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Federal Fleet Again to Become Guinea Pig for Alternative Vehicles
Among the long list of announced climate-related measures, the Biden administration has set a goal of “clean and zero-emission vehicles for Federal, State, local,…
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Crop Protection Products on the Chopping Block under New EPA Leadership
The Biden administration is poised to start reversing Trump administration policies that were designed to ensure farmers have continued access to critical pest control…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Former President Trump’s impeachment trial was the big new story, though there is little suspense about the outcome. Meanwhile, agencies issued new rules ranging from…
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Young Investor’s Tragedy Should Not Cancel Robinhood and Other Fintech Investing Apps
Since the Gamestop-Reddit frenzy, the FinTech investing app Robinhood has taken a lot of arrows. Those who decried the stock market rallies blamed Robinhood for…
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CBO Restates the Obvious: Raising the Minimum Wage Costs Jobs
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) on Monday reaffirmed something we already knew but that bears repeating: Higher minimum wages costs jobs. The CBO’s…
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Study: Electric Vehicles Driven A Lot Less Than Previously Assumed
A recently published study finds that electric vehicle (EV) owners drive them considerably less than previously assumed. This finding, if true, would greatly undercut claims about…
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Upcoming CEI Event: Bart Wilson on The Property Species
At noon ET on Thursday, February 11, CEI is hosting an event with the experimental economist Bart Wilson, author of The Property…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The Senate passed the big budget reconciliation bill last week on a 50-50 tie broken by Vice President Harris. This week will see the impeachment…
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Bayer Spends Billions to Save Essential Tool for Farmers
Bayer Agrosciences is spending billions of dollars with the hope of keeping the herbicide known as Roundup on the market despite thousands of lawsuits alleging…
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EPA’s Transparency Rule: Post Mortem
Montana District Court Judge Brian Morris on February 1 vacated the Trump administration’s Science Transparency Rule. The judge’s decision was a victory for…
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Proposed European Tech Regulations Will Backfire, Badly
The European Union recently proposed two major tech regulation bills aimed at America’s tech industry, the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and the Digital…
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January Jobs Gain Threatened by Prospect of Minimum Wage Hike
The Labor Department’s report Friday that the unemployment rate was 6.3 percent in January, down 0.4 points from the previous month, is good news that…
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Biden Administration Begins Bid to Create Nationwide Version of California’s AB5
On the same day that President Joe Biden’s nominee for Labor Secretary, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, told a Senate committee that he would…
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New Legislation Aims to Give More Power to Antitrust Enforcers
Today, incoming head of the Senate antitrust subcommittee, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) introduced the Competition and Antitrust Law Enforcement Reform Act. The contents of…
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The New CFPB Leadership Should Avoid Rate Caps on Small Dollar Loans
With new leadership at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), there is rising concern that there will be renewed attempts to cap effective interest rates…
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Electric Vehicles Are as Inevitable as … Cellulosic Biofuels
Americans are increasingly hearing the “I” word when it comes to electric vehicles—inevitability. Proponents insist that they make too much sense for consumers and…
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Questions for Marty Walsh
President Biden’s pick for Labor Secretary, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh will get his first Senate hearing on Thursday. Walsh is a former union head…
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Why Repealing Section 230 Will Hurt Startups and Medium-Sized Online Businesses
As Democrats and Republicans seek to rein in Big Tech, Congress is reviewing legislation to repeal Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act (CDA),…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
As the new administration settles in, it appears they will continue many Trump administration policies, such as “Buy American” provisions and trade protectionism. Meanwhile,…
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Respect, Don’t Restrict, Retail Investors
Watching the wild gyrations of the stock market this week—and some of the reactions to it—brings to mind Ronald Reagan’s observations of the bureaucratic mindset…
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CEOs Join Davos Wonks to Launch New Corporate ESG Disclosures
Axios’ “cheerful iconoclast” Felix Salmon reported earlier this week on an agreement by dozens of major corporations to support a new system of…
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President Biden’s Climate Day: The Entire Federal Government Will Be Focused on the “Climate Crisis”
Climate was the White House’s theme for January 27. President Joe Biden gave a major speech and signed two Executive Orders. Top climate advisers…
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Biden Administration Initiates Steps to Submit Kigali Amendment to Senate for Ratification Vote
While the Biden administration’s reentry into the Paris Accord received most of the attention, another climate-related international measure also got a jump start after stalling…
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BlackRock’s Larry Fink: Fight COVID with Climate Activism
Larry Fink, CEO of mega asset management firm BlackRock, has released his annual pair of letters—one to the CEOs of companies that BlackRock holds…
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Feeding the Hand that Smites: Union Leaders Protesting Biden’s Cancellation of Keystone XL Pipeline Endorsed Him Despite Campaign Pledge to Kill the Project
One of President Biden’s first official acts on Inauguration Day was to rescind the construction permit for the Keystone XL pipeline (KXL). Although canceling the…
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Be Skeptical of Studies that Say Minimum Wage Hikes Are Painless
Do economists downplay the negative findings in their research on the minimum wage? That’s the implication of a new working paper on the issue for…
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New President, Same Bad Policies
The Trump administration’s trade war gave economics teachers countless real-world examples of bad policy they can use in the classroom. A new open letter…
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President Biden Moves Quickly to Unleash Regulatory Juggernaut
Not being distracted by the usual enjoyable folderol of inaugural parades and balls meant that President Joe Biden had time in his first day in…
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Has the Honeymoon Already Ended Between Biden and Trade Unions over Keystone XL?
It didn’t take long. On his first day in office, President Biden revoked the federal permit granted by Donald Trump for the Keystone XL pipeline,…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
President Biden was inaugurated on Wednesday. With the usual end-of-administration midnight rush now over, things will likely slow down. It takes time for new appointees…
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Gensler Agenda at SEC Bears Close Watching
President Biden has chosen former head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Gary Gensler as his nominee to be chair of the Securities and Exchange…
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D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Vacates Trump EPA’s Replacement for Clean Power Plan
A panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals voted 2-1 on January 19 to vacate the Trump administration’s Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule,…
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In Memoriam: Jerry Ellig
I was shocked and deeply saddened to learn yesterday that my friend and one-time teacher, Jerry Ellig, passed away on Wednesday night, the victim of a…
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Trump EPA’s January Surprise: Timely New Check on Regulatory Excess
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on January 13 published its long-awaited final rule on New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions…
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A Look at “Modernizing Regulatory Review”
The Biden “Modernizing Regulatory Review” plan is about gutting the restraint of the past four years, and if you read statements from the proponents of…
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The Growing Groupthink Problem in Science and Policy
Government Dietary Guidelines issued jointly by the Departments of Agriculture (USDA) and Health and Human Services (HHS) every five years are meant to provide health…
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Trump DOE Finalizes More Flexible Regulation for Residential Furnaces
In one of the Trump Department of Energy’s (DOE) last regulatory actions, the agency on January 15 revised the energy efficiency standards for residential…
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EPA to Increase Transparency in Regulatory Science—for Now
Not many people know that much of the science used to regulate pollutants and radiation is a mess. To help clear this up, on January…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Happy MLK Day, everyone. The Trump administration’s final full week was an eventful one. The president was impeached for a second time. The usual end-of-administration…
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Treasury, FHFA Reverse ‘Net Worth Sweep” at Fannie and Freddie
The headlines yesterday were that the Trump administration had failed to exit Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from the government-owned conservatorship. This is true…
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Economics Can Help Explain Conspiracy Theorists
There is a lot of conspiracy theory garbage floating around. On January 6, it took a violent turn. Five people died in a coup attempt…
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Most Americans Still Buy Large Gasoline-Powered Vehicles, According to Latest EPA Data
There is a deep divide between the vehicles that climate activists and their political allies prefer and those that the public actually wants and buys,…
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Employers Will Pay Workers to Get a Covid-19 Vaccine
The federal government, through Operation Warp speed, helped develop and bring to market vaccines against the new disease COVID-19 in less than a year, an…
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The Danger in Blurring the Private and Public Boundaries with Government Regulation
The recent decisions of many technology companies to remove users and customers from their platforms have deeply divided Americans. Many Americans feel censored and discriminated…
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Will the Next Labor Secretary Support Job-Killing Climate Measures?
President-elect Biden has selected most of his nominees to head the federal departments, and he has made clear to them that addressing climate change should…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
After last week’s insurrection at the Capitol, the outgoing president, several elected officials, and their supporters have some soul-searching to do. Meanwhile, agencies continued to…
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Priorities for Commerce Secretary Nominee Raimondo: Tariffs, TPA, Trade Agreements
President-Elect Biden will nominate Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo to be the next Commerce Secretary. She will soon be in a position to undo much…
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Department of Labor Cautions “Gig Economy” Companies against Limiting Workers’ Freedom
The Department of Labor (DOL) said on Wednesday, January 6, that if someone is currently working for one or more of your business rivals, then…
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Vape Mail Ban Will Hurt Vulnerable Adults and Won’t Prevent Online Sales to Youth
The COVID-19 pandemic has inflicted a brutal toll on businesses. But one industry that is not only surviving but thriving is the cigarette industry.
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EPA Rule Will Strengthen Transparency and Accountability in Agency Science
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) this week finalized its science transparency rule. The rule requires the EPA to clearly identify the “pivotal” scientific studies…