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Regulation of the Day 65: Weighing Animals
If you sell poultry or livestock, it’s a good idea to weigh them first. Makes it easier for buyer and seller to agree on a…
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Sen. McCain Introduces Anti-Net Neutrality Bill
Senator John McCain introduced a bill yesterday to combat the FCC’s push for Net Neutrality. The “Internet Freedom Act of 2009” would limit the…
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Net Neutrality at 28 kilobits per second.
Why didn’t the Federal Communications Commission impose net neutrality a decade ago? We don’t need all this multimedia and advanced services. They finally caught…
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Keeping Priorities Straight
Bjørn Lomborg, head of the Copenhagen Consensus, brings some much-needed common sense to the global warming debate. Reporting from Vanuatu, he finds that many locals…
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Shipwrecking Opportunity
Earlier this week, the Financial Times ran a story about a conspiracy between governments, Italian mafia, and industrialists to illegally dump ships containing hazardous…
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Regulation of the Day 64: Starting a Business in Sacramento, California
The human mind is capable of creating limitless, endless wealth. The human mind is nearly as adept at preventing that wealth from being created. Sacramento…
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A Cure Worse than the Disease
As I explain in a new CEI paper, which is out today, most of the alleged cost-cutting measures in the Baucus bill merely shift costs…
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Waxman-Markey: A $3.6 trillion gas tax
Senators Kit Bond (R-MO) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) have just released a report, Climate Change Legislation: A $3.6 Trillion Gas Tax, which estimates…
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Mortgage Meltdown Was Caused by Government Mandates
The mortgage meltdown was caused partly by the government, which created an artificial market for bad mortgages. The Washington Examiner cites a recent study…
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Fumento yells “Sooo-eeeee!” on Liddy
I bent G. Gordon Liddy’s ears back today on his radio show (easy to find them, given his lack of hair) on my current…
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More Hypocrisy Regarding FTC Blog Regulations
Michael Masnick at Techdirt offers up another incidence of government inconsistency in light of the FTC’s blog-watching rules, reminding us that “…
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Obama Accepts “Blasphemy” Exception to Free Speech
In USA Today, liberal law professor Jonathan Turley is criticizing the Obama administration for endorsing a “blasphemy” exception to free speech: “Around the…
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Banning Bake Sales
The American Enterprise Institute held a panel discussion yesterday on food safety. They discussed congressional proposals aimed at addressing contaminants in our food,…
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Science and the Sustainable Intensification of Agriculture
The UK Royal Society's long-awaited study on improving agricultural productivity and increasing food security was released this morning. it suggests that a healthy concern for…
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Data deflates threat-multiplier hype
The new, more 'nuanced' rationale for energy rationing is that global warming will aggravate several pre-existing environmental and health threats that cause or contribute to…
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Is Cognitive Dissonance an Insured Condition?
Rep. Diana DeGette is proposing: 1)That health insurers' antitrust exemption be removed. 2) Require, by law, that people buy health insurance. What one hand giveth,…
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Bank of America to Impose Annual Fees on Some Credit Cardholders, Thanks to New Credit Card Law
Bank of America recently announced that it will impose annual fees on some of its cardholders. This is in response to the CARD Act…
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American Society Now Responsible for Saving Journalism
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Regulation of the Day 63: Sports Agents in New Hampshire
It is illegal to be a sports agent in New Hampshire without a Secretary of State-issued certificate. Don’t forget your biennial renewal!…
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Franken Uses Inflammatory Rape Claim to Destroy Arbitration of Employment Disputes, Including Disputes Totally Unrelated to Rape
Recently, the Senate voted to ban defense contractors — that is, much of American business — from contractually mandating arbitration of employment discrimination disputes. The…
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Hot time in EU
The first half of Fall 2009 was a busy season in European politics. On September 27, the general elections took place in Germany. The results…
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Surprising comments on NYT article on climate treaty
Today’s New York Times carries an article, “Hopes fade for comprehensive climate treaty.” It’s not that important an article about the lead-up to Copenhagen. …
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Health Insurer Competition and Democratic Saber Rattling
Last week, after the industry association America’s Health Insurance Plans released a study showing that premiums would rise 18 percent under the Senate Finance Committee’s…
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Bill Gates Says Africa Needs GMOs
On Friday, Bill Gates announced at the World Food Summit in Des Moines that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation would be redoubling its efforts…
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FTC Sets its Sights on Bloggers
In the past, guidelines have determined the kinds of research claims companies or celebrity endorsers can make about products in advertising. With the recent update,…
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SuperFreakonomics generates heat on global warming
Even before publication, the book SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance is the topic of hot debate…
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WashPost buries coldest day in 138 years
It’s got a good lede that should have won at least a front-page Metro slot. Instead, buried in Saturday’s Washington Post’s Metro Section amid…
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Congress Moves to Reinflate the Housing Bubble That Caused the Financial Crisis
Veteran political commentator Michael Barone reports that liberal congressional leaders are pushing policies to “inflate the housing bubble again.”…
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Regulation of the Day 62: Government Employees and Texting while Driving
Executive Order No. 13513 prohibits federal employees and contractors from texting while driving while on duty.
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Weekly Flu Watch IV – What swine flu ISN’T doing
Total deaths since Aug. 30 from “Influenza and Pneumonia-Associated” illness are 2,029 reports the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Web site…