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Right to Work Is Right for Missouri
Private-sector workers in states without right to work laws can still be forced to pay fees to a union they vehemently disagree with, even…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The big regulatory news is a proposed loosening of fuel economy standards for cars. This will likely improve safety; lighter cars don’t hold up…
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Carbon Taxers in Full Retreat in Canada
New Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced on August 2nd his government was filing suit in Ontario’s Court of Appeal challenging the Canadian federal government’s…
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Massachusetts Passes Scaled-Down Green Energy Bill
A massive green energy and climate bill passed by the Massachusetts Senate was scaled back considerably in negotiations with the House before being passed…
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Mileage Rule for New Cars Everything Free Marketers Hoped
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on August 2nd proposed to revise Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards and…
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New Jobs Numbers Suggest There’s More Work to Do on Free-Market Reform
At an unemployment rate of 3.9%, it should be expected that job growth will slow. Employers around the country are reporting that they are unable…
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Federal Charters May Remove Interest Rate Uncertainty for Fintech Firms
The July 31 policy statement by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announcing that it will now grant “special purpose national…
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Debunking the (Plastic) Straw Man Arguments
Of all the consumer products one might have expected to become a flashpoint for political controversy, the humble plastic drinking straw is an unlikely contender.
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Will Trump Auto Rule End California’s Regulation of Fuel Economy?
The Trump administration is expected tomorrow to release its proposed revisions of the Obama administration’s Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) and motor vehicle greenhouse…
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Finance Regulators Create New National Charter for Innovative ‘Fintech’ Companies
After years of speculation, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announced Tuesday that it would begin considering applications for special purpose…
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The Platform Economy Can Change the World
Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute launches its new video about the platform economy. Platforms are an ancient way of doing business—think of matchmakers, city fairs,…
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Employee Rights Act Strengthens Worker Choice
Public employees are no longer required to pay fees to a union as a condition of employment. This newfound freedom was secured by the United…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The economy grew by 4.1 percent last quarter, which is wonderful news. The president also announced $12 billion of subsides for farmers hurt…
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New York State’s Flawed Online Lending Report
Earlier this month, the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) released a study of online lending, including findings and recommendations for changes in…
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Final Repeal of Obama-era Clean Power Plan Expected in 2019
“EPA will not complete a replacement for the Clean Power Plan until at least early next year,” E&E News reported July 27, citing the Environmental…
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Made in Mékhé: An African Entrepreneur Makes the Case for Economic Freedom
When I was in Atlanta last month for the Foundation for Economic Education’s annual conference, FEEcon, I heard a lot of messages of…
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You Don’t Have to Be a Climate Skeptic to Oppose a Carbon Tax
In an op-ed published yesterday by CNS News, I explain why a carbon tax is not a conservative policy. The occasion for the piece…
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Continue Supply-Side Policies to Maintain Economic Growth
As my colleague Ryan Young says, four percent economic growth is wonderful news. It provides yet more evidence that free-market, supply-side policies work, and…
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Federal Employees Fight to Keep No-Show Jobs in Union Lawsuit
Federal employee unions and the Trump administration sparred in court over a set of executive orders that make changes to official time and grievance procedures…
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Driving Innovation: Timbro Index Charts Scope of Global Sharing Economy
The Swedish think tank Timbro has published the first global index of the sharing economy. The Timbro Sharing Economy Index (TSEI) is the…
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Trump’s Trade Meeting with European Commissioner Juncker: Better than Nothing
Many trade-watchers are breathing a sigh of relief about President Trump’s meeting yesterday with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. The result was essentially a…
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White House Budget Director Mulvaney Speaks at CEI Annual Dinner
Mick Mulvaney, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, delivered the keynote address at the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Annual Dinner and…
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House Transportation Chairman Proposes Examining Shift to User Fees for Highway Funding
Rep. Bill Shuster (R-PA), the outgoing chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, this week released a legislative discussion draft of a new infrastructure bill,…
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CEI Releases ‘Authorizing Automated Vehicle Platooning, 2018 Edition’
CEI has released my third annual report on state barriers to vehicle platooning, Authorizing Automated Vehicle Platooning: A Guide for State Legislators, 2018 Edition.
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Trump Proposes $12 Billion in Aid to Farmers Hurt by His Tariffs
As we’ve been saying ever since this issue heated up, tariffs hurt the economy. There’s no way around it. Seeing this harm, President Trump…
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Appeals Court Rules Federal Housing Finance Agency Unconstitutional
Big news out of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals—the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is unconstitutionally structured. The FHFA was created in the wake…
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In U.S. and Australia, Payment Card Price Controls Create Many Unhappy Returns
Eight years ago this month, the Democrat-controlled House and Senate passed and President Barack Obama signed into law the so-called Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The European Union fined Google a record $5 billion for antitrust violations, and the president raised foreign policy kerfuffles with Britain and Russia on…
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Republican Rep. Carlos Curbelo to Introduce Carbon Tax Bill
Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-FL) plans to introduce a bill to tax carbon dioxide emissions next week and will speak at a press conference at 9…
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Federal Judge Dismisses Big Apple Suit against Big Oil
U.S. District Judge John F. Keenan on July 19 dismissed New York City’s climate change lawsuit against British Petroleum, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil, and…
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House Votes for Scalise Resolution Opposing Carbon Taxes
The House of Representative voted on July 19th for a resolution “expressing the sense of Congress that a carbon tax would be detrimental to American…
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Kent Lassman at the Independence Institute: Deregulation in the Trump Administration
The Competitive Enterprise Institute staff often travel to bring the good news of regulatory reform to friends, allies, and interested audiences all across the country, and…
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European Regulators Wrong on Google Fine, Wrong on Antitrust Policy
Dominance and popularity are not the same as a coercive monopoly. The European Commission is behaving in protectionist fashion, not in a manner benefitting consumers,…
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Five Questions for Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection Nominee Kathy Kraninger
Kathy Kraninger, President Trump’s nominee to head the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (formerly known as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or CFPB), will…
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Justice Department Shouldn’t Second-Guess Shareholders in T-Mobile-Sprint Merger
T-Mobile and Sprint—the third and fourth largest mobile carriers in the United States, respectively—are in the process of merging into a single company…
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For Sake of Public Health, FDA Should Not Ban E-cigarette Flavors
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Scott Gotlieb, a medical doctor and cancer survivor, has had a long-term interest in tackling tobacco-related diseases. But unfortunately…
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5 Facts about Vapes that Media and Activists Don’t Want You to Know
The news media and activists like to hype e-cigarettes and flavored tobacco products as a health hazard, but the reality is that e-cigarettes could help…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
It was an uneventful week at regulatory agencies, with a lower-than-usual 51 new final regulations, ranging from skin disability ratings to garage door openers. For more data,…
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Twenty-Two Free Market and Conservative Groups Tell Trump To Ditch the Kigali Amendment
The U.N. Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol on Ozone-Depleting Substances would restrict many of the cheapest and most effective refrigerants now used in home…
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Interior Department Announces Region-wide Gulf of Mexico Oil and Gas Lease Sale
On July 12, Deputy Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt announced that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management will offer approximately 78 million acres offshore…
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Britain’s Brexit Challenge Gets Harder—and It’s Britain’s Fault
Leaving a regional trade bloc is much more difficult than entering it, as the United Kingdom is finding out. The European Union has integrated itself…
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Five Reasons Banning Plastics May Harm the Environment and Consumers
Consumers beware: In response to plastic waste collecting in the oceans, states, businesses, and even the European Union have proposed absurd bans on the use…
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Free Trade Makes Us All Richer (Even If Other Countries Don’t “Play Fair”)
This week my colleague Ryan Young rightly warned that the White House’s newly announced tariffs on Chinese goods will harm Americans consumers and…
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Climate Change, Fossil Fuels, and Human Well Being
Climate campaigners demand ever-greater government control over energy markets, resources, and infrastructure. Many believe the best thing governments can do with fossil energy is “…
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Priorities for DOL’s Office of Labor-Management Standards
The Trump administration recently installed Arthur Rosenfeld as the head of the Department of Labor's Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS), which administers and enforces the…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
America celebrated its 242nd birthday on Wednesday, and new tariffs on $34 billion worth of Chinese goods came into effect on Friday. Meanwhile, during a…
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A Quick Lesson in Antitrust: Netflix and Comcast
Every time a major corporate merger is announced, pundits predictably warn of impending doom if regulators allow it to happen. Yet, pundits and regulators don’t know any…
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VIDEO: Your Next Government? From the Nation State to Stateless Nations
Since the early days of classical civilization, when (a notably imperfect form of) democracy was born, at least some people in the world have…
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Pruitt Leaves EPA Well Positioned to Advance Trump Pro-Growth Agenda
Scott Pruitt resigned as EPA administrator following months of controversy over a growing list of purported administrative improprieties. Ousting Pruitt has been a progressive movement objective from…
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Guidance on How to Curtail Time Federal Employees Spend Performing Union Business
If the Trump administration wants to achieve its stated goal to use tax dollars as effectively as possible, ending the practice known as official time, which…
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Congressional Democrats Seek to Undermine Janus Decision
Despite union hysterics, the Supreme Court's Janus decision does not impede or prohibit public employees’ right to unionize or collectively bargain. Instead, government unions will simply…
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CEI Book Club: Peter Navarro and Greg Autry, Death by China
Trump economic adviser Peter Navarro has a longstanding animus against China. It is important to know Navarro’s thoughts on China. He played a major role…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
It was a newsy week, with Justice Kennedy’s retirement announcement, along with some big Supreme Court decisions, including the Janus decision regarding public sector unions;…
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Environmental Protection Agency to Streamline Permits for Major Projects
In a move that furthers the Trump administration’s goal of reducing unnecessary and duplicative red tape while also helping refocus his agency’s efforts on its…
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Reforming ‘Waters of the United States’ Critical for Economic Growth
The Waters of the United States rule vastly expanded government control over land in America and is one of the prime examples of the…
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Remarks by CEI President Kent Lassman at 2018 Annual Dinner
Remarks by CEI President Kent Lassman at our Annual Dinner and Reception on June 28, 2018, in Washington, D.C. Welcome to the CEI annual dinner. Thank you all for…
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Will The Real Freaks Please Stand Up?
Thanks to everyone who made last night’s annual dinner and reception a great success. Our headliners Mick Mulvaney, Jonah Goldberg, and…
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Federal Judge Dismisses California Cities’ Climate Lawsuit
U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup this week dismissed the climate change lawsuit brought by Oakland and San Francisco against British Petroleum, Chevron,…
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Supreme Court: Compelled Support of Unions Ends Now
Public sector workers who haven’t affirmatively chosen to support labor unions should see a bump in their paychecks, thanks to the Supreme Court’s decision in…
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Trump Reorg Plan One Step Forward, Two Steps Back on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
My colleagues Trey Kovacs and Iain Murray and, in Forbes, Wayne Crews, give mixed reviews to President Trump’s long-awaited executive branch reorganization…
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Welcome to the CEI Annual Dinner
We’ve come to one of the most exciting times of the year—the week of the Competitive Enterprise Institute Annual Dinner and Reception. This year’s event,…
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Last Chance for the 115th: Common-Sense Guidance on Regulating Flame Retardants
In “Free to Prosper: A Pro-Growth Agenda for the 115th Congress,” CEI recommended that Congress hold oversight hearings regarding the Consumer Product Safety Commission…
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Report Finds All European Union Countries Failing Paris Climate Targets
CANEurope (for Climate Action Network Europe) released a report this month that finds that all 28 member nations of the European Union are failing…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Summer officially began last week, and federal regulators celebrated with new regulations ranging from almond kernel computing to rough diamonds.
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Should FERC Consider Potential Climate Impacts of Proposed Interstate Gas Pipelines?
As CEI's Marlo Lewis notes in comments submitted to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, neither the National Energy Policy Conservation Act nor the Natural Gas Act…
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Last Chance for the 115th: Protect Lifesaving Vaping Products
Congress must act before anti-tobacco zealots in and outside of government eliminate life-saving vaping products. Anything that makes e-cigarettes less attractive to smokers will result in…
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Relearning Old Lessons about the Minimum Wage
The question of the minimum wage is a hot topic this week, as the voters of the District of Columbia just approved Initiative 77, …
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Supreme Court Devastates Small Online Businesses and Consumers in South Dakota v. Wayfair
Today’s Supreme Court decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair is extremely disappointing and will likely cost online sellers and consumers dearly. Stopping state regulatory…
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Last Chance for the 115th: Reforming the Renewable Fuel Standard
It has now been more than decade since the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) was last revised, and the program is not getting any better with…
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Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection Must Define New Rulemaking Powers
When Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Act in 2010, there was an unprecedented allocation of power to the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (BCFP—previously known as…
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Last Chance for the 115th: Keeping the Internet Sales Tax at Bay
Bad Internet sales tax legislation (mercifully) continues to stall in Congress. Pro-tax expansionists like Rep. Kristi Noem (R-SD) made a big political push to tie…
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Last Chance for the 115th: Options for Regulatory Reform
With a possible party change in play this November in one or both chambers of Congress, the time might be now or never to pass…
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Minimum Wage Proposal Divides D.C. Workers, Voters
Washington, D.C. has a $12.50 per hour minimum wage. But for tip-earning workers, such as servers and bartenders, the minimum is $3.33 per hour—tips are…
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‘I, Whiskey’ Nominated for 2018 Reason Video Prize
Thanks to the great Nick Gillespie of Reason for Friday’s exciting announcement that the Competitive Enterprise Institute short film “I, Whiskey: The Human…
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Last Chance for the 115th: Unshackle Middle-Class Investors and Entrepreneurs
Congress and President Trump recently gave Main Street banks and credit unions some much-need but still modest relief from the mountains of red tape stemming…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Angry allies, North Korea, and Chinese tariffs dominated the news last week. Under the radar, regulatory agencies closed in on their 1,500th new regulation of…
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Trump Nominates Mary Neumayr and Dan Simmons
The White House has announced that President Donald J. Trump will nominate two individuals for positions of considerable importance to energy and environmental issues.
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Solar ‘Incentives’ Are Busting Out All Over
Ever wonder why installations of household solar photovoltaic (PV) systems and utility-scale solar power have surged since 2014? The declining cost of solar technology is…
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Massachusetts Senate Unanimously Passes Carbon Tax Bill
The Massachusetts Senate on June 14th unanimously passed a mammoth climate bill that contains instructions to put a price on carbon dioxide emissions. S. 2545,…
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Full Court Press on Kigali Amendment Begins
The Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, which would restrict production of many commonly-used refrigerants on the grounds that they contribute to global warming,…
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Messages of Freedom and Hope from FEEcon
Last week I was in Atlanta enjoying the excitement and intellectual ferment of FEEcon, the annual conference held by the Foundation for Economic Education.
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It’s Magna Carta Day!
In a peaceful English meadow made riotous by armed camps, King John sealed Magna Carta, the Great Charter of English liberty, 803 years ago…
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Last Chance for the 115th: Legislative Action on Labor and Employment
Lawmakers have made little to no progress during the 115th Congress to improve labor and employment policy. U.S. labor law is outdated and in…
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Last Chance for the 115th: Stop the President from Unilaterally Raising Tariffs
Article I, section 8 of the U.S. Constitution gives Congress the exclusive power of the purse. Under no circumstances may the president unilaterally raise taxes.
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Last Chance for the 115th: Bring Accountability to the Financial Regulators
In CEI’s “Free to Prosper: A Pro-Growth Agenda for the 115th Congress,” my colleagues John Berlau and Iain Murray made the enduring recommendation…
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Keep Entrepreneurs Free from Internet Sales Taxes
Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute released a new video on Internet sales taxes in which Center for Technology and Innovation Associate Director Jessica Melugin…
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Good News for Young Lemonade Stand Entrepreneurs
Every summer there are news stories about local authorities shutting down children’s lemonade stands over lack of licenses, permits, a lack of restaurant-grade kitchen or…
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Last Chance for the 115th: Senate Should Pass AV START Act
Back when CEI published “Free to Prosper: A Pro-Growth Agenda for the 115th Congress” at the end of 2016, we wrote that “[t]o…
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Will Trump’s Tariffs Spell the End of Free Markets?
The president’s threats must be fought, but the good news is America’s fundamental institutions will withstand Trumpian bluster. For one thing, our economy remains a…
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Putting the Net Neutrality Scare Stories to Rest
Today is the first day of the Internet operating under the Federal Communications Commission’s Restoring Internet Freedom Order (RIFO), which was adopted last December but is…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The week’s big headlines were about the G7 meeting and our allies’ efforts to avoid a trade war, and the meeting with north Korea…
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Hydroelectric Hearing Highlights Costs of Federal Permitting Delays
The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s subcommittee on energy held a hearing on June 7th on energy infrastructure licensing reform. Although Improving the Hydropower…
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EPA Asks for Public Comment on Improving Cost-Benefit Analysis of Regulations
On June 7, the Environmental Protection Agency issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking soliciting information on how the agency estimates costs and benefits in…
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How Socialism Devastated Venezuela
I’m attending FEEcon, the annual conference held by the Foundation for Economic Education, this week, and there’s an overwhelming number of great speakers…
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Surprising Results from the Labor Department’s Alternative Work Arrangements Report
A growing economy helps all workers, both those in the sharing economy and those in traditional employment, as new federal employment data bear out.
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How to Improve Rulemaking at the CFPB
This week, the Competitive Enterprise Institute submitted comments to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, on how it could improve its rulemaking to provide a better…
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It’s Not “Us vs. Them” at the G7 Meeting
Tit-for-tat retaliation for trade tariffs is a losing game for both sides. Exports are the way we pay for imports of the things we want.
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Here We Go Again: Steel and Aluminum Tariffs and Peter Navarro
A new 25 percent steel tariff and a 10 percent aluminum tariff have come into effect. The levies are aimed at our allies, such as Canada,…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Despite a four-day workweek, federal agencies still exceeded the previous week’s Federal Register page count by nearly a hundred pages, pushing the yearly total past…
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Cato Institute Honors Human Rights Work of Cuba’s ‘Ladies in White’
Congratulations are in order to our friends at the Cato Institute on their recent big event in New York, the Friedman Prize Dinner. Every two…