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Regulation, Confusion, and the Irony of Emergency COVID-19 Testing
By now, readers are aware that testing in the United States for the novel coronavirus COVID-19 has been embarrassingly slow. Less well known is that…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
It was a rough week. Coronavirus infections and deaths continued to climb. Wall Street is officially in a bear market, and Congress and President Trump…
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Federal District Court Upholds Constitutionality of California-Quebec Climate Pact
On February 12, Federal District Judge William B. Shubb rejected the Trump administration’s constitutional challenge to California’s greenhouse gas emission trading pact with Québec. Judge…
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Refrigerants Debate Moves to House
American consumers dodged a bullet when the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act failed to become part of the larger Senate energy package, which has stalled on…
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As Supreme Court Debates CFPB Constitutionality, Agency Accountability Hangs in the Balance
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments last week over the constitutionality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and whether, as currently structured, it is too…
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Coronavirus and the Limits of “Flash Policy”
The coronavirus outbreak is serious, and it deserves a serious response. If you’re healthy, help people out. If you have elderly relatives or neighbors, reach…
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Sen. Toomey Defends Capitalism
This week Sen. Pat Toomey gave an excellent and much-needed speech at the Heritage Foundation on capitalism and its right-leaning critics. Toomey made clear that…
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Eleven Free Market Groups Submit Joint Comments on Proposed Updated NEPA Regulations
CEI and 10 other free market organizations submitted comments supporting the Council on Environmental Quality’s (CEQ) Proposed Updated regulations for implementing the National Environmental Policy…
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VIDEO: What Did “the Future” Hold for Public Policy in the 1980s?
The American Enterprise Institute has gone deep into its archives and posted dozens of old videos of roundtables and speeches going back, in some cases,…
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CEI Comments to FCC on Proposed Reallocation of 5.9 GHz Band
On March 9, CEI submitted comments to the FCC on its proposal to reallocate a portion of the 5.9 GHz band from Intelligent Transportation Systems…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Coronavirus continued to spread, the Democratic presidential field significantly narrowed, and the former head of the UAW was charged with embezzlement. Meanwhile, agencies issued new…
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New York Times’ Shoddy Reporting on Agency Skeptic
The New York Times recently ran an article titled “A Trump Insider Embeds Climate Denial in Scientific Research.” The fact-checkers and editors dropped the ball on this…
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SEC’s Proposed Rules Would Take ETFs out of the Hands of Middle-Class Investors
CEI recently signed on to a coalition letter encouraging the Securities and Exchange Commission to abandon its plans to further regulate certain financial products and…
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CEI Scholars Warn EARN IT Act Will Weaken Online Protections
Today, a bipartisan group of senators introduced the EARN IT Act, a bill that ties critical intermediary liability protections for online platforms, known as Section…
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Locusts Threatening African Food Supply; Greens Oppose Only Solution
As billions of desert locusts swarm through East Africa and into Asia threatening the food supply of millions, environmental activists want to ban and regulate…
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Liberate to Stimulate 2020: Let’s Start with Trade
The past two weeks have seen a volatile market owing to concerns over coronavirus, which suggests an economic downturn could be on the cards. The…
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Washington’s Latest Attack on Air Conditioning
Think air conditioning isn’t expensive enough? Then you’ll love a proposed amendment to the Senate energy bill that restricts the refrigerants used in millions of…
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Big-Mouth CEOs Less of a Threat than Crusading Politicians
Free-market advocates are understandably skeptical of “stakeholder” capitalism—the idea that corporate managers should focus not just on returns to shareholders, but on pleasing a potentially…
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Joint Employer Rule Gives Much-Needed Certainty to Franchises
The National Labor Relations Board finalized a rule last week that will bring much needed relief and certainty to the franchise industry and other industries…
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Regulatory Hurdles Already Impeding Competition to Big Tech
Calls to regulate “big tech” firms continue to grow louder. Concerns range from the ability of these firms to influence the political landscape to allegations…
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A One-Stop Executive Order 13891 Guidance Document Portal
If agencies are required to compile and list all their sub-regulatory guidance documents and post, link and consistently index them on a portal, can we…
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EPA, Interior, and other Federal Agencies Post Guidance Documents on Searchable Websites
On February 28, the EPA and other federal agencies posted all their guidance documents on searchable websites, complying with an OMB deadline to implement Executive…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The coronavirus outbreak began to infect financial markets as well as people, with stock markets having their worst week since at least 2008. The number…
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May Common Sense Prevail: New York Delays Enforcement of Plastic Bag Ban
New York State’s ban on single-use plastic grocery bags was slated to start on Monday, March 1st, but a state court has just put a…
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Appeals Court Rules Heathrow Expansion Unlawful, Citing Paris Climate Treaty
The UK Court of Appeals on February 27th declared unlawful the Department of Transport’s approval of Heathrow Airport’s expansion plans, because the government “had…
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VIDEO: Trade Is Not a Four-Letter Word
Former Export-Import Bank Chairman Fred Hochberg recently made an appearance at the American Enterprise Institute to promote his new book, Trade Is Not a Four…
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Federal Court Rightly Affirms Online Platforms’ First Amendment Rights
This week the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that, “despite YouTube’s ubiquity and its role as a publicfacing platform, it remains a private forum,…
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Two Cheers for Nikki Haley’s Defense of Capitalism
Former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley has written a bold and, for the most part, very good op-ed on the future of…
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The Minimum Wage Tax Increase
By far the most common criticism of minimum wages is that they cost jobs.
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Net Reality: Five Years Since the Open Internet Order
If you’re reading this, the Internet is alive and well. If you’re wondering how the Internet is doing, just picture a rocket—symbolizing both the incredible…
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“Scientocracy” Highlights Problematic Incentives in Government Research
Yesterday CEI put on an excellent event on science policy on Capitol Hill on the new book Scientocracy: The Tangled Web of Public Science and…
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Chairman Crapo Offers Hope for Safe Banking in Controversial Industries
Last October, the House passed the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act to provide safe harbor for banks and credit unions doing business with…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
During the four-day week, Lawrence Tesler passed away. The underappreciated inventor created the cut, copy, and paste functions on computers. The Hair Club for Men…
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New Analysis on Tax and Regulatory Issues for Carsharing Companies
Our friend and Tech Policy Podcast host Ash Kazaryan recently recorded a fascinating interview with Reason Foundation Policy Analyst Spence Purnell on how Florida (and…
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Sustainability Disclosures, Meant to Protect, Could Create Additional Risk for Investors
The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) claims that it focuses on issues that are “financially material” to the companies they are assessing. But materiality is…
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U.S. Department of Transportation Proposes Modernizing its Aviation Consumer Protection Authority
Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao announced a new proposed rule that would “align its definitions of unfairness and deception with the principles set forth by…
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Report Misconstrues SAFE Rule ‘Rollbacks’
A recent Rhodium Group report purports to show by the numbers that the fuel economy “rollbacks” effected by the Trump administration’s forthcoming Safer Affordable Fuel…
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Exploring History of Black Entrepreneurs
Madam C.J. Walker founded and built a company specializing in hair care products that eventually made her a millionaire and international celebrity. Her army of…
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Amazon Documentary Shows How Consumers Benefit
PBS’s Frontline aired its documentary, “Amazon Empire: The Rise and Reign of Jeff Bezos,” last night. While the tone of the piece was markedly suspicious,…
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So-Called Conservative Tech Proposal Is an Affront to the First Amendment
Several conservative groups have signaled their support for what some are calling a “small-government solution” to perceived anti-conservative bias by tech platforms. The solution that…
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FCC to Vote on Crucial Spectrum Auction this Month
At the FCC open meeting on February 28, the commissioners will vote on a critical matter regarding a proposed public auction for what is known…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Spring Training began for all 30 Major League Baseball teams, bringing joy across the nation. Meanwhile, agencies issued new final regulations ranging from grains ounce…
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House Republican Leaders Introduce Pointless, Costly, But Virtue-Signaling Climate Legislation
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and several senior Republicans announced they were going to introduce four bills to address climate change. On the bright side, none…
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A Partial Inventory of Federal Agency Guidance Documents Before Trump’s Official Compendium Comes Due
Reporting on "regulatory dark matter" is still falling short.
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VIDEO: Assessing Frédéric Bastiat’s Legacy
A new a three-part video series from the American Institute for Economic Research on Frédéric Bastiat's life and legacy is an excellent introduction to the…
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Study Finds Strong Acceleration in Ocean Circulation
As part of its “Climate in Crisis” series, NBC News on February 11 reported the results of a new study on “the undersea conveyor belts…
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New Poll Holds Some Surprises on Demographics and Politics in U.S.
Gallup has released a new poll about what kind of people Americans would be willing to support for president.
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The Spectrum Case against AB5
California’s Assembly Bill 5 (AB5) is intended to classify more independent contractors as formal employees. The goal is for workers to get higher wages and…
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Democratic Witnesses Oppose Interest Rate Cap
American Banker ran a piece last week on a proposed law to impose an interest rate cap on small-dollar loans. While the hearing revealed the…
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Antitrust Enforcement in 4-D
Competition is an ongoing discovery process. The reason firms exist is not to enable or restrict competition. It is to reduce transaction costs. There is…