The Open Market Blog

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 08/23/2008

…to promise much and deliver little, if anything — all the while making themselves feel just great. The Israeli news site Ynetnews.com reports: A…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 08/23/2008

An editorial in today’s Wall Street Journal gives “Service Employees International Union President Andy Stern credit for tenacity” in pressuring private equity firms. SEIU,…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 08/23/2008

In response to my two posts on the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), I got forwarded this story. Pro-union student activists, in a…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 08/22/2008

Union organizers try to recruit workers by saying that they’ll go to bat for them when things get tough for them. So it’s fair to…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 08/22/2008

Following up on my earlier post about The Los Angeles Times‘ investigation into allegations of financial malfeasance by the head of a California affiliate…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 08/22/2008

This week, The Los Angeles Times featured a three–part series on suspicious dealings at a local of the 2 million-member Service Employees…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 08/15/2008

In his latest Washington Examiner column, former CEI Brookes Fellow Tim Carney takes on T. Boone Pickens’s call for policies promoting wind and other…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 08/06/2008

In his current column, The Wall Street Journal‘s Thomas Frank blames “conservatism” for horrid conditions at an Iowa meatpacking plant, specifically the Labor Department…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 07/31/2008

Last night I attended a preview of the new film Swing Vote, which is being released tomorrow. It revolves around one man, Bud Johnson…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 07/23/2008

Today’s Wall Street Journal features a truly ridiculous letter by Mary Beth Maxwell, who heads the far-Left pro-organized labor group American Rights at…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 07/21/2008

This afternoon, the Senate Republican Conference held a hearing on an ongoing attempt to undermine the secret ballot process in union organizing elections. Specifically…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 07/08/2008

The UK National Children’s Bureau recently issued a 366-page guide on how to spot and discourage racist behavior in children. Three-hundred and sixty-six pages…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 07/03/2008

The story of the Colombian army’s daring, flawlessly executed, rescue of hostages held by the FARC terrorist group has an interesting detail: The stunning…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 06/30/2008

My friend Tom Palmer says that whenever he sees somebody sporting a Che Guevara t-shirt, he likes to ask the wearer, “That’s a great…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 06/19/2008

What to do when busybody neighbors try to tell you what you can and cannot do on your own property — and seek local government’s…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 06/13/2008

Euroskeptics have long complained about the European Union’s “bureaucratic deficit,” EU institutions’ insularity from voters in the member states. It’s bad enough that there…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 06/13/2008

Among television political interviewers, Tim Russert was the best, so much so that there is little I can add to the tributes to his life…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 06/06/2008

Today’s Los Angeles Times profiles Guatemala’s Universidad Francisco Marroquin, which I’ve had the pleasure to visit on a few occasions, and its founder,…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 06/06/2008

Tim Carney continues to expose the rent-seeking motives behind a lot of environmental regulation, in this case cap and trade legislation. As he notes,…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 06/05/2008

Roky Erickson, the 1960s Texas psychedelic rock pioneer, sang of seeing demons and space aliens, which visions were often the result of his taking…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 06/05/2008

Want to promote organic farming? Then take over a country, destroy its economy, and starve its people — and then make them grateful for allowing…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 06/03/2008

Fittingly only a few days after CEI’s dinner celebrated the Great Revolutionary Ideas, it’s time to pay tribute to a music revolutionary, Bo Diddley,…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 06/02/2008

Ever since Fidel Castro handed over the official reins of power to his (not that much) younger brother Raul, pundits and editorial writers have taken…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 06/02/2008

Whenever I see farmers protesting, I usually expect them to be crying out for government favors in the form of higher subsidies and trade barriers…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 05/28/2008

I wonder what Matt Welch means when he accuses Czech President Vaclav Klaus of “resisting most efforts to come to public (let alone legal)…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 05/16/2008

Tim Carney continues exposing the politically motivated pork that politicians dole out to buy support and campaign contributions. This week, in his DC Examiner…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 05/08/2008

From The Onion. (Yes, it’s ironic. )…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 04/24/2008

…ugly things happen — at least for organized labor, which enjoys monopoly representation under the Wagner Act. Unlike for other services, individuals usually face…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 04/22/2008

Thus spoke CEI’s Myron Ebell at yesterday’s launch of the Hot Air Tour, sponsored by Americans for Prosperity, in time for Earth Day.

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 03/30/2008

One of the most ignorant and gratingly common complaints about American politics is that of their being bland, uninteresting, and failing to engage large segments…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 03/30/2008

In his latest column, former CEI Warren Brookes Fellow Tim Carney looks at how rent-seeking opportunities based on  feel-good environmental campaigns, which are currently…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 03/28/2008

In today’s New York Times, a feature story profiles a project to create a national economic planning supercomputer by the socialist government of Salvador…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 03/22/2008

In his latest Examiner column, Tim Carney looks at hedge fund manager Julian Robertson’s lobbying for cap-and-trade legislation and bet on a U.S. economic…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 03/10/2008

We ridiculed Eliot Spitzer’s ham-handed tactics when he was still New York state attorney general — his ambition to become governor then plain to…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 03/09/2008

The weekend Wall Street Journal features an interview with Czech President Vaclav Klaus, who will be the keynote speaker at this year’s CEI dinner…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 03/07/2008

Eli, I’ve never watched “The Wire,” so I’m agnostic on the show itself, but after attempting to read The Atlantic‘s recent interview with…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 03/05/2008

Few federal agencies irritate these days like the Transportation Security Administration, which brought all airline security screening under federal control. Now thanks to…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 03/05/2008

Today, National Review’s editors endorse passage of the U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement, which, in addition to creating greater economic opportunities through increased commerce, would…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 03/05/2008

I can’t stand awards shows, and I don’t watch the Oscars, but I do find the business aspects of Hollywood interesting — which is why…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 02/27/2008

I find it ironic for Virginia State Delegate Dave Albo to decry businesses being “scammed,” when he has built a reputation for …

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 02/25/2008

Today’s Wall Street Journal editorial page exposes the cozy relationship between Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood and the state’s trial bar. Should state Attorneys…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 02/22/2008

Today in Reason, Michael Moynihan offers an appropriate epitaph to the useful idiots in the U.S., Europe, and Latin America whose knees have long…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 02/20/2008

Today, I will be on “Leave Us Alone” radio on RightTalk, discussing general labor issues and my upcoming article in Labor Watch (co-authored with…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 02/19/2008

Fidel Castro officially stepped down as Cuba’s head of state this morning, allegedly for health reasons. This will fuel speculations over whether he’s already dead…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 02/14/2008

A Weather Channel segment on compact fluoresecent light bulbs that aired today makes the point that because compact fluorescents emit less heat, they can save…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 02/11/2008

California Democratic Congressman Tom Lantos passed away this morning. A Holocaust survivor and fervent anti-communist, the Hungarian-born Lantos’s thick accent and propensity for hyperbole…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 02/11/2008

So says Hank Hill’s hapless neighbor, Bill Dauterieve, to feign support for Arlen’s new trans fats ban, in tonight’s new episode of “King of…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 02/05/2008

The FBI is getting ready to announce the granting of a $1 billion contract to create a massive biometric database, allegedly to better identify criminals…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/30/2008

At EconLog, Bryan Caplan sums up succinctly the method whereby President Bush this week was able to sound more predisposed toward a global treaty…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/29/2008

President Bush didn’t mention Blanca Gonzalez, the mother of jailed Cuban dissident Normando Hernandez Gonzalez, after all. But the film Shootdown, which I…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/28/2008

The guest list for the First Lady’s Box for tonight’s State of the Union speech provides a preview of individuals to whom the…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/27/2008

Thus responds Homer Simpson to Marge when she complains about his not paying the gas heating bill, on tonight’s new episode of “The Simpsons,”…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/27/2008

Former Indonesian dictator Suharto passed away today. I’m not going to comment on his legacy here, but simply note that for a dictator, he…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/25/2008

At Cafe Hayek, Don Boudreaux links to a comedy video that illustrates very effectively just how far we’ve come technologically over the past…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/24/2008

Today, former Bush economic adviser Lawrence Lindsey has a good, concise Washington Post op ed on the cognitive dissonance now affecting some Democrats. The…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/23/2008

In today’s Wall Street Journal, former Department of Labor general counsel Eugene Scalia highlights a recent DOL effort to ensure that pension funds are…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/23/2008

San Francisco’s Golden Gate Restaurant Association has sued to stop implementation of the city’s new health care mandate, which would require employers who hire more…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/18/2008

Tim Carney continues the fight against cartelization through regulation, in his weekly Examiner column, this time in the political marketplace. When McCain-Feingold passed in…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/18/2008

Exploiting criminals’ stupidity. MIAMI (AP) — A reputed gang member showed off his guns and taunted police on an Internet video to come and…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/18/2008

Kim McCoy, the executive director of Paul Watson’s Sea Shepherd Ship-Sinking Club, mentioned in the post below, is a piece of work herself. She…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/18/2008

Paul Watson and his high-seas vandal Sea Shepherd Society outfit — on which Lene and I commented prior — are at it again. …

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/17/2008

In two articles out today, I tackle the ever-expanding array of environmental and labor provisions attached to trade agreements between the U.S. and other countries…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/15/2008

One of the most reprehensible hours in TV history occurred on March 18, 2001 -- the airing of the fourth episode of "The Lone…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/15/2008

Monday’s episode of The History Channel’s “Modern Marvels” focuses on that most essential of elements, without which not even life is possible: carbon. The show kicks off…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/14/2008

The Toronto Star recently summarized the Top 10 false health scares outlined by the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH). Many such…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/14/2008

Andrew Walker for “Asking for pet care advice from Michael Vick.” A signed copy of The Big Ripoff will soon be making its…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/11/2008

Early this morning, I became aware of something called “The Lou Dobbs Financial Report,” which is syndicated on radio across the nation. My immediate…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/08/2008

Lene — Paul Watson’s thuggish antics are well known and documented, so the Guardian‘s decision to honor him is beyond inexcusable. For more,…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/04/2008

In his weekly DC Examiner column, Tim Carney highlights a specific example of the “the conflicts of interest, ulterior motives and opportunities for corruption…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 12/28/2007

In his Examiner column today, Tim Carney — with a nod to Bastiat — takes the company founded by Thomas Edison to task…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 12/14/2007

Tim Carney continues to expose the ways in which some businesses seek rents from government, in his DC Examiner column. In this instance, he…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 12/07/2007

In his Examiner column today, 2005-2006 CEI Brookes Fellow — and Big Ripoff author — Tim Carney highlights the rent-seeking potential of renewable…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 12/05/2007

Holman Jenkins, in his Wall Street Journal column today, coins a new term, “global warmism,” to describe the blind fealty which climate alarmism seems…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 12/03/2007

Andres Oppenheimer, The Miami Herald's Latin America columnist, offered some interesting insights into the Venezuelan referendum and other regional matters, in an online forum…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 12/03/2007

Eli, I agree with you wholeheartedly on Hugo Chavez’s open contempt for democracy, and that his taking a Putin-style power-behind-the-throne route is likely…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 11/28/2007

At CEI, we like to celebrate inventors, innovators, and those bold souls whose unyielding curiosity help make the world better. Such a person was…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 11/19/2007

Almost as if to celebrate the grand opening of the new store at Union Station of Fantom Comics — owned by our friend Matt…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 11/19/2007

Prince George's County, Maryland, a D.C. suburb, has ordered parents to get their children vaccinated -- or go to jail. Two months into the…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 11/16/2007

The Atlantic Monthly‘s 150th Anniversary issue features a series of short essays on “The Future of the American Idea” by a wide variety of…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 11/16/2007

Last week, I had the pleasure of learning about the new artistic tribute in honor of Ayn Rand’s novel Atlas Shrugged on the 50th anniversary…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 11/16/2007

Former Brookes Fellow Tim Carney, in his Examiner column, explains how the estate tax provides a windfall for life insurers who help their clients…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 11/13/2007

Today, I got the opportunity to ask former American U.N. Ambassador John Bolton to comment on the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST), which…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 11/08/2007

Space.com reports on the release of a (compressed) sound recording of Saturn’s radio emissions, from the Cassini spacecraft, that sounds uncannily like the…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 11/02/2007

The new Simpleton’s Guide to the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST) is now on our LOST page — and below.

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 11/01/2007

New York has its medallions, and D.C. has its zone system — the bane of each city’s taxi riders. However, unlike the medallion system,…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 11/01/2007

Legendary music manager Linda Stein, whose pioneering work in the early New York punk scene included, “bringing the Ramones to England for their infamous July…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 10/31/2007

The bloggers over at DCist are rightly concerned about proposed new rules for photography, filming and sound recording on federal lands that would require…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 10/31/2007

This morning, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 17-4 to send the Law of the Sea Treaty to the Senate floor for ratification. The…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 10/30/2007

As the Senate Foreign Relations Committee prepares to take up the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST; also known as UNCLOS, for United Nations…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 10/29/2007

One of the most interesting entries into the debate over the Law of the Sea Treaty during the last few days comes from…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 10/29/2007

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has scheduled the Law of the Sea Treaty for a possible vote this Wednesday, and both opponents and…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 10/26/2007

In his now weekly DC Examiner Friday column, Tim Carney, CEI's 2005-2006 Warren Brookes Journalism Fellow, looks at just who exactly stands to most…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 10/26/2007

We thought President Reagan had killed it, but it keeps coming back — “it” being the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST), which Reagan…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 10/23/2007

London Times columnist Sarah Baxter offers an amusing anecdote that illustrates what happens when two incompatible, yet equally illiberal, ideologies collide. A glorious…