Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: soybean standards and pain medication limits
The FTC issued its new draft merger guidelines. Meanwhile, agencies issued new regulations ranging from milk marketing to Postal Service snitches. On to the…
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: nuclear debt collection and high airports
The FTC lost another major antitrust case, this time its bid to stop the Microsoft-Activision merger. CPI inflation dropped to 3 percent, though…
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: NASA designations and automatic braking
It was a four-day work week due to Independence Day. Meanwhile, agencies issued new regulations ranging from pot catchers to viticultural areas. On to the…
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: historical captain permits and apricot marketing
The Supreme Court agreed to hear CEI’s Moore v. U.S. tax case in its upcoming term. It also handed down rulings in controversial cases…
Blog
Adam Smith on how trade makes us better people
2023 is the 300th anniversary of Adam Smith’s birth. This post is part of a series highlighting aspects of Smith’s thought that continue to influence…
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: reporting stolen drugs and nuclear tariffs
The 2023 Federal Register is on pace to be the third largest in its 86-year history, behind only Obama and Trump’s midnight rush years in…
Blog
Fed Chair Powell hearing: more to do on inflation
At his semiannual congressional testimony this week, Federal Reserve Chairman Powell hinted that the Fed likely is not done raising interest rates. This comes…
Blog
Das Adam Smith problem? Nein!
2023 is the 300th anniversary of Adam Smith’s birth. This post is part of a series highlighting aspects of Smith’s thought that continue to influence…
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: tart cherry assessments and big cat safety
The House passed two regulatory reform bills, the REINS Act and the Separation of Powers Restoration Act. The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady. Meanwhile,…
Blog
Adam Smith on how to love and be lovely
2023 is the 300th anniversary of Adam Smith’s birth. This post is part of a series highlighting aspects of Smith’s thought that continue to influence…
Blog
The real Adam Smith
2023 is the 300th anniversary of Adam Smith’s birth. This post is part of a series highlighting aspects of Smith’s thought that continue to influence…
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: fireworks shows and cybersecurity subsidies
Russia destroyed a major dam in Ukraine, putting thousands of homes and a nuclear power plant at risk. Former President Donald Trump was indicted again.
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: electric motors and small business loans
Congress and President Biden reached a debt ceiling deal. Texas attorney general and antitrust hawk Ken Paxton was impeached. Meanwhile, agencies issued new regulations ranging…
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: baby formula labels and room air conditioners
Happy Memorial Day, everyone. The Supreme Court upheld property rights in a 9-0 decision in Tyler v. Hennepin County, in which CEI joined…
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: lowfat yogurt and halibut sharing
Debt ceiling negotiations remain stalled, and will likely remain that way until the deadline draws nearer. The Supreme Court left Section 230 intact. A…
Blog
Robert Lucas, economist of possibilities, 1937-2023
Robert Lucas, 85, passed away this week. He was a prominent macroeconomist who won the 1995 economics Nobel. Others have remembered Lucas’s contributions to rationality…
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: toy guns and trophy fisheries
The 2023 Federal Register topped 30,000 pages on May 8. New inflation numbers looked better on the surface, but actually got worse. A new…
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: cloudy guidance documents and potato ledprona
The number of new final regulations this year topped 1,000 last week. It was the rare 3,000-page for the Federal Register, which will likely surpass…
Blog
The week in ridiculous regulations: Oklahoma emissions and Big Creek crayfish
GDP grew by 1.1 percent in the first quarter of 2023. Cable news hosts Tucker Carlson and Don Lemon were both fired. Meanwhile, agencies…
Blog
The week in ridiculous regulations: otter casualties and moving the goalpost
Fox News settled its defamation case over its false reporting on the 2020 election with voting machine maker Dominion. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau…
Blog
Biden Executive Order Harms Transparency
The Biden administration recently issued an Executive Order making major changes to the regulatory system, although almost nobody noticed thanks to culture war drama…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Headline CPI inflation went down slightly, but a deeper look shows that things got slightly worse. Meanwhile, agencies issued new regulations ranging from low-fat…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
An Executive Order from the Biden administration made some of the biggest system-level regulatory changes in years. It raises the threshold for “economically significant”…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Finland, which borders Russia, is joining NATO. Former President Donald Trump was indicted by a grand jury. Meanwhile, agencies issued new regulations ranging…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The Federal Reserve raised the federal funds rate, signaling it intends to hold firm on fighting inflation. Meanwhile, agencies issued new regulations ranging from…
Blog
Fed Credibility Depends on it Continuing to Raise Rates
Today’s federal funds rate hike is good news because it signals commitment. That will help the public to expect the Fed to continue to…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Silicon Valley Bank’s failure was the confluence of bad management and bad regulations. It could also complicate the Fed’s inflation-fighting efforts. Meanwhile, agencies…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
President Biden released a $6.8 trillion proposed budget. The labor force grew by 311,000 people in February. Meanwhile, agencies issued new regulations ranging…
Blog
Regulatory Reform in the 118th Congress: The ALERT Act
Transparency is a vital part of good government. It is also lacking in the regulatory process. H.R. 262, The All Economic Regulations are Transparent…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
CEI published a new paper on right-to-repair legislation and held a hill briefing about regulatory reform and other topics. Meanwhile, agencies issued new…
Blog
Regulatory Reform Bills in the 118th Congress: The Article I Regulatory Budget Act
The federal government is supposed to put out an annual budget to track its spending. Why doesn’t it do the same thing for regulation? The…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Last Friday marked the one-year anniversary of Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. CEI released a new paper on the FTC’s upcoming merger guideline…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The 2023 Federal Register topped 10,000 pages on February 16. Inflation remained high, but is still below its peak. FTC Commissioner Christine Wilson…
Blog
The Judiciary Is Skeptical of FTC Power Grabs in Meta/Within Case
The FTC tried to stop a merger between Facebook’s parent company Meta and the virtual reality app developer Within Unlimited. A court recently ruled against…
Blog
New CEI Paper on New Merger Guidelines
Any day now, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will release new merger guidelines. FTC Chair Lina Khan has not yet released a draft of the…
Blog
Regulatory Reform Bills in the 118th Congress: The Less Is More Resolution
Often, spending is regulation in disguise. The 185,000-page Code of Federal Regulations is not the only way Washington regulates the economy. The federal government…
Blog
Regulatory Reform Bills in the 118th Congress: The GOOD Act
Regulatory dark matter is a serious problem. Agencies are supposed to run new regulations through a formal process which includes publishing a draft version of…
Blog
Mixed Inflation News for January
Today’s inflation news is mixed. We’re still almost certainly past the worst of the COVID inflation, but January’s numbers took a turn for the…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
An earthquake killed at least 20,000 people in Turkey. President Biden delivered the State of the Union speech. Meanwhile, agencies issued new regulations ranging from…
Blog
Regulatory Reform Bills in the 118th Congress: The REINS Act
Every new session of Congress is a new chance to enact substantive regulatory reform. This post inaugurates an occasional series highlighting reform bills that have…
Blog
State of the Union and Inflation
Presidents, like quarterbacks, get too much blame when things go badly, and too much when things go well. Look for President Biden to take advantage…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) had a setback in one of its cases against Meta. The Fed raised interest rates. Meanwhile, agencies…
Blog
FTC Should Not Trade Consumer Welfare for an Antitrust Crystal Ball
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The Department of Justice filed another antitrust lawsuit against Google. GDP numbers for the final quarter of 2022 looked healthy. Meanwhile, agencies issued new regulations…
Blog
Adam Smith, Greek Tragedy, and Public Policy
In high school civics classes, Adam Smith is a cartoon character. Like Mr. Burns from The Simpsons, he is portrayed as selfish, cold, and calculating.
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The U.S. government hit its debt ceiling, setting up some congressional drama. Microsoft and Google joined the parade of antitrust targets announcing layoffs despite…
Blog
The Debt Ceiling and the Trillion-Dollar Coin
Another debt ceiling battle is brewing, and pundits are debating what to do about it. Over at National Review’ Capital Matters, I take a look…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Inflation fell to a 6.5 percent annual pace. Supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro staged their own version of January 6. An…
Blog
Federal Reserve Declines to Become Climate Regulator
Most agencies can either do one thing well or many things poorly. For example, the Federal Reserve would be perfectly capable of keeping inflation low…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The new Congress began with a lot of drama over selecting a speaker. The Federal Trade Commission announced its intention to ban non-compete clauses.
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations – Year-End 2022
Happy new year, everyone. Year-end totals for 2022’s new regulations are in. The 2022 Federal Register weighs in at 80,756 pages. It includes 3,168 final…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
A massive snowstorm with heavy winds hit most of the U.S. just in time for Christmas. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy traveled to Washington and addressed…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
CEI released its latest Agenda for Congress. Inflation slowed down in November, though there is still a ways to go before it’s…
Blog
Agenda for Congress: Inflation
CEI’s Agenda for Congress is out now. This post summarizes its recommendations for inflation. Since inflation is mostly a monetary phenomenon, it is…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
A former president called for terminating the U.S. Constitution. Socialism failed again, this time in Peru. Congress passed a bill to protect…
Blog
Gas Prices Are Lower than a Year Ago: What Does that Mean for Inflation?
Even with inflation near 40-year highs, gas prices are lower than a year ago, and not just in real, inflation-adjusted terms. They’re lower even…
Blog
Regulatory Reform in Mississippi
Washington isn’t the only place that needs regulatory reform. States have their own excesses to deal with. To that end, our friends at the Mississippi…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The World Cup is underway in Qatar and the labor market had another good month. Meanwhile, agencies issued new regulations ranging from canola oil jet…
Blog
Retro Review: George Selgin, Less Than Zero: The Case for a Falling Price Level in a Growing Economy (Institute of Economic Affairs, 1997)
This year, inflation reached levels not seen in 40 years. The Federal Reserve spent most of 2022 trying to undo its runaway money creation in…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
We hope everyone enjoyed Thanksgiving and/or Black Friday. Meanwhile, agencies issued new regulations ranging from nuclear drug tests to food tracing. On to the data:…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The 2022 Federal Register surpassed 70,000 pages on Friday, and is on pace for 79,617 pages. The first Artemis moon mission rocket launched. The…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The midterm elections happened, and most of us (sorry, Georgia) are finally free of misleading, scaremongering political ads. Inflation slowed down slightly. Meanwhile,…
Blog
October Inflation Slightly Improves: Time for Less Politics and More Policy
Thank goodness the election is over. One of the frustrating parts of midterm season was that many people were more interested in how inflation would…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The Federal Reserve raised the federal funds rate again, though it remains less than the rate of inflation. Employment increased by 261,000 in…
Blog
Federal Reserve Raises Interest Rate; Uncertainty Strengthens Case for a Policy Rule
As expected, the Federal Reserve raised the federal funds rate by 0.75 percentage points coming out of this week’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC)…
Blog
Retro Review: Jared Diamond—Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies (Norton, 1997)
In 1972, Jared Diamond was researching bird evolution in New Guinea. While walking along a beach, he had an hour-long conversation with a local politician…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Happy Halloween! CEI released the latest edition of Wayne Crews’s Ten Thousand Commandments report, which gives a big-picture overview of the federal regulatory state.
Blog
New Whole-of-Government Initiative on Junk Fees Comes with Unintended Consequences
Today the Biden administration announced a new whole-of-government initiative on junk fees from airlines and other industries. The news comes on the same day…
Blog
Ten Thousand Commandments 2022 Released
The 2022 edition of Wayne Crews’s Ten Thousand Commandments report is out now. Now in its 28th year, it has its usual panoply of…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Just two more weeks until the relentless barrage of misleading election ads goes away. The Energy Information Administration warned that heating bills could get…
Blog
Policy and Politics Are Different Things
What is more important this election: The culture wars or policy issues like inflation? In an op-ed as part of a point-counterpoint series from…
Blog
Not a Policy Paper, Just a Thought: Anti-Merger Mania
What is the correct number of corporate mergers that should be allowed? The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) thinks it knows the answer: less. It has…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Inflation took a turn for the worse and the January 6 Committee voted to subpoena former President Trump over his role in the…
Blog
CPI Rises 0.4 Percent in September, 8.2 Percent over Past Year
September’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation numbers came out this morning, and they aren’t pretty. The month-to-month increase was 0.4 percent, after rising just…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Aaron Judge finished the baseball season with 62 home runs, setting a new American League season record. President Biden pardoned the sentences of all…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Blog
Troubling Inflation News: Core PCE Increases 0.6 Percent
The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation indicator, Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE), was updated this morning with August’s numbers. PCE measures inflation more accurately than the…
Blog
The Jones Act vs. Puerto Rico, Again
Puerto Rico is almost entirely without power after Hurricane Fiona. Right now, there is a ship just offshore, ready to help. It has…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The Federal Reserve raised the federal funds rate by 75 basis points, with more increases likely to come. Meanwhile, agencies issued new regulations ranging…
Blog
Fed Raises Federal Funds Rate
As expected, the Federal Reserve raised the federal funds rate by 75 basis points as part of its inflation-fighting efforts. Its target range will…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
CEI hosted its annual Julian Simon dinner on Thursday. The Consumer Price Index gave a mixed picture of inflation. A railroad strike was…
Blog
FTC Hearing on Vaping Case Shows Antitrust at its Worst
Earlier this week, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) held a public hearing about a seemingly resolved antitrust case about the vaping market. In 2018,…
Blog
Virtual Reality and the Relevant Market Fallacy
The relevant market fallacy is one of the most common analytical mistakes in antitrust policy. One of the first legal questions in an antitrust…
Blog
Mixed News on CPI: Headline Rate Improves, Core Rate Accelerates
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for August is out. It increased 8.3 percent over the last year, down from 8.5 percent in July. The…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Queen Elizabeth II passed away at age 96. Meanwhile, in a four-day week, agencies issued new regulations ranging from St. Louis bridges to Atlantic krill…
Blog
Fed Chairman Powell’s Remarks at Cato Monetary Conference
Every year, our friends at the Cato Institute hold a monetary policy conference. This year’s conference opened with Cato President Peter Goettler interviewing Federal…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The labor market continues to look strong, and the Federal Trade Commission lost its attempt to keep an early cancer-detection test off the…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
President Biden announced partial student loan forgiveness for people earning up to $125,000. The number of new final regulations this year topped 2,000. Meanwhile, agencies…
Blog
The Fed’s Preferred Inflation Measure Improves, Mixed Picture on Consumer Spending
Two new economic indicators published Friday morning give reason for cautious optimism. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is the inflation measure that gets the…
Blog
Student Loan Forgiveness Is Regressive, Will Increase Tuition
When the Inflation Reduction Act passed, I pointed out that its $300 billion in tax increases and spending cuts would not begin to phase…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The 2022 Federal Register surpassed 50,000 pages last week. Meanwhile, agencies issued new regulations ranging from hearing aids to vessel repair duties. On to the…
Blog
CDC Restructuring Shows that Institutions Matter
One of my policy mantras is that institutions matter. That’s why the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) restructuring announcement is big…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The FBI raided former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. Meanwhile, agencies issued new regulations ranging from street markings to salmonella prevention. On to the…
Blog
CPI Gives Reason for Cautious Optimism on Inflation
Inflation may finally be coming down. July’s month-to-month Consumer Price Index (CPI) increase dropped to zero last month, down from 1.3 percent in June. The…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The Inflation Reduction Act, which would not reduce inflation, is now expected to pass after Sen. Kyrsten Sinema agreed to sign on. Meanwhile, agencies issued…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
GDP shrank, the Federal Reserve increased the federal funds rate, the Senate passed the CHIPS+ Act to subsidize chipmakers, and the Build…
Blog
The Facebook Antitrust Case Is Aging Poorly
Antitrust cases often take years to litigate. While wasteful, this isn’t always a bad thing. The politics surrounding a case might stay the same, but…
Blog
Getting Inflation Wrong and Making It Right
Everyone makes mistakes. Owning up to them is an underrated life skill that is almost non-existent among political pundits. Doubling down when threatened is a…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
President Biden signed the FORMULA Act, which will temporarily suspend baby formula tariffs and other regulatory measures that made the formula shortage worse. Footage emerged…
Blog
Former Trade Official Opposes Minor Tariff Relief
Now that former President Trump’s China tariffs are four years old, a mandatory review process is underway. President Biden has indicated he might lift…