The Open Market Blog

• By: Richard Morrison
• 10/19/2007

Normally I’m a fan of celebrity chef Mario Batali. His appearances on Iron Chef America are always entertaining, and he’s got a great sense…

• By: Marlo Lewis, Jr.
• 10/19/2007

In this post, I comment on Renewable Fuels Association President Bob Dinneen's opening statement, “America's Energy Future Is at a Crossroads,” at this week's “Cellulosic…

• By: Hans Bader
• 10/19/2007

My earlier post about the incompetence of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which generally fails to detect explosive ingredients and fake bombs, was understated.

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 10/19/2007

Today's Financial Times has an -- unintentionally -- hilarious op ed by James Wilsdon of the think tank Demos, on how Muslim societies…

• By: Hans Bader
• 10/19/2007

The administration of Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius has blocked a new power plant from being built, despite looming energy shortages, because, like virtually all…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 10/19/2007

Hugo Chavez’s insistences notwithstanding, not everyone in Venezuela is enamored of Che Guevara, as Australia’s Herald Sun reports: A GROUP of Venezuelans shattered…

• By: Julie Walsh
• 10/19/2007

In “Housing Construction Plunges” (Examiner, October 18, 2007), the author, Martin Crutsinger, correctly identifies the reasons for the current problems in the ever-important housing…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 10/19/2007

Neil Clark, who usually writes for the Guardian, on his blog, mocks what he calls another commenter’s “over the top” Che Guevara analogy. And…

• By: Hans Bader
• 10/19/2007

Since the government took over aviation security since 9/11, security has actually gotten worse. Fake bombs usually pass undetected by the Transportation Security Administration…

• By: Michelle Minton
• 10/19/2007

The upholding of Bush’s SCHIP veto is no big victory for spending control. As reported in Time magazine online on Wednesday, Bush wasn’t exactly…

• 10/18/2007

Today, the House Natural Resources Committee is considering the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act, sponsored by Representatives Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Christopher Shays (R-CT).

• By: Angela Logomasini
• 10/18/2007

Today’s USA Today reports on the growing trend among city lawmakers to tax, ban, and otherwise regulate bottled water. CEI recently highlighted the absurdity…

• By: Hans Bader
• 10/18/2007

The House of Representatives just failed to override Bush’s veto of a bill that would have greatly expanded the cost and scope of the…

• By: Hans Bader
• 10/18/2007

The Financial Times has an article on how the agricultural subsidies contained in the Farm Bill seemingly promote obesity by encouraging the production and…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 10/18/2007

Alex, I mostly agree with your post but, well, I think that private enforcement of law in Medieval Iceland is an example of exactly…

• By: Hans Bader
• 10/18/2007

CEI’s The Nation’s Top Ten Worst State Attorneys General described how wealthy trial lawyers like the indicted Milberg Weiss law firm have bankrolled state…

• By: Michelle Minton
• 10/18/2007

Today the house is expected to vote to override President Bush’s veto of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program bill—which would increase the funding by…

• By: Hans Bader
• 10/18/2007

Michael Cannon lists the nine cardinal sins of the federal SCHIP health care program, whose exploding costs led President Bush to veto a…

• By: Hans Bader
• 10/17/2007

The federal Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia recently upheld an FCC ruling that deregulated high-speed internet service over traditional phone lines. The…

• By: Iain Murray
• 10/17/2007

This one takes the cake. If there was a Nobel Prize for Absurd Assertions (hmmm, perhaps there is) RFK Jr would win it hands down…

• By: Hans Bader
• 10/17/2007

The Wall Street Journal has an editorial today discussing all the ways that expanded ethanol production resulting from costly federal ethanol subsidies is harming…

• By: Iain Murray
• 10/17/2007

He didn’t win the Eleanor Roosevelt prize this year. But somebody equally worthy did.

• By: Hans Bader
• 10/17/2007

Mortgage lenders face a Hobson’s Choice. When a lender doesn’t provide mortgage loans to people in high-crime areas with high default rates, that’s considered racist…

• By: Hans Bader
• 10/17/2007

At Slate, Tim Wu explores how the federal criminal code has become so vast that almost anyone can be prosecuted for violating some obscure…

• By: Alex Nowrasteh
• 10/17/2007

Reuters released a story today about Professor Eric Maskin, one of three American economists to receive the Nobel prize for economics. In it…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 10/17/2007

A world where there’s not enough electricity. This story I found in the Philadelphia Inquirer this weekend is a view into where life will…

• By: Hans Bader
• 10/16/2007

As I explain below, federal meddling will merely delay the mortgage meltdown and make the ultimate implosion of the mortgage industry all the worse.

• By: Hans Bader
• 10/16/2007

Mortgage-backed securities have collapsed in value, and aren't worth as much as once thought. That's becoming clear as increasing numbers of homeowners default on their…

• By: Hans Bader
• 10/16/2007

Volunteer fire departments would be endangered by a union-backed bill that has overwhelmingly passed the House of Representatives and now is pending in the…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 10/16/2007

Government finances are suffering, spending on the Iraq war continues to escalate while Social Security and Medicare continue to head over the financial cliff. Yet…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 10/15/2007

Wayne told me about an NPR story about credit unions getting into the payday loan alternative business. My only comment is: Why didn’t they…

• By: Ryan Radia
• 10/15/2007

The white space debate is intensifying, with the National Association of Broadcasters running television ads showing a grandmother watching pixilated football thanks to unlicensed wireless…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 10/15/2007

Wayne emails today with a link to an NPR story about an ominous milestone in U.S. history: The first member of the Baby…

• By: William Yeatman
• 10/15/2007

If Al Gore harbors Presidential ambitions, he would be insane to run in ’08. In the parlance of campaign operatives, Al Gore”‘owns” the global warming…

• By: Hans Bader
• 10/15/2007

James Kirchik has an interesting column on Clarence Thomas and affirmative action in The Los Angeles Times. The Supreme Court justice’s revealing autobiography,…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 10/15/2007

Today’s Washington Post carries a story decrying the growth of bank branches in the District of Columbia. Reporter Paul Schwartzman writes: District officials…

• By: Hans Bader
• 10/15/2007

One of the surest ways to create a budget deficit is to assume that a government health care program can be funded solely by a…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 10/12/2007

For all we know, SLORC may well have been nominated by some sycophant of theirs, but it’ll take us 50 years to find out,…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 10/12/2007

At Reason, Jesse Walker has an amusing guide on “How to Win a Nobel Peace Prize.” He points out three options. The first, “Be…

• By: Michelle Minton
• 10/12/2007

The reasons Al Gore was given the Peace Prize, according to Nobelprize.org, the official website of the Nobel awards, was not because of any…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 10/12/2007

Our very own Marlo Lewis was on CNN this morning (twice!) to inform viewers why Al Gore does not deserve a Nobel Peace Prize. Early…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 10/12/2007

I’ll leave it to others who have thought far more about Al Gore’s work than I have but it’s worth noting that Nobel Peace Prize…

• By: Hans Bader
• 10/12/2007

A committee selected by Norway's socialist legislature has awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Its criteria…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 10/12/2007

I am ashamed to be Norwegian today. The Norwegian Nobel Committee chose to give the prize to a shyster and a bureaucratic ministry of truth.

• By: Ryan Radia
• 10/12/2007

Two lawsuits have been filed over the iPhone, accusing Apple and AT&T of illegal monopolistic behavior. The lawsuit seeks damages because of software Apple…

• By: Hans Bader
• 10/11/2007

The City of Belmont, California has banned smoking in most apartment units as well as in public parks and other public spaces. (In Santa…

• By: Hans Bader
• 10/11/2007

Jacob Sullum writes in Reason about the downside of the FDA tobacco regulation bill. CEI General Counsel Sam Kazman earlier wrote to Congress…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 10/11/2007

Edwin Meese, who served as attorney general under President Reagan, defends again the late President’s rejection of the Law of the Sea Treaty in…

• By: Hans Bader
• 10/11/2007

David Freddoso has an interesting column in National Review Online about the D.C. Government’s lack of concern for crime victims. The District justifies its…

• By: Michelle Minton
• 10/11/2007

The New York Times today reports that Americans are neglecting the health of their teeth more than ever. While the number of dentists…