movement and former Norwegian prime minister has been caught receiving free…

• By: Angela Logomasini
• 01/14/2008

A recent article on a garbage crisis in Naples Italy confirms what I’ve always believed—such trash crises all have roots in government planning. Nations…

• By: Angela Logomasini
• 01/14/2008

I never knew there were so many shades to a light bulb! But since Congress has basically banned incandescent light bulbs in favor of “energy-efficient”…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 01/14/2008

The Netherlands is officially on my list of countries with cool research and development of alternative energy sources. I have previously written about nightclubs…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 01/14/2008

I doubt eco-terrorist Jose Bove’s decision to hunger strike earlier this month actually had an impact, but the French have now imposed a…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 01/14/2008

Climate change is used to justify the most insane political decisions, but for once it is used for a sensible decision. Although there is no…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/14/2008

State legislatures recently banned the slaughter of horses for human consumption. The net result, according to The New York Times, is that rather than…