The Open Market Blog

• By: Hans Bader
• 09/25/2007

You can’t board a plane or enter many courthouses without having some form of photo identification. But you can vote in many states without identification…

• By: Hans Bader
• 09/25/2007

Congress may be on the verge of increasing tobacco taxes to expand the federal SCHIP health care program so that it covers not only low-income…

• By: Fran Smith
• 09/25/2007

Finally, some Democrats have come out strongly in favor of the pending Latin American trade agreements. Though don’t give them too much credit for…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 09/24/2007

Organized Labor made its intention clear to reverse the National Labor Relations Board's "Kentucy River" decision, which clarified the definition of "supervisor" in the context…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 09/24/2007

The BBC reports that despite some government prodding — though subtle by Chinese standards — Beijing drivers largely ignored “National No Car Day,” China’s…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 09/24/2007

Yellow Day Brigade is a punk band that takes a decidedly unfashionable pro-freedom political stance, or as they call it, “Music consistent with the…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 09/24/2007

In the current issue of The Economist, the anonymous Charlemagne column outlines the fundamental differences between the regulatory philosophies that guide the United States…

• By: Alex Nowrasteh
• 09/24/2007

The Globalization Institute, a Brussels based think tank, has recommended the EU require all PCs to be sold without preloaded operating systems such…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 09/24/2007

This Thursday, September 27, Denver Post columnist David Harsanyi will talk about his new book, Nanny State: How Food Fascists, Teetotaling Do-Gooders, Priggish…

• By: Hans Bader
• 09/24/2007

NASA’s James Hansen has called those who are skeptical of his alarmist predictions about global warming “court jesters.” But he himself apparently used to believe…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 09/24/2007

The Washington Post reports today that Unisys Corporation is under investigation for its failures to detect intrusions into government networks. I’m not surprised. Prior…

• By: Hans Bader
• 09/24/2007

Motions to dismiss a lawsuit against God by Nebraska State Senator Ernie Chambers have been filed. Lawsuits against God have tended to be dismissed…

• By: Cord Blomquist
• 09/24/2007

I saw In the Shadow of the Moon, Ron Howard’s new documentary about the Apollo program, yesterday evening and have done some looking into…

• By: Hans Bader
• 09/24/2007

A Columbia University dean, John Coatsworth, has defended his university’s invitation to Iran’s anti-American ruler, Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, by saying that it would have been equally…

• By: William Yeatman
• 09/24/2007

If you happen to catch Arnold Schwarzenegger’s speech to the U.N. on climate change today, please remember as you listen that the governator is full…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 09/24/2007

The government wants you to go deer-hunting. Go ahead. Take a day off. It’s on your employer. Well, Uncle Sam doesn’t quite put it that…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 09/24/2007

Government is a lot like a second marriage, the triumph of hope over experience. We create a program. Thieves loot it. Special interests manipulate it.

• By: Cord Blomquist
• 09/23/2007

Check out this great cartoon about the virtues of capitalism. Turns out that at one point Americans (or at least American animators) knew that…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 09/21/2007

Fran – I certainly agree with your response to the promotional video for Naomi Klein’s new anti-capitalist manifesto – loco indeed. At one point…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 09/21/2007

Mining giant Barrick Gold has recently announced a fascinating challenge to would-be mining engineers of the world: if you can think up a new…

• By: Hans Bader
• 09/21/2007

While Columbia University and its president, the pompous Lee Bollinger, were giving a big welcome to Iranian despot (and former hostage-taker) Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who…

• By: Fran Smith
• 09/21/2007

You have to see this video to believe it — it’s a YouTube promo for Naomi “No logo” Klein’s new book,…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 09/21/2007

Fans of Sid Meier’s classic video game Civilization are framiliar to the challenge of designing an entire society, God-like from above. Fans of energy…

• By: Fran Smith
• 09/21/2007

Cécile Philippe of L’Institut économique Molinari in Brussels has a new article — “Sommes-nous sur la bonne voie pour répondre aux défis environnementaux?”—or…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 09/21/2007

I don’t know what to make of it but DeSmog Blog–which seems pretty alarmist–reports that Dr. Klaus-Martin Schulte’s analysis of Global Warming journal articles…

• By: Michelle Minton
• 09/21/2007

All you Columbia rejects out there dig out your “we regret to inform you” letters and plaque them up on the wall. Take it as…

• By: Cord Blomquist
• 09/21/2007

Despite ICANN’s protests, the .su top-level domain remains for sale. That’s right you can still get a Soviet Union top-level domain and now the…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 09/20/2007

This year’s “World Carfree Day,” the sanctimonious ritual of environmentalist Lenten self-denial, is on a Saturday.

• By: Michelle Minton
• 09/20/2007

The FDA wants your money—it needs your money if it is to continue poorly regulating the safety of drugs and killing citizens by stalling the…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 09/20/2007

If you’re an Australian Labour Party supporter with more money than sense, it appears that the answer is yes. By the way, one wonders…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 09/20/2007

Wall Street Journal science columnist Robert Lee Hotz has a fascinating profile of epidemiologist John Ioannidis and his view that because of unacknowledged biases…

• By: Hans Bader
• 09/20/2007

The House has just passed a bill to increase the size and expense of the federal Food and Drug Administration. The bill would impose…

• By: Fran Smith
• 09/20/2007

Both Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson cautioned today that steps to raise conforming loan limits for Fannie Mae and Freddie…

• By: Hans Bader
• 09/20/2007

The Santa Cruz, California, City Council is waiving its ban on smoking in public parks on September 29 so that marijuana can be smoked…

• By: Cord Blomquist
• 09/20/2007

USA Today reports that Municipal Wi-Fi plans across the nation continue to collapse under the pressure of economic reality. Schemes such as those proposed…

• By: Cord Blomquist
• 09/20/2007

Following the EU Court of First Instance decision in the Microsoft antitrust appeal I appeared on Mark Carbonaro’s radio program on 1460 KION in Monterey,…

• By: Angela Logomasini
• 09/20/2007

Cheers to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) in the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Yesterday, it released a…

• By: Fran Smith
• 09/20/2007

Eli’s post on internet co-ops referring to Wayne’s post about broadband infrastructure got my mind whirring about other examples of cooperatives — housing…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 09/20/2007

Arrr. Shiver me timbers! Why hasn’t CEI done more t’ celebrate Talk Like a Pirate Day? Only one post? Although Seafarin’ heartys be, fer…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 09/19/2007

At the movies this week, during the previews before the excellent The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, I watched the trailer for…

• By: Cord Blomquist
• 09/19/2007

As the US and EU regulators bear down on Google we’re already seeing changes in the marketplace where the Googlers currently have the lead. Yahoo!…

• By: Fran Smith
• 09/19/2007

A New York Times editorial today (free access began today) points out some of the unintended consequences of corn ethanol subsidies and restrictive tariffs…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 09/19/2007

Like seemingly ever other magazine these days, Parenting is going green, with an essay contest in which parents describe changes they’ve made at home…

• By: Julie Walsh
• 09/19/2007

Over six and a half billion dollars were given to environmental groups in 2006, according to the June 28, 2007 issue of “Chronicle of…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 09/19/2007

Wayne’s post got me thinking. Yes, of course, its absurd for Sen. Byron Dorgan to say that consumers somehow own fiber “pipes” that clearly…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 09/19/2007

Wayne has reminded us here at Open Market that today marks the observance of an important holiday, Talk Like a Pirate Day (if…

• By: Clyde Wayne Crews
• 09/19/2007

I don’t think it would lessen the car’s horsepower any. Anyhow—enjoy The Six-Volt Battery Hack.

• By: Julie Walsh
• 09/18/2007

A September 18, 2007 article by Troy Lennon in the Daily Telegraph, Sydney about the Northwest Passage, the “trip that caused the toughest to…

• By: Fran Smith
• 09/18/2007

Surprise, surprise. Farmers can do better without federal government subsidies, price supports, quota systems, and other Depression-era programs that constrain competition and expansion. Today, the…

• By: Clyde Wayne Crews
• 09/18/2007

From the “nut neutrality” department. At the Future of Music Coalition Policy Summit yesterday (very excellent events, by the way), Sen. Byron Dorgan had…