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Dispelling Misleading Claims about the Inflation Reduction Act and West Virginia v. EPA
In adversarial proceedings, it is seldom prudent to rely on your opponents’ assessment of the outcome. Alas, some conservatives seem inclined to believe Democrats’ self-serving…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
President Biden announced partial student loan forgiveness for people earning up to $125,000. The number of new final regulations this year topped 2,000. Meanwhile, agencies…
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The Fed’s Preferred Inflation Measure Improves, Mixed Picture on Consumer Spending
Two new economic indicators published Friday morning give reason for cautious optimism. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is the inflation measure that gets the…
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Student Loan Forgiveness Is Regressive, Will Increase Tuition
When the Inflation Reduction Act passed, I pointed out that its $300 billion in tax increases and spending cuts would not begin to phase…
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SEC Small Business Committee Throws Down the Gauntlet on State Trading Preemption
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee (SBCFAC) has thrown down the gauntlet. As the SEC’s website explains, the…
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New York Right to Repair Bill Is a Bad Idea
Do consumers have the right to repair their smartphones, tablets, and laptops? The short answer is yes. While copyright law may have some room for…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The 2022 Federal Register surpassed 50,000 pages last week. Meanwhile, agencies issued new regulations ranging from hearing aids to vessel repair duties. On to the…
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CDC Restructuring Shows that Institutions Matter
One of my policy mantras is that institutions matter. That’s why the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) restructuring announcement is big…
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Prominent Short Sellers Target ESG-themed Firms
For a long while, my CEI colleagues and I have touted the vital role that short sellers play in a free market economy. CEI Founder…
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SEC Attempts to Regulate Indefinable “ESG” Topics
Today is the filing deadline for public comments on a new Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed rule titled “Investment Company Names.” This proposal…
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Megaportals for Guidance Documents: Toward Emergency 2025 Legislation to Correct Biden’s “Whole-of-Government” Incursions
In preparing an August 2022 update on executive branch sub-regulatory guidance documents and memoranda (the observable tally is 107,000 but vastly more exist), a…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The FBI raided former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. Meanwhile, agencies issued new regulations ranging from street markings to salmonella prevention. On to the…
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Progressives Need Democracy, Not Technocracy
As Democrats debate the merits over legislative versus administrative action on topics ranging from climate change to gun control, they face a fundamental decision: technocracy…
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How the Inflation Reduction Act Favors Unions over Taxpayers
The word “prevailing” appears 27 times in the text of the misleadingly named Inflation Reduction Act, which was passed by Congress Sunday and…
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CPI Gives Reason for Cautious Optimism on Inflation
Inflation may finally be coming down. July’s month-to-month Consumer Price Index (CPI) increase dropped to zero last month, down from 1.3 percent in June. The…
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Federal Agency Guidance Document Inventory Tops 107,000 Entries
Federal statutes appear in the U.S. Code. Regulations, pass through the Federal Register, and come to rest in the Code of Federal Regulations. But no…
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CEI Submits Comment Opposing EPA Proposed Rule Allowing States to Use Clean Water Act as a Climate Policy Tool
Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute submitted a comment to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on its proposed regulatory changes to Section 401 of the…
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How the Inflation Reduction Act Will Expand Regulation
Ever since observers began tallying rule counts and pages in the Federal Register, detractors have complained about what poor measures such devices are. They might…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The Inflation Reduction Act, which would not reduce inflation, is now expected to pass after Sen. Kyrsten Sinema agreed to sign on. Meanwhile, agencies issued…
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Why Carried Interest Tax Hike Deserves to Die in IRA and Otherwise
The Inflation Reduction Act (referred to by critics such as Phil Kerpen as the Income Reduction Act) will likely be voted on in the…
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Does the Schumer-Manchin Bill Undercut West Virginia v. EPA? No, But Not For Lack of Trying
This Wednesday on Fox Business with Larry Kudlow and later on Fox News with Sean Hannity, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) warned that buried…
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How to Make Official Time Even Worse
“Official time” is the practice of allowing members of public sector unions to conduct union business while getting paid for the regular government job…
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Think Handouts to Rich Electric Vehicle Buyers Are Unfair? Check Out the Inflation Reduction Act’s Homeowner Tax Breaks
The Manchin-Schumer Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 extends the current tax credits up to $7,500 for electric vehicles (EVs). Among the many flaws with…
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Important NEPA Reform Vote in Senate this Week, with Implications for the Schumer-Manchin Package
The Senate may vote as soon as this week to reinstate Trump administration reforms to the federal permit process under the National Environmental Policy Act…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
GDP shrank, the Federal Reserve increased the federal funds rate, the Senate passed the CHIPS+ Act to subsidize chipmakers, and the Build…
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Net Zero, Joe Manchin, and High Energy Prices
This morning National Review published my article expressing skepticism that the advance of “net-zero” climate policy is inevitable (or even likely). It was written…
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Regulators Going off the Rails on a Crazy Train
One year after a supply chain crisis caused shortages across the nation, the Biden administration is trying to prevent railroads from modernizing and automating.
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As Congress Mulls Stablecoin Law, CEI Shows the Way
Reports sprung last weekend that consensus stablecoin legislation from the House Financial Services Committee was near ready. While Congress is unlikely to debate…
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The Facebook Antitrust Case Is Aging Poorly
Antitrust cases often take years to litigate. While wasteful, this isn’t always a bad thing. The politics surrounding a case might stay the same, but…
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Getting Inflation Wrong and Making It Right
Everyone makes mistakes. Owning up to them is an underrated life skill that is almost non-existent among political pundits. Doubling down when threatened is a…