The Open Market Blog

• By: Lene Johansen
• 12/26/2007

Monsanto has talked the federal government into giving farmers a break on their crop insurance if they use crops that produce pesticides. If other…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 12/26/2007

There may be no less appreciated industry than insurance.  We hate paying for it and hope never to use it.  If we make a claim,…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 12/26/2007

Now the Italian food police are after my cultural heritage! The Italian version of FDA is concerned that Swedish gingerbread has too high levels…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 12/26/2007

I have an issue with this holiday fuzzy feeling piece from Marketplace, because the anchor’s intro goes as follows: “Crisco is a staple in…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 12/26/2007

Mercury is illegal in Norway from January 1, 2008, or so they want us to think. The Minister of the Environment duly noted the…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 12/26/2007

The Associated Press reports that a New York state judge has dismissed an airline industry suit against the state’s newly enacted Airline Passenger Bill…

• By: Hans Bader
• 12/25/2007

Most non-white Canadians suffer from Vitamin D deficiency, putting them at risk of cancer, osteoporosis, and diabetes, according to the Toronto Globe and Mail. …

• By: Hans Bader
• 12/25/2007

In Saturday’s Washington Post, I have a letter discussing class-action lawsuit abuses.  It discusses how class-action lawsuit “settlements intended to benefit consumers get paid instead…

• By: Hans Bader
• 12/21/2007

Earlier, I wrote about Exxon’s challenge to a $2.5 billion punitive damage award against it (in the Exxon Valdez oil spill case) that appeared…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 12/21/2007

It turns out that Britain's National Health Service isn't very healthy for babies or other living things. Reports the Guardian: Scores of premature babies…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 12/21/2007

Make sure to take a look today at Tim Carney’s latest Friday column for the DC Examiner, this time on the travesty of an…

• By: Cord Blomquist
• 12/20/2007

Eliot Spitzer, 3rd worst state attorney general in 2006 according to a CEI report by Hans Bader, is showing just how incompetent he can…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 12/20/2007

Well, now. Europe has been lecturing the U.S. about the issue of global warming. But it appears that the EU isn’t prepared to wreck its…

• By: Hans Bader
• 12/20/2007

Earlier, I wrote about the municipal bond insurance scam, in which financially shaky “insurers” receive a fee for “insuring” the bonds of credit-worthy municipalities…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 12/18/2007

The Federal Communications Commission today scored a victory for freedom of the press. In this case, the freedom to own both a newspaper and a…

• By: Alex Nowrasteh
• 12/18/2007

We all know the Post Office is a lackadaisical and inefficient behemoth, but I never thought it was this bad!…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 12/18/2007

If you’re a Brit waiting for care under the National Health Service, relief may be at hand. Reports the Times of London: Patients will…

• By: Hans Bader
• 12/18/2007

The American Tort Reform Association has just issued its Judicial Hellholes 2007 report, an annual summary of the nation's most unfair civil court…

• By: Marlo Lewis, Jr.
• 12/18/2007

Al Gore says his high-carbon life-style of private jets, limousines, and four residences--including a mansion that consumers more energy in a month than the average…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 12/18/2007

Chris gives up the straight story on what happened at those big UN global warming negotiation in Bali last week.

• By: Doug Bandow
• 12/17/2007

It’s nice to work at a place where the budget is no object. That isn’t the case at most businesses. Sadly, it isn’t the case…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 12/17/2007

This past weekend, I watched Juno. It’s the best film I’ve seen this year. (I’m not alone: Roger Ebert also loves it.) The film…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 12/17/2007

The standard left-wing argument against tax rate reductions is that doing so will starve government of needed revenue. That, of course, is the best reason…

• By: Hans Bader
• 12/17/2007

In the D.C. Examiner, Mark Tapscott has an interesting column about class action lawsuits. A common outcome of such suits is that the lawyers…

• By: John Berlau
• 12/16/2007

While much of the media attention has focused on National Review‘s recent editorial endorsing GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, another of the magazine’s editorials may…

• By: Cord Blomquist
• 12/14/2007

Google Policy Fellows will have the opportunity to work at public interest organizations at the forefront of debates on broadband and access policy, content regulation,…

• By: Angela Logomasini
• 12/14/2007

“‘Tomorrow is Christmas! It's practically here!' Then he [the Grinch] growled, with his grinch fingers nervously drumming, I MUST find a way to keep Christmas…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 12/14/2007

Tim Carney continues to expose the ways in which some businesses seek rents from government, in his DC Examiner column. In this instance, he…

• By: Hans Bader
• 12/14/2007

Inadequate exposure to the sun kills at least 50,000 to 60,000 people per year in the United States alone, university researchers say. We’ve all…

• By: Cord Blomquist
• 12/14/2007

During the course of promoting the recent paper I co-wrote with Eli Lehrer, I have come across the same question/complaint from gamers: Why have two…

• By: Cord Blomquist
• 12/13/2007

This week, CEI published a study written by me and Eli Lehrer on entertainment ratings. The paper covers six forms of media: movies,…

• By: Hans Bader
• 12/12/2007

Earlier, I wrote about the racist "diversity" consultant Glenn Singleton, who is hired by school officials, like the Arlington, Virginia schools, despite…

• By: Michelle Minton
• 12/12/2007

Chicago's Health Committee is set to vote on a measure this afternoon that would prohibit residents from owning chickens as pets. Alderwoman Lona Lane,…

• By: Fran Smith
• 12/11/2007

In its lead editorial today, the Wall Street Journal cited Environmental Working Group’s farm subsidy database to show the vast amount of farm subsidies…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 12/11/2007

Just in time for the multi-holiday shopping season, Bureaucrash is here to solve all of your gift-giving needs. Tell that special someone how much you…

• By: Hans Bader
• 12/11/2007

Former New York Knicks executive Anucha Browne Sanders has settled her sexual harassment case against Madison Square Garden for $11.5 million. A jury found…

• By: William Yeatman
• 12/11/2007

Richard McGregor reports in today’s Financial Times that the China’s energy demand continues to skyrocket, growing at an annual rate of 16.2 % so…

• By: Hans Bader
• 12/10/2007

The mortgage bailout proposed by the Treasury Secretary will just makes things worse in the future, explains Bill Fleckenstein at MSN’s Money Central. Similarly,…

• By: Hans Bader
• 12/10/2007

Sunday’s Washington Post contained a story about how current congressional leaders, who have belatedly criticized the Bush administration for using degrading interrogation techniques tantamount to…

• By: Fran Smith
• 12/10/2007

Today, as the Senate is scheduled to continue consideration of a new farm bill, The Washington Post features an editorial criticizing the bill and…

• By: William Yeatman
• 12/10/2007

According to the Daily Mail, Al Gore left a London audience wanting more after one of his $6,000/minute climate speech. To be sure, the…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 12/10/2007

Al Gore is in Oslo to receive his Nobel Peace Prize for misinforming the rest of us about global warming. Doesn’t he understand that…

• By: Cord Blomquist
• 12/10/2007

I blogged about Greenpeace’s quarterly report on Green-Tech last week, noting that the way they display their data is manipulative, but…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 12/10/2007

Air travel accounts for about three percent of greenhouse gases, so even if you think the planet is warming out of control, grounding all planes…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 12/10/2007

The myth of nationalized health care is that it provides everyone with equal and inexpensive care. Alas, in the real world the only way…